The American

Quote: the most ethnicly diverse nation on the planet

Actually 15ofthe19 that isn't true. India is the world largest democracy and represents more diversity in ethnicity/culture/religion/linguistically. The States is diverse but it isn't the 'most on the planet.'

 

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For the USA to assimilate another culture (that is emulate parts of it) of course would have little or no effect upon that culture. We can see this in Melbourne or Adelaide where the Greek speaking population is second only to Athens. Yes Australia has assimilated many Greek cultural nuances. Interestingly, as a Greek descendant, if you are raised here and then travel to Greece you’ll soon discover that the “Greece” your parents taught you about no longer is there. The culture has evolved as all cultures do. So many young Greeks travel to visit Greece and return proclaiming they are more Greek than the Greeks! (Insofar as they still retain the traditional values of the last few generations – which of course are somewhat different then the few generations proceeding them).

As for destroying other cultures? Yes, in some cases. Cases of war. The USA did help the USSR to destroy the German culture and definitely changed it. Of course not so many people bitch about that. Then of course there is Japan. I’m pretty sure a few Chinese and Koreans secretly are thankful that the culture of Japan was forcibly changed. So lets move on to Vietnam. But not the war – of course that was wrong as many last generation Americans will quickly attest to (and did so at the time mind you).

No, I’m thinking of the movement of communism. Where did this idea have it’s roots? Oh, in Germany. By an academic with absolutely no idea of how the world works (being an academic I have a little inside info on that one). Are you saying that somehow the Vietnamese should be closed off from German philosophical influences? Such as governmental structure? Maybe they need to be coddled? Maybe you can decide what information they shall and shall not have? What technology is permitted in their country. God (or lack there of) only knows they shouldn’t be allowed to decide for themselves. Is that what you are getting at? Kind of close them off to medicine, maths, philosophy, technology – basically anything that might effect a change (which is exactly that “a change” – not good, not bad – just different: we all know how man likes change though don’t we) in their inherent culture? Well you can play god. For me I think it is fine to trade (of course trade = change = destroy?) with Vietnam. Their students are more than welcome to come to anyplace in the world and learn anything they so desire. If I had my way there’d be no borders.

And what would that “subtle sophistication" be? Of course – trade. And you seem to be of the mind that other peoples aren’t adequate in their own cultural understanding to discover (before it’s too late) that trade will lead to change/destroy their culture. Much like it did to the Greeks in Greece. In the same way as I previously mentioned– the Greeks in Greece today are less Greek than the isolated bunch over here in Adelade (where they still practice the “old-ways”).

Of course Japan seemed to profited from trade and retain quite a uniquely Japanese culture – changed from the past but uniquely Japanese nevertheless. But then they’ve changed Amercian culture as well. Manufacturing is different. Many electronics, while invented in the States aren’t made in the States – nor even developed further in the States.

Gosh, I know people who like to Karaoke – an insidious example the Japanese trying to destroy American culture!!!

by majority I assume you mean the rest of us simpletons that need to be guided in our cultural development by someone with a much wider world view. Someone that can nurture us along the right path. Decide what we have access to and don’t have access to. Kind of like a Big Brother – just helping us see the right path. No need to think for ourselves – or develop in our own way, Big Brother’ll take care of all that nonsense.

Here you go with the “contaminate” again. Then you’d agree that the Japanese have contaminated your culture with Karaoke? Of the Chinese contaminated you with paper? Lack-of-god only knows paper has changed the hell out of your culture. Oh shit – the Japanese also learned to write from the Chinese – damn – gonna have to give that one back. And wet rice-farming, that’ll have to go.

Man look at how evil these Chinese are!

I guess the only way us simpletons are going to make it is if we have a Big Brother looking out for us. The idea’s starting to sound good. If Karaoke is changing us then god only knows what else is happening. We need one person who can look after this aspect for us- like a Ministry of the Big Brother. Maybe after awhile we could evolve this into a Saudi style Moral-Police (God only knows we have to stomp this out at the individual level – after all it’s these simpletons that keep bringing in the barbarians culture anyway – I say lock-em-up).

You’re starting to make sense. I think I see it now.

