Brain Drain

In Japan’s Kamikaze Pilots and Contemporary Suicide Bombers: War and Terror by Yuki Tanaka we learn more about the Kamikaze pilot and suicide bomber as a person rather than a group. Tanaka tells us of the justification process of the kamikaze pilot as they convince themselves that their death will be in the best interest of his “beautiful hometown” (Tanaka 296) as he is in effect protecting it as well as making his family and village proud of his sacrifice.  Responsibility further confirms the notion that the pilot must go through with his duties as backing out would be an act of cowardice.  Finally, the pilots war is a personal battle, he has never seen the enemy before making his battle a philosophical ideal to bring purpose to his shortened life.

            Mankind can certainly be considered wasteful and it doesn’t end with human life.  The idea of sending hundreds of young students to crash into a boat is mind boggling.  Just imagine how many ideas, thoughts, inventions and stories burned in heaps of melting steel, but how proud their parents must be.  This brings up the next point which was how the pilots sent apology letters to their parents, but particularly their mothers for dying prematurely.  How tragic is it that these young men were sent to their death before they were able to even entertain the idea of falling in love and getting married.

            The essay goes on to discuss suicide bombers from Palestine, which ties in really well with the essay we read last week entitled 30 Little Turtles by Thomas Friedman.  Tanaka explains how Palestinians are prisoners and are walled into their own country by outside forces and thus, he and Friedman came to similar conclusions.  With everything taken away in their lives they no longer find it terrifying or difficult to terminate their lives while at the same time returning pain to their oppressors (Tanaka 299).   

My question is this: At what point does sending students on suicide missions become an acceptable practice?

Protecting Ourselves by Helping Others

In Thomas Friedman’s article 30 Little Turtles we the reader are given a glimpse into the lives of the people on the other end of the phone.   Much like other essays and books Friedman has written, this is a very engaging read.   We learn about Indian men and women who are talking to us by night and working on college degrees by day, men and women who are gaining confidence, dignity and purpose thanks to gainful employment.

                Outsourcing in the US has become a hot button political issue in recent months.  Politicians are claiming that they will get those jobs back on American soil, and I have to ask how?  The reason the jobs left was because the call center companies can get away with paying people 200-300 dollars a week in countries such as India.  It doesn’t sound like much due to our inflation, but a job like that in India will assist the average person to pay their parents rent while taking college courses.  To get the call center jobs back (which many Americans don’t want to do in the first place) the government would have to subsidize private companies with tax breaks and other incentives in order to make those companies even think about coming back.

                The key to this essay lies in the last sentence.  Friedman concludes that by employing people from the Middle East with gainful employment in which they can better their lives, the Americans are protecting their own troops.  He touches on the traits that make up the psyche of a suicide bomber:  a person who has no hope, dignity or job.  Through outsourcing, the newfound workforce picks up a phone or headset, rather than an explosive laced backpack. 

                So the question I pose is this, is it worthwhile to bring those jobs back or should we continue to split a piece of the pie with the rest of the world?