From Dec 7 1941 to the end of the war the 3 letter J word was used as a swear word, an epithet. I still have uncles alive today who use it, and who still hate the Japanese people as much as they did back then. The way they use it, the look in their eyes, the way they spit it out of their mouth. If you were Japanese and heard them you would be offended. Heck it offends me.
What the Japanese did at Pearl and other places was wrong. Yet they felt it was necessary for them to grow and survive. What we did to them to end the war was also wrong, yet also necessary. We can not turn back history and prevent this war.
What we can do is work on losing the hate. To me, the 3 letter J word is just another way of keeping the hate alive. My uncles, and anyone else who actually fought against them in WWII have IMO earned the right to use it.
No one has else earned that right.
As for the difference between Brit and the J word. Well the Bloody Brits didn't come over and blow the crap out of NY harbor recently have they? "Brits" wasn't used as an epithet for 5 years of a terrible bloody war. As a result it has a very different emotional feel to it for those who hear it.
What we do here is simulate WWII combat, and thats fine. It honors all those who fought and died on both sides. What we do NOT need to do here is to simulate the hate. Its long long past time to let that die. As a result we all should be just a bit more careful about causing offense. If that makes me a tree hugger and a bleeding heart Liberal, well fine, conservative as I am, I can live with that.
If I have a dream, its that someday ALL wars will be played out here, virtually, so that no one never needs to experience wars hell firsthand ever again.
Its perhaps not a realistic dream, but growing up with my uncles first hand accounts of war, seeing the physical damage it inflicted. And growing up in the shadow of the cold war. I can think of no better future for mankind, than to find a way to put the violence behind us.
As posted above, IJA/IJN JP, or others will convey the meaning just as well without the attached emotional baggage. It was NOT my intention to start this war again. So please let it end here, all of you.
It was my "intention" to take one good, solid, AH player who has english as his second language. And raise his awareness about this word just a little bit.
Its not about being PC, its about having just a little bit of respect and courtesy for everyone you meet. It costs you nothing, yet can gain you so very very much.