I don’t need my own free-will because I never had it anyway. So in its place someone smarter then a simpleton like me can make my decisions for me – and that will give me back my free-will.

In the end, if I know one thing it’ll be this: Big Brother loves me.

 

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Go to Japan and then come back and tell me that. They’re uniquely Japanese and if you left your office and went there you’d instantly recognize that fact.

Medicine?

I’ve been with a Japanese for 5 years. I’ve spent time in Japan. You are stereotyping. Yes, live in Tokyo and you’ll live in a box. Just like any major city be it NY or London or Roma. Live outside of the city in the suburb and you live in a house with a small yard (unless you’re a Priest they you and your family live in a Temple.). Live in the country side and you live in a house with a big yard.

As for dieing from over work. It’s not because they have changed it’s because they haven’t. The Japanese have always had to work hard. Japan can be an inhospitable place – be it by some Samurai or the weather. They work so hard because they do not want their women to work a job. But again, they’ve always worked hard. It’s in their culture. Which you will see is uniquely Japanese if you ever visit the country. So the aspect of men working to death its not Western at all. Which is kind of funny, because you seemed to try to twist the notion of working to death into a Western culture value - when in reality it’s a Japanese culture value.

Cultures, as you should know, are neither superior nor inferior. Although I will agree some are more pleasant to me personally than others (like Australian over American).

Oh, and the “ancientness” of a culture means nothing. American is British which is ancient. Which again means nothing. As you will agree, we can both claim the same amount of credit for The Republic or The Art of War or Star Wars or Paper or the Wheel – exactly none or all of it. It doesn’t matter.

Did you know that North Korea uses slaves (they last/live ~ 1 year) to mine gold which it then stores in Switzerland? So don’t crap on about America in this regards. It’s a “humanity” problem. Not an “American” problem.

But, yes, large amounts of money should not be allowed to transfer out of a developing country for a minimum of a two week waiting period.

What are you going on about? I never said prostitution is wrong. I have never forced a woman to be a prostitute. I never mentioned anything concerning morality – which for me would mean something but for everyone else, it’s their own definition.

The call America a Great Satan because Religion is central in their control over the Iranian people and Satan represents the ultimate fall from Gods Grace. In this way people are encouraged not to emulate American ideals. One such ideal is Democracy. The rule of 51% over 49%. Which they don’t like because 51% of the Iranians would probably oust the 0.01% running the place. No, They who are in power prefer 1 to rule over all. Which is fine with me. They can do whatever they wish.

I’ll accept it as true, and certainly locals always know the best places to go. But I have to say some beaches were (5 years ago) covered in cigarettes butts. Something we, here in Australian, are just as saddened as you to see.

Pollution, for now does appear to go hand in hand with industrialization. Something “Americanization” didn’t invent. I believe it was the Europeans. As for city cleanliness – stop tossing butts on the ground and tossing trash directly into the waterways in Venice!

However, there is much to like about Europe and many people can be quite friendly. I’d go back today if I could afford to.

That’ll be decided by you and other Europeans. Not by whether some American Africans invent Jazz or invent Swing Dance or invent Rock or Salsa (Cubans in NY) or invent Hip Hop. If Europeans want to listen to such they will and their culture will change. Just as all cultures always have.

I agree though. I’d love for Europeans to decide to become pagan! Or Atheistic at the least (which can be included as Hellenistic).

That’d be fine and I for one second.

I don’t think so. But I also don’ think you’re acting realistically and I think you are looking for a scape-goat. And American is everyone’s favorite wiping-boy as so for you to toss your problems into the lap of Americanism and if you think Europes changes are only due to Amercian/British culture then you didn’t look very hard.

Edit: spelling, grammer - you name it

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If you have to rely on stereotypes to make your point, you have no point.

If you wish Europe to retrograde back to a previous incarnation, you've lost touch with reality.

If hatred is what motivates you to make a statement, your statement is wrong.

Hatred will lead one to one place. For you, it looks to be a short trip.

 

‘You’?! What do you mean? Are ‘you’ creating a stereotype of me based on broad generalizations? Are you not taking minute instances of my external manifestations and extrapolating general rules about my character and my being?
Shame on you moron. I thought you were above generalizations.

