The USA is known as “the land of the free,” but what exactly does that mean? Some Japanese commenters recently discussed this online, and their answers were…unique.
Before we get started, let’s put a big old disclaimer right here: These comments do not necessarily reflect the opinion of anyone at RocketNews24 nor are they necessarily the general feeling of people in Japan. It’s clear that quite a few of these commenters only know about the USA in broad, incredibly stereotypical strokes, so let’s take these comments with a pinch of salt and in good humor.
So why, then, are we presenting these comments? Well, for one thing, it’s always fascinating to see how other people view you (a fair number of writers here at RN24 are from the USA) and to see how their vision matches your own. Another thing is that we’re sure there’s a fair number of people in Japan and the rest of the world (and maybe even in the US itself) who might actually agree with these comments.
With all that out of the way, let’s see what a select few commenters on 2channel (the inspiration for 4chan) have to say about freedom in the America. (Also, we apologize to anyone who gets upset when the USA is called “America,” but that’s literally what the country is called by most people in Japan.)
- “America is the land of the free…but what does that mean?'”
- “Liberty stands for freedom.” [This response was written and posted entirely in English.]
- “It’s a country with the freedom to invade other countries.”
- [In response to the above comment] “Yes we can.”
- “I’ve never left Japan, but is it more free than here? I don’t have any complaints…”
- “The country is controlled by Freemasons.”
- “It’s liberty in the sense that anyone can become a millionaire.”
- “Mistaking ‘selfishness’ for ‘liberty.'”
- “It’s odd that Japan doesn’t have freedom, but it does have personal responsibility.”
- “There are lots of regulations, but beyond that, they have freedom.”
- “The Wolf of Wall Street was so fun! That’s what you’d expect from America, land of liberty!”
- “The freedom for anyone to fall into ruin and die on the side of the road.”
- “Maybe the freedom for poor people to at least be able to survive on the bare minimum? Also, it’s amazing that they can sell one-month worth of generic medicine at the supermarket for three dollars.”
▼ “Don’t like the drugs, but the drugs like me…”
- “America: You can do whatever you want, but you have to be responsible for yourself. There’s nothing to be done if you can’t see a doctor or if we can’t control guns.
Japan: You can’t do whatever you want, but you have to be responsible for yourself. We won’t give you much public support and you’ll be relatively responsible for taking care of everything yourself.
America: The country of the American dream where startups have equal chance of succeeding, but society is unfair and unequal due to race and the class you’re born into.
Japan: Only people from great lineage, wealthy families, and large corporations are successful, but in this country even people at the bottom have some chances and opportunities.
I wonder which is better…”
- “I’ve heard they’re pretty loose with the law and filing paperwork.”
- “Liberty means ‘do as you like.’ Freedom means ‘go wild.'”
- If you’re making money, you can do whatever you want with what you’ve made. If you’re not, you just have to take care of yourself. In Japan, even if you’re not making money, if you’re doing your best, we’ll take care of your physical safety.
- “Personal responsibility. They might say Japan doesn’t have any freedom, but we look after the livelihood of our citizens.”
Whew! There were quite a few comments there!
As you can see, even these commenters don’t seem entirely sure what “liberty” and “freedom” mean in the USA. And, as with any anonymous forum, it’s likely much of what they wrote was just trolling — but maybe you’ll see a nugget of truth in there. Best to put on some gloves before you try to dig it out though…
Oh, and while we’re on the subject of America, if you’re curious to know what South Koreans think about Donnie Trumpet’s presidential bid, you’ll want to check out this video!
Sources: Nesoku Quality, 2channel
Featured image: Wikipedia/Eldar Kamalov