Racist Police Response to Ferguson Protests

[bono_212]

Originally Posted by AEON

The Myth of Japan’s Failure

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:

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.

Basically exactly what my initial reaction was.


Not sure what this has to do with the topic, but, just felt like sharing.

[AEON]

Originally Posted by bono_212

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.

I've not visited Japan (but I would love to). Yes, you would think that Tokyo was a crumbling dystopic nightmare based on how often they use Japan as a prime example of what NOT to do with an economy.

Yet, every time I see it on TV or hear about it from travelers - it's clean, modern, safe, vibrant...etc.

[bono_212]

I visited Tokyo, Kyoto and the Kanagawa prefecture, so I did see a big city, a traditional city, and then a more residential area, so I feel like I got a fairly good experience of that part of the country.

That being said, I didn't visit either the far north or the far south, so I can't speak to the less populated areas of Japan.

[anitram]

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.

[anitram]

Here we go.

Japan’s Demographic Crisis: Any Way Out? | The Diplomat

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.

Note in the last paragraph that these are "alleged" policy changes, nothing is firm and it is Japan's long-standing ethnophobia and the way they treat outsiders that creates a huge barrier to immigration.

From The Economist:

Japan's demography: The incredible shrinking country | The Economist

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?

This is really, really bad. But hey, so long as the Tokyo airport is nice and shiny...

[Salome]

Originally Posted by anitram

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.

[anitram]

Originally Posted by Salome

I always thought of this as common knowledge.

So did I.

[PhilsFan]

This is hugely important:

https://storify.com/DKShan/backoffic...gs-in-missouri

[AEON]

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.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by AEON

Additionally, bringing in foreigners to wipe the butts of the old people does not exactly seem like an enlightened goal.

have you been in a nursing home in the US?

setting aside the fact that you just demeaned the well-paying, hugely important and often thankless but still skilled job of a CNA, many people would find 40-hours a week plus benefits vastly preferable to no job in countries rife with violence and corruption.

[AEON]

Originally Posted by PhilsFan

This is hugely important:

https://storify.com/DKShan/backoffic...gs-in-missouri

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.

[Salome]

Originally Posted by AEON

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.

I am going to take this as you being obtuse.
As this post is wrong on so many levels that it's hard to fathom.

[PhilsFan]

Originally Posted by AEON

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.

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.

When the corruption runs this deep, there is no justice. And this goes back to what I am talking about with institutionalized racism. You keep saying "there are no more laws to make." I'm not talking about laws. I'm talking about their application and the application of justice. Racism may not be a legal mandate anymore, but it sure as hell seems to be fine and dandy on a resume. This is the next step in eradicating institutionalized racism.

It doesn't mean that Darren Wilson is automatically guilty. It means that he's definitely not going to be found guilty.

[PhilsFan]

The grand jury has been given an extension until early January to make a ruling on whether or not to indict Darren Wilson. Originally they were to make a decision by sometime in November.

[PhilsFan]

When the cameras are on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBUUO_VFYMs

[PhilsFan]

Looks like the cops killed someone else in St. Louis. The police say the officer was fired on. Let's see what details come out.

[Vlad n U 2]

Apparently shot 16 times.

16.

If true, that already says a lot.

[namkcuR]

There's two different issues here. One is that cops are shooting, tazing, and too often killing people for no reason.

The other is that cops cover it up. They all cover for each other. It doesn't matter if cops A thru Y think what cop Z did was terrible, cops A thru Y will still cover it up and say whatever they need to say. It's uncomfortably similar to what's called omerta in the mob.

I don't have anything to back this up, but it's my gut opinion that both of these things stem from some kind of deep-seeded persecuation complex that cops have, that everyone is out to get them, that they're fighting a war and everyone that shows any resistance to them in any way is a mortal threat that must be dealt with with overwhelming force, and then if anyone questions that reaction, well, they just don't understand, the cops are constantly under attack.

It's sad. It's like, in the eyes of some of these cops, there is no conceivable scenario where a black man simply moving his arm in any direction won't result in a gun being pointed at the cop. That's fucked up.

And I know it's not all cops. Of course it's not. But it certainly seems like it's enough of them that it's becoming increasingly scary and infurating.

[bigjohn2441]

The police when faced with deadly force should only shoot the weapon out of the subject's (NOT suspect's) hands or just shoot them in the leg.

After all, thats why they show the Clint Eastwood westerns at police academy.

[stray dog]

This entire episode has been about somebody from huffingtonpost.com getting arrested. how dare they.