In this post we can see some of the ailments plaguing western minds in our day:

1] See how this mind is unable to grasp deeper meanings and is condemned to exist upon the social and religious surfaces of its space/time continuum.
it bases its asumptions of whatis 'wrong' on simple emotional grounds.
"If you hate" it says, "You are wrong!!!!"
But if I hate idiot, I change or I destroy that which I hate and so I become right.

2] See how this mind is prejudiced by that human error, that what is before is worst than what lies ahead or what is current. The ancient becomes primitive and the future modern.
This linear thinking is based on a FALLACY, the fallacy of evolutionary progress.
That is we assume that all change leads upwards and that what is past is automatically inferior. The very term ‘modern’ has been imbued with a sense of progress and superiority.
Surprising when one considers that the European enlightenment was the rediscovery of ancient ideals and knowledge in a time of darkness, stagnation and superstition

3] Notice the indoctrination of this mind into moral social systems.
Hatred, anger, envy, pride become labels of insult when all they are is part of the same being.
Look how society attempts to weed out emotions that do not suit its harmony in this drive to ‘Feminize’ man, as I’ve described it in that essay, and how compassion, love, empathy are promoted because they placate dangerous human characteristics and fit into the systems interests while the human characteristics that don’t are eliminated or shamed into oblivion.
Has it not been hatred, envy, pride that has made man a dominator of his world?
I submit that all emotions that control the individual are destructive. Yes even compassion and love. It is how you deal and react to an emotion that decides if it is to become constructive or destructive. If it controls you then it is harmful, if you control it, it is a tool, a fire, a force.
What makes a man brave is not an absence of fear, that is a machine, it is, in fact, how one deals and overcomes this fear that decides courage. Fear must exist for courage to have meaning just like hatred must exist for love to be potent.
Does anyone get this?! I wonder.
For me anger, hate and envy have been motivating forces for personal development. I hatemy imperfections so I do something about them, I envy the other so instead of trying to degrade him I emulate him, I am proud of who i am and so I strive to maintain myself and to become better.
Should we castrate humanity and create some smiling, demure, sheepish, mechanical automaton with no distinctive characteristics so that the social norm is harmonized? THIS IS THE QUESTION!!!!
The very word ‘pride’ has taken on negative connotations in our ‘modern’ more ‘civilized’ world.
But what does civilized mean anyway?

4] Notice the avoidance of my challenge.
I asked for ONE, just ONE, instance of specificity. But this automaton, pretending to be human, chose to avoid my challenge and focus on what it comprehends: emotions.
But does it really comprehend emotions at all or does it only experience them?

Is not all of science based on generalizations?
Is not all thought the extrapolation of general rules from a minute amount of evidence?
Is not sociology, biology, anthropology, economics, cosmology, medicine and so on all based on generalizations?
When I use the words ‘I’, ‘You’, ‘Now’, ‘Here’, ‘There’, ‘species’ etc. am I not making broad generalizations of space/time phenomena as they are prejudicially perceived by my mind?
Is not reality a shared generalization?
The mind created models of the external by using sensual information, it translates into comprehensible concepts. These models and how accurate they are is dependant on the minds ability to perceive, to imagine and to infer correctly. This is called reasoning.
Upon these models man decides upon general rules, he creates strategies. If he is right he become successful if he is wrong he perishes.
The validity of the model is determined through time, by observation, prediction and testing. This is called scientific methodology.


Michael

What you call ‘uniquely Japanese’ is not Japanese at all. It is a unique interpretation of US ideals.
What is unique is how they have adapted and absorbed western methods and ways of life.

There is really little Japanese left in Japan except for the language.

Everything is either superior or inferior within a given environment.
All of nature and the universe is based on this principle of superior/inferior in relation to one another.
Your equalitarian thinking is a product of Judeo-Christian contamination where everything must be levelled into a flat nothingness so that the inferior does not feel bad.
Evolution is all about inferior/superior.

