This Must Be Why They Kick Our Asses On "Ninja Warrior"

Behold, Japanese heroism....

....Japanese calm, patience, strength, and perspective....

....contrasted with our own Obamunized pussification:

Shep Smith scolded Americans stocking up on potassium iodide pills due to fears of radiation poisoning coming from Japan, where a nuclear crisis is raging.

Speaking to correspondent Trace Gallagher on Wednesday, Smith scoffed at the notion that radiation was threatening the U.S., even though there has been no warning saying such a thing, and scientists have said that the country is too far away to be affected.

"This sounds a little silly, frankly," Smith said. "Do we know where the biggest rush for these pills is happening? And why someone isn't trying to talk these people down off a ledge? It's 5500 miles away, Trace!"

Gallagher said that people as far away as Michigan have been stocking up on pills, and that suppliers of the pills are having trouble keeping up with demand.

"Well that's almost sad and pathetic," Smith said. "I know everybody wants to feel the pain of these people over here, wants to feel badly for them, but to take these pills, that's just tantamount to crazy."

Just wait 'till the San Andreas megaquake happens, or the New Madrid seismic zone erupts, or the Cascadia Subduction Zone destroys my neck of the woods.  We seem to almost crave disaster as long as it stays at a nice, comfortable distance and doesn't actually inconvenience us or otherwise disturb our, nice, comfortable lives.  Like when crowds were oohing and aahing to the depiction of the destruction of the White House and the U.S. Capitol and the Empire State Building in Independence Day, but were dumbfounded when al Qaeda brought down the World Trade Center for real five years later.  We want to play disaster victims along as it's on a screen and the lights eventually come up and we can leave the theater.  But when it, you know, actually happens?  Somehow, methinks the general public reaction will be quite a bit less noble.