Political activism as defined by Haruki Murakami; You can't just talk the talk otherwise you'll become elitist, hypocritical, and uncaring.

Re-reading Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (a really complex book I recommend to everybody, btw), I started to think about political philosophy for a few minutes.

Before I begin, let me sort of describe how I am "politically active" (not as a bragging tool). I wrote for the school newspaper and was really persistent in bringing the current events that were taking place in our school district, and had debates within our debate club related to political events. I spent a lot of my time (sometimes late night) reading late night news articles trying to understand what was going on around the world while forming a political opinion on what needs to be done around the world.

But, Murakami really challenged my political activism; this is how I interpreted it: you can't just talk the talk otherwise you'll become elitist, hypocritical, and uncaring. Yes, it looks really damn fancy and cool that you are above everybody else if you know something about politics, but what's the point of "political activism" if you can't comprehend this quote: "Nobody cares how much you know, but how much you care."?

Given that Murakami's tale takes place in the crazy 60s during the Japanese student protests, he places a very sexually liberated college student, Midori, in a student organization promoting "revolution" while ironically isolating her due to her ignorance and "slow understanding" (as definied by the group) of politics.

Midori joins a political group which uses big words she barely comprehends; the group does not make any attempts in explaining what those words mean. The first time she joins, she is told to read Marx, but since she can't understand it, nobody wants to associate themselves with her; meanwhile, the group goes on and lectures about political revolution. She notes that these people in the group, "aka" the working class, are trying to actually go up in social status just by impressing others with their political knowledge so they eventually be accepted (and quote, work for companies like "Mitsubushi and Fuji Bank").

These actions aren't political activism; that is plain arrogance and no action; how are people supposed to accept political activism (or politics in general) if this sort of elitist attitude exists, that people below your political knowledge aren't capable of being politically active?

This hypocrisy is apparent by the student protesters lack of full-sided commitment to the protests in the 60s. Toru Watanabe, the narrator, notes that in one semester, students went out of class just to protest the education system in Japan, and in another semesters, the protesters of the student movement aren't seen outside the classrooms as the leaders are all inside classes fearing that they won't graduate due to their involvement in protests.

That is true hypocrisy, letting fear or society's restraints (or society in general) lead one's lives in order to avoid changing the world.

But, how many of us who consider themselves "politically active" actually have been in these positions? Are you willing to go beyond the speech and debate part of politics that you see in high school, or the political junkies that claim they love politics to do something about the problems in the world? Are you afraid of changing the world (side note: how do you define changing the world; is it changing your community, changing your city, etc.?) because people claim you are too idealistic, don't realize the realities of government, and/or you fear you are hurting yourself?

After reading Norwegian Wood, I realized that I've been in this position and should not consider myself politically active, despite my knowledge about what's going on in politics.

It doesn't mean that much if I post Facebook links regarding political events going around the world, educating myself about issues in the Asian American community, or watching "political documentaries" or participating in all these ECs which enlighten your political thinking if the only thing you get out of it is a sense of pride for knowing a lot. It just doesn't, and that's what I have been doing these past few years.

How can I be politically active while going beyond being aware of the world around me?

Norwegian Wood: A Book Review

I should start my blog with a book review on one of my favorite books: Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami.

This is a tale of acceptance and lonliness as characters and university students Toru and Naoko try to wonder: who are they? Naoko was Toru's best friend's girlfriend. Naoko and his friend did not have any other friends except Toru, who always goes with them when they go on dates. After his best friend commits suicide, nothing is the same for Naoko. Naoko turns weaker, and the real world becomes a frightening place for her.

Toru fell in love with Naoko, she had to go to a faraway wilderness-like place to seek medical treatment for an illness she mysteriously got after her boyfriend had committed suicide. As Toru waits endlessly for her letters, which Naoko gives him every once in a while, he meets a sexually liberated woman (sorry, it's so true) and classmate named Midori (means green, in Japanese), who wants everything in life. Midori brings excitement into his life as she always wishes to go to a place where relaxation is the key to happiness. He is unsure who to pick, since Naoko would be left lonely. Toru is Naoko's only connection to the real world. Toru is sort of a lonely sort himself.

This is a book that makes your head think, and I really mean it. I have to reread it over and over again because there's so many complex meanings this book has, that the book's cover does not make it easy as it looks. Have you ever wanted to go with somebody to just get away from all the stresses in life? Do you ever feel emotionally isolated in life, regardless if that's physically false, like the real world just doesn't make sense to you? Are you afraid of the real world sometimes?

Whether or not Murakami has solutions to these problems, I don't know (he's somewhat of an indirect person). After reading his book, you will look at life in a different way because we learn from these characters about how we can be better people again. Murakami is like a social critic, and in a modern country like Japan, a lot of questions I just stated are very universial. Once you grow up, you're going to be all on your own, and that's a difficult feeling. It's no surprise that many of Murakami's fans are teenagers and college students (well, in Japan, at least).