There is nothing Greek about Greeks today.
They call themselves Greek Orthodox and think their orthodoxy is a defining Hellenic characteristics when it is really the antithesis of Hellenism.
Modern Greeks are an amalgamation of Turkish mentalities and Jewish moralities.
This is what pains me the most. But there are a few that are rediscovering their real traditions and realizing their real culture and spirit.

Here you are making the common error made by people brought up in capitalistic systems you are interpreting technology as culture.
You believe that is it tools and machines that determines the borders of a culture, where I talk about spirit and how one faces the world and reality that determines this.
Tools and the details of living are just manifestations of this spirit of being.
Karaoke is not a Japanese cultural phenomenon based on its original spirit it is only a unique interpretation of US culture.
Culture is a spirit of being and becoming. Culture determines how you face reality, how you think, how you know, and how you live.
Is it the computer and the car then that defines western civilization or are they merely products of the original spirit of being?
Understand this and you understand me.
If not then good luck to you, I cannot afford to waste my time with minds that can never comprehend what I’m talking about; might as well talk to a five-year-old about the finer points of play.

 

Random

Some things about America and Americans, largely mythical:

• "The American Dream" - Dennis DeYoung, Harry's Hands
• "Decline of America" - Styx, Suite Madame Blue
• "Decline of America" - Chicago, Harry Truman
• "You Tell Me" - Soundgarden, Hands All Over
• "Abstract Art" - Band of Susans, Sermons on Competition, part 2


The American is an underachiever, even our industrialist billionaires and technological giants. The American is an apostate of the contrat social. The American is overconfident, undereducated, and overspecialized. The American has only hidden uses for the substantial, and openly prefers the superficial. The American is unaware of the myths that limit the potential outcomes of destiny. The American knows the difference between knowledge and wisdom, and chooses instead bliss. The American is a performance artist that cannot take constructive criticism. The American is an unrepentant talk show guest. The American is an opinion bearing no obligations to fact.

Two random cents. I now return you to the original topic.

 

And there, we have it.

 

Although this wasn’t directed toward me, I just want to say. Evolution is not a fallacy. In actuality it is a fact. However, the term “evolution” has slipped into the mainstream general use and is oftentimes misrepresented. The process of evolution is in relation to variation in allelic frequencies within populations. Also, a major misnomer is to think of evolution as a ladder (many time with humans at the time) – evolution is not gradient – a ladder it is not. Lastly, as for me, I think change is just that – change.

I tend to think that the religious transformation in Europe to Christendoom led to the loss of ideals and knowledge (as they themselves were intertwined with their inherent religion/superstitions – which, alas, lost out to the Mythric upstart

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Lets think about this. What then does it mean – the word “Japanese”? Is Japanese only to be used when referring to the culture of Japan prior to the cultural change from a spoken- culture to one in which the Chinese idea of writing had superseded, we’ll say writing-culture? Would you then say that Japan has not been “Japanese” sence they adopted the Chinese writing system 1000+ years ago? If not then what of agriculture? Did Japan stop being “Japanese” when they were introduced to wet-rice farming by the Koreans? Just these two ideas: writing and wet-rice farming have dramatically effected change upon Japan and what it meant to be “Japanese”. So I am asking you – what is “Japanese” if it is not the culture of the people living in Japan today?

Note: I think many Japanese would be discouraged to hear you say they are American bitches and perhaps in actuality think it’s actually they whom are pimping out the Americans!
Note2: I’d think it should sound as inane as I telling present day Greeks they are American Bitches. After all the Greek Government wants US military bases in Greece (Souda Bay) – and as Greece is a democracy we can extrapolate and say Greeks themselves therefore want a US military presence. Greeks ALSO choose to listen to American music and watch American television. Are you saying that Greeks are US Bitches? Except the enlightened few – like yourself.

I’m atheist – screw god

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And inferior/superior is true in the case of winning a running race as defined by least amount of time to get from point A to point B. But as for aesthetics I don’t believe in one painting being inferior/superior to another. I may appreciate one and think the other crap; however, another may come along and think just the opposite.

You shouldn’t try to teach something you obviously know zilch about. Especially to an academic in the field. Evolution is not about inferior or superior. Human, in evolutionary terms, are no more or less inferior/superior to an ant.

