Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
I honestly try to listen. Usually some things are valid. American culture often seems violent, disposable, and celebrity-worshiping.
but do you think that's all it is?
I honestly try to listen. Usually some things are valid. American culture often seems violent, disposable, and celebrity-worshiping.
I'm not sure what you're trying to say here, Aeon - could you clarify?
Are you asking if the Japanese are more deserving of privilege in their society than other minority populations?
but do you think that's all it is?
I suspect there will always be at least some bias for our own race/culture.
But a lot of white people, the people who have the institutionalized privilege, don't recognize that it even exists. Isn't that a pretty major issue?
What is black culture?
Do the Japanese recognize Japanese privilege in Japan?
Not really, which is a large part of the problem they are having with their economy. They are insular, anti-immigrant and frankly structurally racist and ethnophobic as a society.
It isn't going to take them anywhere productive over the next 100 years.
As longtime Japan watchers like Ivan P. Hall and Clyde V. Prestowitz Jr. point out, the fallacy of the “lost decades” story is apparent to American visitors the moment they set foot in the country. Typically starting their journeys at such potent symbols of American infrastructural decay as Kennedy or Dulles airports, they land at Japanese airports that have been extensively expanded and modernized in recent years.
Anecdotal though it may be, when I read the beginnings of that article, I thought to myself, "I remember Japan being incredibly pleasant, and I saw a fairly good portion of it while I was there." I then chuckled when I read this paragraph:
Basically exactly what my initial reaction was.
Not sure what this has to do with the topic, but, just felt like sharing.
The arithmetic of population growth is simple — more citizens need to be added to the population pool than are being lost every year. Natural births and natural deaths account for only part of this equation; the other half is captured by immigration and emigration. In Japan’s case, population dynamics so far have been affected primarily by a decline in births. Given high life expectancies and a generational population boom in the decades following the Second World War, Japan’s population pyramid is top-heavy, with over 20 percent of the population 65 or older. Furthermore, Japan’s current fertility rate, according to the World Bank, sits at 1.39 births per woman — one of the lowest in the world.
One Japanese government estimate finds that should current trends continue, Japan’s population will have shrunk to a paltry 87 million from its current size of 127 million by 2060. Of those 87 million Japanese, as high as 40 percent of the population could be 65 or older. Not only is that a recipe for a social security disaster, but it would also rob Japan of any capacity to remain competitive on the world stage.
Reports emerging from Japan in the first few months of 2014 allege that the Abe government is eyeing adjusting Japan’s restrictive immigration policies to help alleviate the looming demographic crisis. According to a government simulation, one possible solution for Japan at the moment is to begin accepting 200,000 immigrants per year starting in 2015 and raising the fertility rate to 2.07 births per woman. If both of these criteria are met, Japan’s 2060 scenario looks less grim, with a projected population of slightly over 100 million.
The looming crisis has so alarmed Japan’s government that in 2005 it created a ministerial post to raise fertility. Last year a 20-member panel under the ministry produced a desperate wish list to reduce what it calls “deterrents” to marriage and child rearing. It included a proposal to assign gynaecologists to patients on a lifelong basis and even to provide financial support for unmarried Japanese who undertake "spouse-hunting" projects.
Immigration is being approached as a last resort. Even so the prime minister faces tough choices. The United Nations estimates that without raising its fertility rate, Japan would need to attract about 650,000 immigrants a year. There is no precedent for that level of immigration in this country, which is still a largely homogenous society.
Roughly 2% of Japan’s population is foreign. And even this figure includes large numbers of permanent residents—mostly Chinese and Koreans—who have been here for generations. Tellingly, the recent story about the government’s discussion of immigration broke in the right-wing Sankei newspaper (in Japanese), which is especially unlikely to embrace the idea of a Chinese family living on every Japanese street.
Japan’s demographic dilemma grows more urgent by the year. Last week the government passed the nation’s largest-ever budget—a mammoth $937-billion package swelled by welfare and pension spending. Japan is already weighed down by one of the world’s largest public debt burdens. With its inverted population pyramid, where will it find the tax base to repay this debt, and to care for its growing population of elderly?
AEON, your article is backwards-looking and focused on Japan's emergence from the lost decades.
That says NOTHING of Japan's current and extremely serious demographic problem. Look into this a bit closer and you will find alarm bells regarding Japan's future over the next century, just like I said.
I always thought of this as common knowledge.
Additionally, bringing in foreigners to wipe the butts of the old people does not exactly seem like an enlightened goal.
This is hugely important:
https://storify.com/DKShan/backoffice-politics-and-misdealings-in-missouri
The only thing that is common knowledge about Japan is that it has an aging population. I see nothing in the math that suggests racism is the cause of Japanese not having enough children. Additionally, bringing in foreigners to wipe the butts of the old people does not exactly seem like an enlightened goal.
They can get away with plenty because no one's there to hold their feet to the fire. They don't give a flying fuck if Don Lemon is there. They don't care about the media at all. You saw that in the way they treated journalists during the protests.I think it's great this guy is out there trying to uncover corruption. God knows it's there. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that Darren Wilson is guilty because there is corruption in Missouri. In fact, I bet if you wanted to have some fun, you can find examples of police corruption and shooting cover-ups in every singles city, county, and state.
This particular case has the eyes of the world on it. I doubt anyone can really "get away" with much even if they tried.