February 5, 2011
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Built To Last!
I’m seized by the urge to write something but I don’t know what. It’s ironic that I have several unpublished updates on the go but don’t feel quite like rounding them off just yet so here I am with plenty being written but unable to think of anything to write right now. I guess I’ll just go with some thoughts I’ve had lately and a bit of news.
Thoughts on suicide: I’ve seen a couple of posts about suicide lately. They often go the whole “suicide is selfish and cowardly” route and this pisses me off. Look, suicide is in no way a good thing. It’s sad, terrible and tragic and we should do whatever we can do to prevent it from happening. But this sanctimonious emotional blackmail really irritates me. People depressed and disillusioned enough to actively feel able to circumvent the most potent of human instincts (survival) and end their own life are clearly in a fragile and broken state of mind. The last thing they need is for some un-empathic asshole coming along and making them feel even worse about being the person they are than they already do. This, in my mind, is the worst kind of hypocrisy and self-righteousness. The person in question rarely is willing to put in the work to actually help and encourage the depressed party back to a healthy mindset. No, they are usually taking the “get over it” approach I addressed in my previous update. “Social norms dictate I disapprove of your course of action but I’m in no way willing to sacrifice my own selfish interests to help. Instead I’ll hand you some sanctimonious platitude that does no one any good in a shallow attempt to guilt you out of doing something socially unacceptable.” The way I see it if you have the time to chip in with your opinion you should be willing to follow through and back it up with real action. “It is easier to point the finger than lend a helping hand,” as the proverb goes. If you don’t think it’s your responsibility to aid this person then neither is it your responsibility to offer your opinion. Put up or shut up.
Thoughts on multiculturalism: I’m very much an advocate of multiculturalism. Living in Japan many foreigners, particularly from the big Western powers, express frustration at Japan’s at best naively uninformed, at worst ignorantly xenophobic, approach to the outside world and the forced conformity and homogeneity of its people. Diversity and multiculturalism are not expressly embraced in Japan, rather this casually racist ivory-tower sense of “being Japanese” is lauded over the nation. It’s getting much better but there is still a long way to go. However, in conversation with some friends the other night, we questioned if this is really what we want to see from Japan. Part of what attracts many foreigners to Japan is its fiercely maintained sense of culture. Its oasis of distinct “Japaneseness” amidst an increasingly globalised world. In some way we gaikoku no hito are as fanatically pro-isolationist as some of the most right-wing Japanese. It gets to the level where we get all territorial when seeing an unknown foreigner on the streets, the hairs on our back standing on end like a cat seeing another cat in its backyard. In light of the multiculturalisation of Western nations like the UK, the US, Canada and Australia (OK, Australia’s not geographically ‘western’ but you know what I mean) it’s hard not to argue that multiculturalism does dilute existing cultures, their uniqueness dissolving into the melting pot often to be replaced with a none-distinct, generic, modernist form of ad-hoc ‘culture.’ But at the same time culture is never meant to be immutable. Is wanting to preserve another nation’s culture for our own whimsical interest not just a rather patronising form of anthropological reasoning? Is it not better to promote equality, exchanges of ideas and understanding over the essentially indulgent interests of culture and tradition? Are multiculturalism and culture mutually exclusive? Can a balance not be struck in which we strip down the prejudices and willful ignorances of isolationism but also maintain a country’s cultures and traditions for all to enjoy? Any thoughts?
And now the news. My car came off the road 2 weeks ago. I’d resolved not to make that information public (so no Facebook) but barely anyone reads this thing anyway so what the hell. I had gone to the gym (who says exercise is good for your health?) after work and was coming back at around 7 pm. My base school (where I was at that day) is up in the mountains and it gets seriously cold during the winter months. We’d had a lot of snowfall lately but the roads seemed ok that night. There is one stretch of road, however, that winds across several mountain sides and goes over a dam above a reservoir. It’s pretty windy and goes through a couple of tunnels. I had just exited the first tunnel and took a sharp left. Something seemed ‘up’ with the car as I came out of the turn, like the steering wheel wasn’t working. The road, it turned out, was covered in a layer of ice and the car was sliding. I kinda wrestled with the car, using the Force to keep it under control (by which I mean turning into the spins and easing down the brake) and generally trying to curb the loss of control. The car kinda pin-balled about the road a bit, span round and slammed into the mountain-side barrier, flipped 180 degrees and facing the way I’d come. All very exciting! Fortunately no other drivers were involved and the car still seemed to be in working order. When the traffic (and adrenalin) had died down I 3-point turned to try and get the car off the road. It then became evident I had a puncture in my front-right tyre and the car once again slid like a hockey puck into the road side, coming to a halt in the same position it had been in prior, facing the opposite direction, only further up the road. This is where I thought “fuck this” and got out. The car was still largely undamaged; the impact had been absorbed entirely by the front-right wheel which was totalled! Of course this had to be during a week where the phone company had graciously cut my mobile for some trifling matter of a missed payment for December so I had little choice but to try and flag down a passer-by and ask them to call the police. This being Japan few people are willing to put their neck out for another unless some culturally enforced social convention dictates they must do so. However I was fortunate in that many of the teachers from my school were coming home at this time. Slowing down as he passed I caught the eye of the Social Studies teacher. He registered it was me and stopped to lend a hand. Later he was joined by the kyomushunin (I’m not sure how to translate that. It’s a uniquely Japanese position, the 3rd in charge at the school. The guy who sets the timetables and stuff.) They both received cakes from me last week by way of my appreciation. Another guy, who accidentally bumped my car as he was passing, also stopped to help. He even bought me apology cakes later on, despite the fact both of our cars were merely scuffed from the slight impact. Anyway our evening was spent in the freezing cold coordinating traffic, dealing with the police, getting the spare tyre on the car and pulling it off the road. Since then the car has been refitted with a new tyre and is working fine. I was none the worse for wear for my little accident, though would have happily accepted serious injury on the condition of being rebuilt with cybernetic enhancements, like Ninja Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 4.