We’ll leave it at that.

Amoung language and other ideas, culture also encompasses technology. When technology becomes quite a common event inside of a peoples culture (such as fishing with spears and using a boat) then we can agree that it has an effect on the culture itself

I never said that. You interpreted my words to mean that because then you can and throw out a red-herring about spirits (which I for one don’t believe in) and reality (which, in physical terms, I for one do believe in). Reality has as much to do with culture as it does with matter and therefore doesn’t really bring much new to the table huh.

Oh, so now Americans inventor all forms of musical entertainment? I believe you will find that the Japanese were imitating their aristocracy as well as copying past and present famous performs long before Europeans ever sailed to and killed, conquered, and colonized a place they termed America.

Japanese have a LONG history of imitation. Karaoke is uniquely Japanese and (as you would seem to suggest) has “infested” American culture. I’m not talking about the music of Karaoke - as that can be what ever the listener wishes it to be. I’m referring to the act of Karaoke.

You see, this is why I wanted to bring up Japan. Japan doesn’t fit in the pigeon-hole you generalized the world to exist in. Maybe that’s because some of what you are proposing is incorrect.

Can’t you see that you are so obsessed with this flawed idea that you are now more than willing to twist the entire meaning of evolution into a lie and re-write Japanese history to fit your way of thinking? Can you not see that you yourself may be wrong here?

I agree (except about the spirit stuff).

Mixing fact with fiction is confusing isn’t it?

I’ll try to respond to this if you are willing to re-write it in a way that I can understand leaving out spirit or defining it so that I understand what you mean when you say “spirit”.

That’s up to you.

 

I think you should re-read what I said. I said the fallacy is the notion of continuous evolutionary progress not that evolution was a fallacy. Evolution simply denotes change which is a fundamental characteristic, it seems, of our universe.
But thanks for the lesson.

Although I agree that cultures also evolve by assimilating foreign influences within their body and that tradition is a thing that alters, albeit slowly, I see the current Americanization of Japan and the world in general as the complete replacement of local traditions and customs, as well as linguistic uniqueness, as a complete replacement, done in a relatively short time period, of thousand year old cultural norms with more ‘modern’, less profound US norms.
But your assertion that Japan is still Japanese because they sing Karaoke and we don’t is absurd.
Culture for me is not only how one lives, it’s not only the details of everyday life or what tools an individual uses, culture are the rituals one uses to relate to ones own people and to the universe as a whole and how one understands and faces the world around him.
This is why I call it a spirit of being.
It is this way one participates in the world and the way he interprets it that determines the tools he will use or the details of his life.

Perhaps there is still some Japanese left in Japan but it has been mutated and altered by an external influence that was not adopted willingly or because it appealed to the mind as superior but because it was proposed through military victory and the subjugation of Japanese culture to another.

Hellenic culture spread primarily through its quality of thought and not through military conquest, it was assimilated into other cultures willingly through its superiority and was adopted without coercion. That is why for centuries it remained the culture of the privileged and elites of any culture it came in contact with. It appealed to the few.
American culture, like Christianity, owes its power in how it appeals to the masses, to the many, to the underprivileged and unsophisticated and so it corrupts and destroys any existing higher culture from the bottom up. It appeals to the stupid so that eventually even the smart must pay it heed.
So it levels humanity into a non-distinct 'averageness' .

Your ignorance in this area is astounding.
Nobody invited the US into Greece or any other country. The US forced an alliance upon them by invoking an external threat and presenting itself as the only other alternative.
US power rests on demonizing someone so that it remains relevant as a world police-force. It is a culture and civilization based on fear and intimidation.
Your naiveté in this area is astounding.
It’s surprising to me to hear an American telling me, a Greek who lived there for over 10 years, that the Greeks want the US presence in Souda Bay. Is that what your government told you imbecile?
The Greeks have been trying to get rid of that base ever since the early 80’s when a socialist government took office there.
Are you that fucking naïve?
Didn’t this same government tell you the Sandinistas were evil or that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction?
Does your gullibility and naiveté have no end?
But I forget, you are an American.
US power rests on creating a sense of insecurity and terror in the world: Terrorism, the Red scare/Communism, Nuclear threat and so on.
It then uses this terror to come in and make itself important, pretending to be some kind of Big-Brother, benevolent father figure, defender of right and 'good' that will protect the world, for the right price.
Even within the US population control is maintained through a culture of fear.
Americans live in a continuous state of anxiety. This is why they must own guns, why they must escape stress through, over-consuming and constant entertainment. This is why thinking is a bad word there.

