March 14, 2011 | 11:58 pm

God did not smite Japanese with tsunami

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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People say the stupidest things. It’s just that before the explosion of social media, much of it was in private.

There has been no shortage of inappropriate things said and insensitivity shown toward victims of the tsunami in Japan. Just ask Gilbert Gottfried’s former employer Aflac. UCLA received a particularly nasty black eye when the girl above put that video on line. (The university has been in an uproar, and the chancellor condemned her words here.) And prophecy sites have been blaming the disaster on human sin.

At least the prophecy sites kept the blame global. Cappie Pondexter, a WNBA player and Exhibit A for why celebrities and athletes just shouldn’t speak, suggested the Japanese got what they had coming to them. From ESPN:

On Saturday, Pondexter tweeted: “What if God was tired of the way they treated their own people in there own country! Idk guys he makes no mistakes.”

She later tweeted: “u just never knw! They did pearl harbor so u can’t expect anything less.”

Pondexter also used used the racially derogatory term “jap,” when referring to someone who was offended by her comments.

I do not think she was referring to a Jewish American princess. ESPN went on to report on Pondexter’s lame “apology”—aka justification for her appalling comments.

In addition to Pondexter not understanding Christian theology, her comment also made no logical sense for two different reasons: Japan is not China, and even if it was China, how would drowning peasant farmers be retribution for human rights violations by the government?