3 ms·

If all you see there is something "cool", you're missing the more rewarding depths. These symbols speak of a society which was at the other extreme end to the f

by pegasus 4mo ago

If all you see there is something "cool", you're missing the more rewarding depths. These symbols speak of a society which was at the other extreme end to the fragmentation, atomization, and attention span erosion we are experiencing today. This allowed them to elevate esthetics to a point we couldn't afford to today. I'm thinking here mainly of those ancient Mon[1] symbols – though something of their spirit lives on in the modern symbols also discussed in the article. Contemplating these evocative designs can help us build a bridge to a societal context that's otherwise almost incomprehensible to us. Another thing I found fascinating: the way the symbol that marks a fire truck doesn't employ the red color we would expect in the West, and is instead based on the shape of an ice crystal. A bit like an amulet to ward evil away, there's some kind of atavistic magical function still afoot there. [1] the wikipedia page linked from the article is worth a read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon_(emblem) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon_(emblem)

dkdbejwi383 4mo ago
This is just the trope of the "wise and mystical oriental"
- aa-jv 4mo ago
  Hey, I mean this seriously: you might be a racist misanthrope.
  - khazhoux 4mo ago
    I think you meant to reply to the parent comment instead?
  - latexr 4mo ago
    Those terms seem incompatible. Either you’re a racist and hate certain slices of humanity or you’re a misanthrope and hate all of it. Doesn’t make much sense to hate all and part of it. What exactly did you mean?
    - aa-jv 4mo ago
      [flagged]
      - latexr 4mo ago
        Perhaps don’t question people’s education when you know nothing about them and are yourself unable to communicate properly and understand a question. A “racist and a misanthrope” is not the same thing as a “racist misanthrope” (and again, those overlap and are thus nonsensical together). Or don’t you understand how being a “fast cook” differs from being “fast and a cook”? You are being incredibly rude and accusatory to multiple people without provocation and should consider revising your HN bio. Aside from it not following proper writing structure and being little more than a jumble of words akin to what one would see on Facebook over a picture of a sunset, you’re behaving like the opposite of what it proffers.
        aa-jv 4mo ago
        You're just trying to distract from the racist misanthropy in this thread. Nobody sensible ever panders to racist misanthropes just to 'be polite'. Dismissing this article because "its just one of those 'in Japan' posts" is just poor form. A racist (Japan) statement that this article should be diminished in appreciation by an audience because it is "just one of those 'in Japan' posts.." (misanthropic) can be both racist and misanthropic. Racist, because Japan, and misanthropic because "people shouldn't appreciate this post for what it is because its 'just another in Japan' post" .. Listen, just because you fail at grammar doesn't mean you can't learn things from strangers on the Internet: Racist and misanthrope are two completely different things, and despite your pedantic blathering it is entirely possible to be both, either, or neither. Be neither.
        latexr 4mo ago
        You are stuck on an invented argument, fully in your head, and keep ascribing motivations to people you know nothing about. I’m not “distracting” from anything. I don’t condone racism or dismissing the article (which I enjoyed) as being “thing in Japan” either. That doesn’t mean I have to agree with how you formulate your disagreement. And it definitely does not mean you are in the right to lashing out at someone who explicitly asked you for clarification. I did not engage to attack you, I did so to understand your argument. That you chose to be relentlessly negative without provocation is a contradiction of the words in your bio—clearly those don’t represent who you are. If they are meant to be aspirational, do better.
- pegasus 4mo ago
  Plenty of these tropes have some truth behind them, even if that truth often gets flattened into a caricature of itself in popular imagination. Then you get the anticaricature caricature (reverse snobbery) where people knee-jerk label everything that rhymes with that trope as a caricature, convinced that's enough to dismiss an argument. Btw. medieval Europe, or classical Greece, just to give two non-Eastern examples, also had many of the characteristics I mentioned in my comment: a strong communal spirit and shared symbolic life which connects one to a coherent and poetic view of the world. But pointing out ways cultures very different from ours might have been superior in some senses to ours is one of the most triggering moves, especially on a techie-oriented forum like this one.

by pegasus 4mo ago

dkdbejwi383 4mo ago

This is just the trope of the "wise and mystical oriental"

aa-jv 4mo ago
Hey, I mean this seriously: you might be a racist misanthrope.
- khazhoux 4mo ago
  I think you meant to reply to the parent comment instead?
- latexr 4mo ago
  Those terms seem incompatible. Either you’re a racist and hate certain slices of humanity or you’re a misanthrope and hate all of it. Doesn’t make much sense to hate all and part of it. What exactly did you mean?
  - aa-jv 4mo ago
    [flagged]
    - latexr 4mo ago
      Perhaps don’t question people’s education when you know nothing about them and are yourself unable to communicate properly and understand a question. A “racist and a misanthrope” is not the same thing as a “racist misanthrope” (and again, those overlap and are thus nonsensical together). Or don’t you understand how being a “fast cook” differs from being “fast and a cook”? You are being incredibly rude and accusatory to multiple people without provocation and should consider revising your HN bio. Aside from it not following proper writing structure and being little more than a jumble of words akin to what one would see on Facebook over a picture of a sunset, you’re behaving like the opposite of what it proffers.
      - aa-jv 4mo ago
        You're just trying to distract from the racist misanthropy in this thread. Nobody sensible ever panders to racist misanthropes just to 'be polite'. Dismissing this article because "its just one of those 'in Japan' posts" is just poor form. A racist (Japan) statement that this article should be diminished in appreciation by an audience because it is "just one of those 'in Japan' posts.." (misanthropic) can be both racist and misanthropic. Racist, because Japan, and misanthropic because "people shouldn't appreciate this post for what it is because its 'just another in Japan' post" .. Listen, just because you fail at grammar doesn't mean you can't learn things from strangers on the Internet: Racist and misanthrope are two completely different things, and despite your pedantic blathering it is entirely possible to be both, either, or neither. Be neither.
        latexr 4mo ago
        You are stuck on an invented argument, fully in your head, and keep ascribing motivations to people you know nothing about. I’m not “distracting” from anything. I don’t condone racism or dismissing the article (which I enjoyed) as being “thing in Japan” either. That doesn’t mean I have to agree with how you formulate your disagreement. And it definitely does not mean you are in the right to lashing out at someone who explicitly asked you for clarification. I did not engage to attack you, I did so to understand your argument. That you chose to be relentlessly negative without provocation is a contradiction of the words in your bio—clearly those don’t represent who you are. If they are meant to be aspirational, do better.
pegasus 4mo ago
Plenty of these tropes have some truth behind them, even if that truth often gets flattened into a caricature of itself in popular imagination. Then you get the anticaricature caricature (reverse snobbery) where people knee-jerk label everything that rhymes with that trope as a caricature, convinced that's enough to dismiss an argument. Btw. medieval Europe, or classical Greece, just to give two non-Eastern examples, also had many of the characteristics I mentioned in my comment: a strong communal spirit and shared symbolic life which connects one to a coherent and poetic view of the world. But pointing out ways cultures very different from ours might have been superior in some senses to ours is one of the most triggering moves, especially on a techie-oriented forum like this one.