Look what is happening in Europe today. France and Germany are trying to break out of US hegemony by uniting Europe, granted under their influence, and establishing a common European army. This scares the US that wants any European army to be under its jurisdiction,which it calls NATO. So it uses right wing governments, bribery, coercion and influence to persuade countries like Poland, Spain and Great Britain to resist this trend.
The US is sabotaging the European unification process because they fear being isolated by it.
The greatest threat to US dominion is the re-emergence of a western alternative to its monopoly. A more wise, respectful and progressive alternative.
The Gulf War can be seen from this light.
The US doesn’t rally need the oil, but it does need to control it since Europe is very dependant on it. It’s a way of keeping Europe in line and this is where the disagreements and friction with France and Germany begin.
If Europe become a power in itself and establishes some kind of common external presence and a military force, the power of the US is over.
Get it yet?!!!
End of lesson.

The subtle mentioning of your credentials means nothing to me.
I know doctors that are morons, I know well educated individuals that are imbeciles only capable of repeating what has been offered to them as truth and never questioning it. Pieces of paper on your wall and labels of academic excellence mean nothing but only that said individual has enough intelligence to comprehend and memorize given information and then pass a few tests given to him by other individuals with similar credentials.
I’ve been debating in forums with academics, professors and the self-taught for over 3 years, your academic credentials mean nothing to me given the crap you’ve posted.
Opinions reveal a minds quality not social or cultural labels.

I practice philosophy my friend not merely science.
The difference is that philosophy includes both science and art. A philosophical mind is both scientific and artistic.
You have no artistic nuance. You only understand numbers and what you call facts but never consider things deeper than this.
You “know” 1+1=2 but why it is so, or how you know it to be so, you cannot say.
You suffer from the over-scientification of the mind and its complete reliance on empiricism.
What you call ‘reality’ I call a shared subjectivity.
What you call science, I call a broad and general interpretation of supposed phenomena based on a minutia of experiential information and interpreted by a mind with a given method of understanding and categorizing.

Did you miss the “ inferior/superior in a given environment” part or did you purposefully ignore it to insult me?
Is not evolution the result of constant mutation that rewards a species, or an individual more precisely, with an advantage in a given environment that makes them superior in their ability to survive within it and to take advantage of it, this determining if the mutation is adopted or if it is left to atrophy?
My label of superior/inferior is determined by how one can manipulate and dominate an environment. So the ant is less than a human, all things considered, due to mans ability to perceive more and so create better and more accurate strategies.
We'll leave it at that.

Technology is a manifestation of a culture.
The 'spirit' of a culture determines what tools it will invent and use. In some instances it can be a tool that changes a culture as well.

You’re the one that presented Karaoke as the defining uniqueness of Japanese culture not me.
If all it means to be Japanese is to eat with sticks and sing Karaoke or invent clever electronic gadgets then they should be eradicated.
Being Japanese is their sense of honour, their ideals, their virtues, their way of facing reality and coping with the world, their philosophy, their religion, their linguistic artistry, their arts, the way they relate to nature and the universe.
This I call the spirit of being.
You, like a one-dimensional scientific mind and a product of US materialism and consumerism, can only perceive the tools, the mechanics, the technology and the inventions and you fail to realize that all these are the result of an underlying spirit.
When the spirit changes the tools alter accordingly.
In other words when the internal world of an individual changes the outward manifestations of this inner world alter to represent it.
Modes of dress, rituals, architecture, technology and art are outward signs of inner workings.
This is why science is not enough to explain the world and an artistic talent is also necessary.
Philosophy itself started as poetry.

