Quote:
Originally Posted by bones41
Anyone notice how there is no looting in Japan?
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I guess you also watched the morning news.
It bothers me when news agencies say things like "the people in Japan are so calm which is contrast to the looting, etc. after Hurricane Katrina and Haiti...this is a testament to the Japanese as a people and Japan as a country."
The other side of that "compliment"
(which, as far as I'm concerned is just as much of a compliment as tokenism comments like "Asian students are so great at math") is exactly whom are the Japanese people being compared to right now? And why? Is that comparison even necessary? And to say that the Japanese are so calm and this is a testament to something, you are really implying that they are the opposite of what America is. That's problematic and stupid particularly coming from the American news agencies.
The calm in Japan is a combination of a number of factors, including:
1. The quick response to this tragedy on the part of the Japanese emergency agencies.
2. The quick response from America and other industrialized nations such that people are wondering why the hell the response on the part of America didn't seem so quick during Hurricane Katrina. I don't know why but I know global economy and America's debt to Japan is probably a component of that.
3. Cultural differences that can translate to an emphasis on meditation during disasters rather than acting out. This is also connected to Japan and similar industrialized nations having a lower homicide rate than the United States, but having higher rates of suicide. This relationship is correlated with culture for a number of reasons including how some consider meditation and self-reflection to be more conducive to harming oneself (suicide and self-harm, alcohol, drug use) rather than harming others (looting, killing, raping).
All people see is a sense of calm and order. The implications of that remains to be seen.
Hybrid Mode
