Tiger Mom vs. Western Mom

The Wall Street Journal excerpt from "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," by Amy Chua, has provided fodder for many interesting discussions and heated debates about parenting styles.  (Use this link to read the full article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html) Being a "Western Mom" myself, when I first read the article, my reaction was more horror than anything else.  I thought Amy Chua was making a case in favor of child abuse, her excuses being that the end justifies the means, and that parents have to assume children are strong and can handle it.  However, I have since read an interview of Amy Chua, and she said that the excerpt shows only one side of her book.  She said she wrote the book in defense of Chinese mothers during a time when many books are being published showing the evil side of Chinese parenting.  She felt it was necessary to show that Chinese parents are doing what they feel is best for their children, helping them achieve their  highest potential, possibly higher than the child themselves thought he could.  And although the internet was abuzz with Asian-American children, now adults, saying that it takes years of therapy to recover from such parenting, Amy Chua wanted them to know that it was done out of love.
This is really difficult for American parents to absorb.  Reading the article, Amy sounds like an angry, demanding mother, certainly not loving.  She says her parents raised her the same way, and that it never affected her self worth.  But perhaps it did.  Maybe she feels secure now that she can play the piano beautifully, and score well in math, but the insecurities come out when her children don't live up to her expectations.  She accepts her upbringing as normal and maybe even beneficial, but the tramatic consequences show themselves in her parenting.  She panics when her children don't perform up to her expectations, and then she reacts by yelling, and using all means necessary to force her child to practice over and over until she gets it right.  I would venture to disagree with Amy that this rough upbringing did not have any negative impact on her; if her parents made her feel loved unconditionally, she might be able to do the same for her children.
Having a better understanding of Amy Chua's reasons for writing the book, I do believe she raised her children in this method out of love.  But she is mistaken to think they are strong enough to handle it, or that it didn't affect her.  In parenting, the ends do not justify the means; the means are everything.  The acceptance you show your children, and the uncoditional love you shower them with, is what makes them strong.  Demanding perfection makes them think their only value lies in their successes, and your love for them is linked to how or if they succeed. 
I think the title of the article in the Wall Street Journal is misleading.  I don't think Amy Chua feels that Chinese mothers are "superior."  She admits to having many regrets and to softening up as the children got older and her mothering matured.  But I think she did want to point out that good parenting has many faces, and the Tiger Mother is just as loving as the Western Mom; she just expresses her love in a different way.