I acknowledge the possibility that I may be wrong, as any mind should, but you’ve failed to present where I’ve been wrong.
Where have I twisted the meaning of evolution? I’ve only put it into new language and presented it from a different perspective; a philosophical persepctive as opposed to an 'academic' one.
Your inability to interpret metaphor is atthe root of your misuderstanding. You have no artistic ability, you are all numbers and geometry.

How does Japanese history disprove my critique on Americans?
You brought up Japan because 1] You wanted to mention that you were well-traveled and sophisticated as a way to intimidate or perhaps impress, 2] You wanted to divert the focus of the subject, which is Americans here, where personal experience is more prevalent into one where, you hoped, little experience existed and so you would have free reign over.
You have yet to reveal where my ideas are flawed.
I acknowledge that there are exceptions to the rule, that only serve to prove the rule, and mention a general, dominating trend, as scientists mention general dominating trends in cosmology, biology and all the scientific disciplines.

Yea, how do you cope with it?

Spirit: an overall mental character created by an environment [social, cultural, religious] that determines how one thinks, acts, what he/she values, what he/she believes in, how one faces the world, how one faces himself/herself, how one deals with diversity and challenge, how one lives with honour and dignity.

Different civilizations create different spirits of being that congregate into cultural units of commonality.
Stronger spiritual forces absorb and influence weaker ones, altering them in slow processes that lead to a complete assimilation or imitation.

 

I just came back from a trip to the US.

I have 2 general conclusions:

1. Americans lack individuality. (This is slightly ironic since one of their main battle has been the war against communism. But they are so uniform that from that perspective they fit right in.)

2. Americans are consumers.

 

Posted by Wanderer:

What a brilliant observation. The Japanese bear no responsibility for their Imperialistic ambitions? Another fascinating glimpse into a truly perverted sense of reality.

Your hatred of the U.S. is so powerful that it prevents from even possessing an elementary understanding of history.

 

I'm still waiting for that single instance of specificity that will make you worth responding to.
Still waiting for your non-generality, just one will do.
Until then yap all you want.

"Hatred of the US" you say. Now that's a general assesment of my world view based on a few posts. Don't caricature me.
"Reality?" be more specific your genralizations are too vague.

 

Posted by Wanderer:

My generalization, as I spelled out clearly in my post, was facetitious. Your response appears to be genuine. I see in addition to having no ability to construct arguments that aren't based on stereotypes, you also have no grasp of sarcasm. Why am I not surprised?

If I am not worth responding to, why do you respond?

You say everything is a generalization to try and justify what can't be justified. Why do so many on this forum leap toward sematic arguments when they have painted themselves into corners? Do you honestly believe using questionable semantics is not a form of rationalizing an indefensible stance?

Your hatred is obvious, and I pity you.

 

To a specific moron

Specific answer: You are a moron.

General answer: All human thought is based on constructing general models, you can call them stereotypes if you like, in order to understand them, simplify them and then create strategies around them.
When man categorizes individual creatures into species he's stereotyping, idiot.
When man comes up with laws of nature, he's stereotyping or generalizing, dufus.
When you say I can't grasp sarcasm or that I generalize, in your feeble attempts to fight back, ironically you are also stereotyping and generalizing. Based on a particular amount of posts you are creating a general interpretation of my psychology are you not, imbecile?
The accuracy of said generalizations is dependant on the quality of mind formulating them and on the preponderance of evidence in their defense.
A powerful mind will generalize precisely, within a small margin of error, a weak mind will generalize inaccurately within a large margin of error, like you for example.
But you are too stupid to understand this.

I would think that from someone that uses the ‘you are generalizing defense’ you would at least be able to counter my generalizations with specifics, a single one. JUST ONE WILL DO!!!! [By the way I have experience with this defense since the ‘What about Bob?’ post was in answer to this in another Forum]
I’m waiting. Lead by example and formulate a single sentence with no generalizations.
Human thought is a general interpretations based on limited information on phenomena that are too complicated to ever encompass in a single word or theory. That's why language is so vague and limited in how it can explain reality.
When man study’s animal behavior he extrapolates a general rule of behavior from a specific individual creature which he then assumes other creatures that share this genetic pattern, he generalizes them into a species, will follow. In other words he generalizes.
So when I talk about Americans, like you, I am doing the exact same thing.
Oh and moron, your every post only proves my original assessment. Thanks for providing proof.

