Do you like being called "you people"?

There was a big uproar in the US when a possible first lady sneeringly called her fellow citizens "you people". Of course we are all "people", but the implication was that one people's world and the other people's world do not really intersect.

Sometimes, that is true. People can be world's apart in what they believe.

Japan believes we-the-people have the right to physical safety.

So, when a country that believes it is OK for any madman to fill his private home with assaut rifles and explosives to be used against innocent movie-goers tells us something is "safe", are we talking about the same kind of "safe"?

I don't think so.

That's why America's new favorite military toy, the Osprey, should not fly in Okinawa, in spite of official assurances.

This is from Kyodo News in The Japan Times online:



Osprey on way but U.S. won't ignore safety: defense deputy

Kyodo


U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the United States wants MV-22 Osprey flight operations to be in full swing in Japan in October despite local opposition to the deployment of the funky tilt-rotor transport aircraft.

But he also made it plain Saturday that the U.S. will give top priority to ensuring the planes are safe before they start flying here.

"Safety is a very important issue," the No. 2 man at the Pentagon told reporters in Tokyo. "I take it very seriously, and I think the government of Japan and the people of Japan also take it very seriously. I think that's entirely appropriate."




Nice words, but I don't think we are speaking the same language.