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>The way the Japanese treat outsiders needs a whole other term of it's own, really. It’s called xenophobia, of which their various forms of racism are just art

>The way the Japanese treat outsiders needs a whole other term of it's own, really. It’s called xenophobia, of which their various forms of racism are just articulations thereof.

honestoHeminway 8y ago
If the world is not easy, take a knife and cut until it is easy? Does not matter if the quest to make it easy, black and white so to speak, does more damage then good. People are put out of there comfort zones by having people around them, who look totally different then their own mirror image. It happens, because it crashes the mirror-neurons we have - you get difficulties comparing your self image with somebody who looks totally different. Never mind that the whole process is a total delusion, basically everyone hallucinating that everyone else is a carbon copy of the self. Some signals overide this behaviour (baby-stereo types, big eyes, etc.) but for most people getting put outside your comfort zone, becoming aware that there might be not only other people, but also totally strange mindsets, is deeply distressing. And if you look at the past history - of nearly all of the world, and the list of missing explorerers - rightfully so. It can be overcome, partially, but never completely. Of course, acceptance and the applying of widespread workarounds (like the only text based internet) - would deprive political partys of the aggitation-steam theire engine relies on.
sonnyblarney 8y ago
Though 'xenophobia' is a considerably better term than 'racism', I still don't think the world aptly captures the situation. The Japanese do not generally hate, fear or disdain outsiders (though surely this exists, and has been the case historically) so much as they just think of themselves as different. 'Xenophobia' and 'racism' imply a degree of antagonism, derision, hatred etc., which isn't necessarily the case. I'm English Canadian, I've lived around the world, I now live in Montreal Quebec where I'm an 'ethnic minority' among French Quebecers. There are many new immigrants to Quebec, and almost none of them want to speak French. They all want to speak English. I can assure you that 'Quebec' culture is quite different from the rest of North America, and if this situation continues, 'The Quebecois' will disappear and North America will be 'less diverse'. It's a paradox because the Quebecois are politically 'far left of centre' generally by North American standards, and are instinctively 'anti racist', 'pro migrant' in the political/intellectual sense, but they're also proud of their identity and culture, and the demographic issue looms large and real here as a real and tangible existential issue. Terms like racism and xenophobia are useful, but are often poorly applied and cause misunderstanding.

>The way the Japanese treat outsiders needs a whole other term of it's own, really. It’s called xenophobia, of which their various forms of racism are just articulations thereof.

honestoHeminway 8y ago

If the world is not easy, take a knife and cut until it is easy? Does not matter if the quest to make it easy, black and white so to speak, does more damage then good. People are put out of there comfort zones by having people around them, who look totally different then their own mirror image. It happens, because it crashes the mirror-neurons we have - you get difficulties comparing your self image with somebody who looks totally different. Never mind that the whole process is a total delusion, basically everyone hallucinating that everyone else is a carbon copy of the self. Some signals overide this behaviour (baby-stereo types, big eyes, etc.) but for most people getting put outside your comfort zone, becoming aware that there might be not only other people, but also totally strange mindsets, is deeply distressing. And if you look at the past history - of nearly all of the world, and the list of missing explorerers - rightfully so. It can be overcome, partially, but never completely. Of course, acceptance and the applying of widespread workarounds (like the only text based internet) - would deprive political partys of the aggitation-steam theire engine relies on.

sonnyblarney 8y ago

Though 'xenophobia' is a considerably better term than 'racism', I still don't think the world aptly captures the situation. The Japanese do not generally hate, fear or disdain outsiders (though surely this exists, and has been the case historically) so much as they just think of themselves as different. 'Xenophobia' and 'racism' imply a degree of antagonism, derision, hatred etc., which isn't necessarily the case. I'm English Canadian, I've lived around the world, I now live in Montreal Quebec where I'm an 'ethnic minority' among French Quebecers. There are many new immigrants to Quebec, and almost none of them want to speak French. They all want to speak English. I can assure you that 'Quebec' culture is quite different from the rest of North America, and if this situation continues, 'The Quebecois' will disappear and North America will be 'less diverse'. It's a paradox because the Quebecois are politically 'far left of centre' generally by North American standards, and are instinctively 'anti racist', 'pro migrant' in the political/intellectual sense, but they're also proud of their identity and culture, and the demographic issue looms large and real here as a real and tangible existential issue. Terms like racism and xenophobia are useful, but are often poorly applied and cause misunderstanding.