A simply great post by Eric Tam on a nonsensical and insulting piece by Robin Goodfellow about Canadian internment of Japanese-Canadians during WWII. I'll cut to the chase, although I urge readers to check it out:

[A]s an Asian Canadian, I have personal reasons to be concerned about Canada's history of racism against Asians and about the Japanese internment. But I'm curious as to why RG decided to mention this dark blot on Canadian history at this time? Is it because RG was concerned that Canadians haven't worked hard enough to destroy racist attitudes toward its Asian citizens? This may be true, although it seems doubtful that it was RG's intent, given that RG doesn't seem to know a whole lot about Canada. Is RG trying to raise Canadians' consciousness toward a shamefully papered-over part of their past? Probably not, considering that we do a pretty decent job of reminding ourselves about it these days.

A more likely explanation is that RG was, in the most cynical way, trying to use the past suffering of Japanese-Canadians to excuse the present sins that America may be committing against its Middle Eastern citizens and landed immigrants out of a misguided notion of national security. If this intuition is correct, then I have an unequivocal message for RG:

YOU ARE SHITTING ON THE MEMORIES AND SUFFERINGS OF THE INTERNED JAPANESE AND THEIR FAMILIES BY TRYING TO PLAY DOWN PRESENT-DAY RACISM IN THIS WAY. FROM THE DEPTHS OF MY BEING, I CANNOT THINK OF A MORE APPOSITE THING TO SAY TO YOU THAN FUCK YOU, YOU IDIOTIC, HEARTLESS BASTARD.

Um, wow. Appropriate, certainly; although I didn't quote it (by all means, go and read it; it's instructional), Eric was clearly correct about the tenor of RG's post. Can't fault him for the language, either: sometimes a hearty "fuck you" or two really is warranted.

(Given the chance, however, I'll always prefer Shakespeare-style insults: the "thou art the witless bastard of an exceptionally talented village idiot and a none-too-choosy strumpet with the stench of the mongol horde's midden after a dinner of beans and prunes, and the uselessness of your mind is matched only by the impotence of your manhood" kind of thing.)

So, in short: Go Eric.