Bushido?

I'll have to admit it was the word Bushido that first caught my attention. But the parallels made by the author about the Iraqis and the Samurais who refused to change with the times really made me think about the meaning of "Bushido" and how people interpret it.

"Meanwhile, when the five Japanese hostages were finally released, what awaited them at home was harsh criticism, instead of a warm reception. What moved the critics to bash them seems to be the belief that the freed hostages sympathized more with their captives rather than with the United States or the Japanese government.

What was the case with ``The Last Samurai''? Capt. Algren, who was captured by Japanese militants, not only sympathized but assimilated with them. He even worked out a war plan and attacked the Japanese government army together with his captives. What he did was much more outrageous than the case of the Japanese hostages in Iraq.

But Japanese audiences cheered and applauded the hero, despite his behavior. How erratic and arbitrary human sentiments can be."

I just find it all so ironic about the way people can so easily change their feelings about a single ideal in different situations. Indeed…human sentiments can be so erratic and arbitrary. -_-