X “Let it bleed, let it freeze and fall apart in front of me…”
Comments (9)
Lol…I love reading your posts. ” This being Japan few people are willing to put their neck out for
another unless some culturally enforced social convention dictates they
must do so.” God I can sooo see that.
I totally feel the same about suicide. I never understood how the approach of ‘hard love’ works with suicide. Ridiculous. The military labels it as ‘dishonorable,’ and I quote that from an actual briefing I was apart of where a two star General said that. Suicide in the military is on a rise, last year saw the most ever. That’s real great to hear a figure like that say suicide is dishonorable. Way to freaking go. I was really mad at him. People who are down that hole don’t need to hear such words of discouragement. I know, because I was one of them.
@theender1 - I was one of ‘em too, once, so I think we feel the same. It’s the lazy approach to anything; rather than put in the elbow grease and do something meaningful to address the problem you just spit out some daytime TV-style cliche and then go back to your perfectly fine life, never troubling to empathise with people in a different position to your own. People like that have no right to remark on other people’s troubles and issues.
First section: I nodded in agreement. Second section: I laughed quite a bit… so true! Third section: I was like o_O so was the loss of control due to the ice, and then the puncture was a result of the slamming into the side, or was the loss of control due to the puncture, and the ice just the ‘icing on the cake’ (pun intended)? Would have been pretty scary – I have lost control on a gravel road before and it was not fun…
I was quite angry re people not stopping in Japan because I know it is so true. Someone could be literally between life and death but for the help of a stranger and the typical collectivist culture diffusion of responsibility (and also their almost complete lack of empathy outside cultural gestures designed to make them appear empathic) prevents them from going out of their way to assist others. The people who do help are almost always viewed as strange in Japanese culture. They are usually the ones who have spent time living abroad, or are in other ways part of some sub culture that is ‘non Japanese’. Go figure?
Note: I also desire cybernetic enhancements!! One day… one day.
@sarven - it’s funny you ask, Sarv, cos I wondered the exact same thing. It seems the puncture (plus destruction of the hub-cap) was a result of the initial impact but I did wonder whether I had gotten a puncture prior to losing control and that, coupled with the icy road, had led to the crash.
There are certainly people here who will go out of their way for a stranger but yes, they are viewed as ‘odd.’ I have absolutely no time for people who’s actions are motivated only by obligation and social conventions; it’s shallow, meaningless and entirely self-serving. It was bad enough that people just drove on by when I had exited the car and was clearly in a tricky spot… but worse still is the fact that people who were behind me when I lost control actually saw my car spin of the road and crash, slowed down to avoid damage themselves and then just drove on by. What kind of human being does that? Apparently the majority of Japanese do.
Yep, you’ve summarised it pretty perfectly there – kindness isn’t honourable if it is motivated by an obligation.
As for the fact that people actually SAW you crash… I didn’t realise that. If someone actually saw it happen in front of them, and has to slow down enough to get past, long enough to actually see someone in distress, and yet still not stop and help… well that is just LAME
Indeed.
I’ve wondered the same thing myself. Wish I had some helpful suggestions on how such balance in the Force could be maintained.
Holy crap, Dave (;0_o) That sounds like a pretty miserable (though a little exciting) day. I started fish-tailing on an icy highway one time when the person in front of me came to a very sudden stop. Losing control in a large chunk of explodable metal moving at high speed is definitely not the most comforting feeling in the world. Glad you’re still here with us!
Yikes! That sounds pretty frightening — I’m certainly glad you emerged unscathed. I remain of the opinion that driving in Japan is not for the faint of heart!
i also agree with the first. mostly. i don’t like when people call it selfishness as a way to prevent or poo poo or entirely disregard those who do commit suicide. that pisses me off, too, and i kinda think that such people might be just as selfish. but despite the pain, which usually passes, and despite the circumstances, which often change, i still see it (in general!) as a kind of subtle selfishness — an inward collapse like the formation of a black hole. lord knows i’ve been there, was there for several years. but why was i so special at that time that i felt so put upon by the universe? i often felt singled out, that everyone else had great lives. i was different. my life was shit. but i was special because i suffered. and that’s dangerously close to saying “better.” and i know there were chemicals and other circumstances involved that i couldn’t exactly control. but at the same time i let them control me. likewise, most of us have people who depend on us. maybe not financially, but probably emotionally at least. in some ways suicide seems to me like a “so long, suckers!” type of thing in which one person leaves everyone else behind. i see the christian belief in the rapture in a similarly selfish light, in a “we’re leaving you all behind to suffer because we’re better than you” way.
did i make any sense just then?
i’m also an advocate of multiculturalism. i very much want to experience the culture of scotland.
glad you and the car are ok. i fucking hate winter driving. i had my own run-in about ten years ago that involved rolling down a 30-foot ravine. fun stuff.