Are the Japanese cracking up?

[sharesunited]

All of these "suicides by detergent" and today's stabbing rampage which killed seven?

[anonymous171]

1. Wouldn't be surprised. High population density can have adverse affects on the mind.

Or could just be the culture. Or a combination of both factors. Or just radiation.

[HeresyLives]

2. As compared to where?

If you follow the news at all, you'll note this is happening all over the world.

[Kutjara]

3. I'm currently reading an excellent book about the phenomenon.

"Shutting Out the Sun" by Michael Zielenziger (www.shuttingoutthesun.com).

It investigates the large and growing numbers of young Japanese people who either lock themselves away from the world for months or years, or alternatively crack up and commit senseless acts of violence. One fascinating fact I learned from the book is that, for the Japanese, the term "domestic abuse" is almost universally understood as attacks by children on their parents.

It's well worth a read.

[silverojo]

5. That book is full of crap

Beating children is so commonly accepted in Asian culture as a "normal" form of discipline, that even teachers are allowed to hit their students.

(I know actual Japanese people, and am interested in Japanese culture. But it's not always pretty.)

[alphafemale]

7. Teachers were allowed to hit students pretty recently here too.

When my daughter started pre K I was informed that I wanted her exempted from physical abuse at school I needed a DOCTORS EXCUSE.

I was flabbergasted.

Luckily I knew that you could get such a note from just about any pediatrician.

That was around '92. By the time my son started school three years later a note from the parent requesting that a child not be physically assaulted was sufficient. I think physical assault of children by adults was ended shortly after that.

The unintended consequence though is with older teens assaulting other students or teachers and the teachers being practically forbidden to strike back.

[skooooo]

8. Didn't have so many discipline problems then either.....

...sorry to sound illiberal, but it's true.

[alphafemale]

9. If things are to the point where an adult feels the need to physically assault a child....

That person doesn't need to be around kids.

There are many better ways to have discipline.

[skooooo]

10. It was a healthy fear....

mostly. Kids have to know there are consequences. And we did! I'm not *that* old, but still.

The healthy fear prevented a lot of misbehavior. That's totally gone now. Not saying it was perfect, but things haven't exactly improved either.

[alphafemale]

11. Maybe we should mandate whips in the workplace then. And abandon domestic violence laws.

Things are so much better when people are fearful.

[skooooo]

12. Or we could just be flippant ...

..and dismissive of others experiences when they fly in the face of our ideology. That would be just as good too. dumb ***

[Book Lover]

13. So, you're saying you hit your kids to discipline them?

Do you spank or otherwise hit your children to instill this healthy fear?

[skooooo]

14. I'm talking about a school

And the way it was when I was there, and what I saw. Sorry if that offends you.

Obviously it's much better when kids know there is consequences - corporal or not. There are many ways to give kids consequences. Copping out and letting them do anything they want isn't doing them any favors and is also abusive, imo.

[Book Lover]

16. I was asking you if you could hit your own kid

Or could you hit someone else's, you know, in order to instill this healthy fear of pain? Because, of course, humans are born sans that fear, apparently. At least according to you. You've got to instill it, right?

[skooooo]

17. Fear of consequences.

And now there are none, or very few. So you have kids act out. Get a system of consequences that kids will "fear," and yes people have to be taught consequences. Sorry if that is such a radical concept to you. I know you are trying to make me out to be an awful, kid-hitting advocate. So if you want to think the worst of me for what I say, I really don't give a flying fuck.

There should always be consequences for misbehavior, and it should be clear and consistent. If you don't think corporal punishment is the way to go, that's fine. I don't know that I do either. I do know that when I was in school, there was a fear of consequences that cut down on bad behavior.

Now please do something else with your time besides making me out to be some kind of abusive jerk. I don't have the time to explain it again.

[Book Lover]

18. So you don't have kids and aren't involved with actually raising or teaching them

All this is theory to you. *That* is what is pissing me off. You have no real-world experience with children, clearly, yet you know what the best method of raising repsonsilbe, mature humans is.

Don't tell me my job, Jack.

[skooooo]

19. To bad you can't just read...

...what someone writes, instead of projecting your own shit on them.

[Book Lover]

20. Projecting? Please.

At least don't misuse the term, 'kay? No matter what, you are armchair quarterbacking. When you finally become responsible for some kids, you can come back and talk.

[skooooo]

21. This is what I saw.

Sorry if you can't deal with it.

[Kutjara]

22. Have you read it?

Since you've completely misunderstood my point, I'm guessing the answer is no. But hey, you know "actual Japanese people," so I guess you know everything there is to know about the country, right? You must be a quick learner, because I lived in Japan, on and off, for nearly a decade and barely scratched the surface of that fascinating culture.

Regardless of whether beating children is commonly accepted in "Asian culture" (as if that's all one thing, anyway), the fact remains that the overwhelming number of reported cases of domestic abuse in Japan relates to attacks by children on their parents. It is a large and growing trend, fueled by the younger generation's rejection of the stifling "giri culture" of their elders.

In no way is this inconsistent with your assertion that parents beating their children is normal. Rather, it's perhaps the very normality of parent-on-child abuse that makes the sharp increase in the child-on-parent variety so newsworthy.

The simple fact that a parent beating a child isn't considered to be abuse explains why, in the popular imagination, "domestic abuse" is equated with children attacking their parents.

[gullwing300]

4. Actually they're cracking sideways.

:-)

[ladjf]

6. If they continue to add nuclear power plants built upon some of

the least stable land on Earth, they will all die together, along with millions from China, Korea,
Russia and the others on the Pacific Rim.

[gullwing300]

15. I assume you're referring to radioactive fallout...? Prevailing winds are westerly.

:eyes: