A sad story of a young Chinese woman killed by a drunk driver in New York raises some unsettling questions about American culture.  Here is an excerpt from a translated blog post over at Roland's (original Chinese blog post here):

On February 7, the Shanghai girl Feng Huang who had just
graduated from New York University was killed in a car accident.  The
driver was a local police officer named Martin Abreu.  He was
intoxicated at the time.  The police is charging with vehicular
manslaughter and driving while intoxicated.

…

But even as people were feeling sad over Feng Huang, the
mother of Martin Abreu has come out to defend his son.  She said that
Feng Huang and her boyfriend were violating traffic rules when they crossed
West Street.  "It was their fault."

The local police declined to say whether the two victims
were violating traffic rules.

Abreu's mother declared, "My son Martin is a good boy. 
He should not be treated this way (that is, being arrested and charged with
vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated)."  She even said
that there was nothing wrong with her son driving while intoxicated. 
She said, "My son went out to have some drinks.  He is entitled to have
a good time."

I have read many news reports on Abreu's mother.  I
regret to say that she did not show any hint of an apology concerning her
son killing the Chinese girl Feng Huang while intoxicated.

But I thought this was consistent with the typical mode of
action in America.  When Americans run into something, they always seek
to protect themselves first.  This is how Americans think.

Americans have been educated repeatedly by lawyers about
how to get away with crimes.  Abreu's mother is offering a typical
excuse — it does not matter if Feng Huang is dead, it does not matter how
much responsibility her son bears in this accident and it does not matter
how much the victim deserves sorrow and pity, she will blame the victim
immediately.  I believe that this will be Abreu's initial reaction as
well.  In their vocabulary, there are no words to express an apology to
the victim.  That would be left to the law.  Even though Martin
Abreu was driving while intoxicated, his mother thinks that "her son was not
wrong" and "her son went out to have a few drinks and he is entitled to have
a good time."  Even though she could not deny that her son was
intoxicated, she made light of it…

When I first read this, I was a bit angry – how could someone make such apparently incorrect generalizations about American society – and a bit bemused: the writer seemed not to understand the English language, in which there are many, many ways to express apology to victims. I resist these kinds of generalizations when talking about Chinese culture and society, and I would also reject any effort to make this "heartless mom" into a symbol of American culture in general.

But then I thought a bit more and asked myself how Mencius might respond to such a statement.  He, after all, tells us to look inside of ourselves when we are confronted with our shortcomings.  And that would lead to another kind of question: how is it that this image of heartless, resistant-to-apology Americans might appear accurate to Chinese people?  What is it about us that might encourage this sort of image?

The litigiousness of American society has been much commented upon, and could certainly create legal incentives for avoiding responsibility for mistakes and crimes.  I suspect that  incidents that gain a high level of media attention, especially those involving entertainment or political celebrities, go a long way in producing the image of the irresponsible American (or the American who evades responsibility and blames others for his or her troubles).  How often do we see the responsible party lie and deny involvement when called out for bad behavior?  Alex Rodriguez looked right into the camera in 2007 and lied about his steroid use; he only admitted what he had done when the evidence against him was just too great.  George W. Bush was famous for never admitting mistakes and never apologizing.

It would seem, then, that there are grounds for the the kind uncomfortable generalization put forth on the Chinese blog.  There are all too many instances of famous Americans refusing to accept responsibility for their mistakes and evading apology.

Of course, that is not all there is to American society and culture.  The New York Daily News, in reporting the tragedy of Feng Huang's death, refers to the mother as "heartless" and "shameless."  She is obviously odious to Americans as well as to Chinese.   WPIX calls her "misguided" and reports the response from the Jersey City Police Department:

"The charges surrounding this incident are most serious and this type
of activity will not be tolerated by the JCPD…" Jersey City Police
Chief Tom Comey said in a statement. "While Mr. Abreu was in no way
representing our department when this incident occurred, our primary
thoughts are with the injured and the woman who perished. Our thoughts
and prayers are with their families."

That sounds right.  The most important thing here is that Feng Huang was killed.  She needs to be remembered and her family offered condolences.  The drunken cop should face the full force of the law.  That is how many, many Americans would understand this sad, sad event.