Because playing with you is amusing.
It’s like when a cat catches a mouse; when the cat is full it sometimes keeps the mouse half dazed and alive just to play with it or to practice her hunting technique, before she crunches on its little head and eats it or she gives it to her kittens to play and practice.
I’m bored, you’re a halfwit that is dazed and confused and I’m toying with you.
Remember, ONE, just ONE specificity will suffice.
Still waiting.

If it is indefensible then why can’t you attack it directly and you attack me instead?
Semantics? Is that the new word you learned today or is that your way of saying you can’t comprehend the words I’m using or the ideas I’m proposing through them?
If my “semantics” are questionable then why do you not question them directly?
If my “stance” is “indefensible” then attack it.
I’m waiting……..
If everything is not a generalization, then mention one specificity and prove me wrong.
I’m waiting…….

The ironic thing is that when you say: “You are generalizing” you are also generalizing. But you’re too dumb to understand this.
I mean what is sociology, anthropology, economics, psychology, biology, cosmology and all of science but the formulation of general tenets that apply to a multiplicity of phenomena that are grouped and categorized according to a superficial and general appearance of commonality?
The human mind comprehends things through a particular method of ordering. It understands opposites and similarities, it understands cause and effect, it categorizes, it understands time/space, it is linear, it orders, it labels, it generalizes using sensual information to simplify things into comprehensibility, it constructs mental models accordingly, it tests these models through strategies in the empirical world- an empirical world which it perceives in a general manner as well and it calls ‘reality’- depending on the results of these tests it constructs 'truths', rules and laws, it predicts or it re-evaluates and/or discards them and so on. A more complicates mind can simplify broader generalities into singular specifics for the purpose of enhanced efficiency, it will find patterns in more chaotic phenomena. A less complicates mind will only generalize in lesser degrees and perceive broader generalities as too chaotic and complicated to perceive a common trait or a pattern through which to comprehend it as a specific.
The quality of a mind is determined by how it can order chaos by perceiving patterns.
{This I call 'Levels of Lucidity', which I beleive I've posted in another thread.}
So man became a successful hunter by perceiving a general category of prey extrapolating general behavioral patterns that helped him create hunting strategies for a particular species. If he was wrong his hunting failed if he was right his hunting has successful. Lesser predators cannot do this and so generalize only so far as to perceive individuality and so are limited as to the prey they can hunt and the methods by which to hunt them.
Is any of this getting through that thick skull?
I doubt it.

Human beings behave in a particular manner determined by genetics, environment, cultural influences and psychology. If it weren’t so politics, sociology, civilization would be impossible. In fact knowledge itself would be impossible. People in a particular geographical area that share a language, a culture, a history and that are influenced by common institutions are more likely to share modes of behavior, beliefs and life styles.
Human beings, being social animals, are conforming creatures; they conform to the dominating popular norm. The conformity of each individual is dependant on awareness, psychology, courage and will power. A sick mind will conform to any popular dominating norm to feel secure within it, the healthy mind will be more discriminating and demanding and will willingly conform only to that which it perceives to be worthy of its service and obedience.
Weakness is attracted to strength, the stronger the individual the stronger that which it is attracted to.
Advertisers know this, psychologists know this, and politicians know this so why can’t an idiot like you know it? Well because you are an idiot. If an idiot knew he was one he wouldn’t be one, now would he?

So when I attack America, I’m attacking the predominate social type, constructed by the socioeconomic, religious and cultural system that display a common mode of thinking and acting. I keep in mind that there are exceptions to the rule and that this does not apply to every individual within the geographic area known as America but I focus on the vast majority of the population that mimics popular opinions and beliefs. I’m talking about the sheeple, like you, who can never think for themselves and so depend on external sources to find information and opinions and so wind up imitating each other in every way. I’m not talking about exceptional individuals that can break out of the box and think for themselves like free-spirits can only do.
Now go off and play with your little friends and leave the grown ups talk.