Mindfulness of Others
I hope you’ll take a moment and check out the short video below, contrasting life here in the U.S. with that of Japan.
Spoiler alert: the piece focuses on mindfulness of and sensitivity towards others…something that, young people may be surprised to know, used to be a big deal here.
If there is a common denominator to the woes of 21st Century America, it’s that we’ve become a land of individuals with a bare minimum of care and respect for those around us. We need signs to tell us to turn off our cell phones in restaurants, to speak softly in libraries, and to refrain from littering…and still we have people violating these rules of common sense and courtesy. The locks we use to deter bicycle thieves get thicker and heavier each year. We have normalized White supremacy, we demonize Latinos and Muslims, and we’ve done essentially nothing to eliminate red-lining, i.e., the practice of denying mortgage loans to people of color; in the U.S., a black person with the same income, net worth, education and job is six times more likely to be denied a mortgage than a white person with the identical credentials.
In short, we really don’t have a problem with treating others abominably.
How did this happen? How did Americans come to think of ourselves as the center of the universe, living as many of us do, without a whit of interest or concern for the well-being of others?
Perhaps it’s because here, it boils down to money. Our national ethos tells us that rich people are winners, and winners can do whatever they like.
If that seems like a stretch to you, just look at the the President of the United States. We’ve memorialized this sad decay into barbarity by electing a total slob to lead our nation. From the way he grabs women, to driving his golf cart across a green, to demeaning other world leaders, to referring to countries in the third world as shit-holes, to his incessant lying, to hurling vulgar insults at everyone who objects to him, Trump is the antimatter of good breeding and decency. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this is that he makes no pretense otherwise; in fact, it engenders the respect of his supporters, who construe his horrific behavior as “telling it like it is.”
As suggested above, we need to look closely at who we are and what we’ve become.
Craig,
You do seem to live in a world as depicted by Walt Disney or The Readers Digest somewhere back in the early sixties ! Pleasantville USA is, and always was, a fantasy.
I’m afraid a travelogue advertisement about the lifestyle of other countries isn’t really a reliable method of gaining an insight into other cultures. If you ever actually catch a train in Japan you’ll be in for a dreadful shock ! In reality, people fight to get on overcrowded trains,crammed in by train guards.
Ever heard of ‘Chikan’ ? These are men, often in packs, who grope (even pack rape)women on crowded Japanese trains, it’s a serious problem, but usually restricted to Japanese or Asian women not Westerners.
As for Japanese society being mindful of others, maybe you should ask the ethnic minorities in Japan how they feel ? Japan has a functioning system of apartheid ignored by the world and Japan.
The upper class never was overly concerned with which fork to use at the height of the Victorian era, it was an aspiring newly rich middle class so eager to seek the advice of etiquette gurus such as Emily Post.
The USA is a nation of self-made pioneers. That’s the whole point of the words on the Statue of Liberty. The US would not be the powerful, innovative, nation it is today if it were not the land of opportunity. The people who built the US were not polite, humble, shy little Babbits! They were adventurous, tough, rebellious, aggressive, often quarrelsome, hard working, hard driving , competitive nation builders.
Like all nations, US expansionism had casualties, injustice and cruelties. Following the doctrine of manifest destiny tends to produce some regrettable, but inevitable consequences. Like all nations, the US has its share of faults, flaws and contradictions.
There is no Nirvana, no human society without flaws. All societies make compromises.
President Trump often speaks plainly, the language of the common man. The language of the people whom the left once claimed to champion ! That is until an increasingly leftist elite came to the conclusion working class followers were “deplorable’, lacking in “good breeding and decency”, and therefore to be despised.
Some third world countries are “shit-holes” and yes, it really is the fault of the people who live in those countries ! As for requiring the US President to be obsequiously polite and uncritical of the leaders of other nations, get real ! No nation has been the target of so much abuse over the years as the US. Donald trump has been the most vehemently abused President.
The response to the announcement of possible US steel tariffs brought a torrent of abuse from President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, a mouse that roars ! A citizen of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, a tiny European nation about the size of small American city.
But why is ol’ Jean-Claude Juncker so upset ? Well, the largest company in Luxembourg is ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel producer and Jean-Claude Juncker’s former patron. Juncker’s outbursts and behaviour to other leaders make Donald Trump look dignified in comparison !
The EU leader believes diplomacy means an arrogant, aggressive and abuse response if things don’t go his way. He’s a mouse roaring loudly at an amused US giant, and angry Russian Bear, but is terrified of upsetting the PRC Dragon.
Trump is simply keeping his election promises with these tariff proposals.
Craig, you’re getting more and more petty in your vindictive criticism of the President. ” to driving his golf cart across a green” well, first of all it’s his green ! He owns the golf course and the green was closed for future resurfacing work.
1) I’m completely aware of what you’re saying about the chemical. Pruitt met with Dow CEO Andrew Liveris and twenty days later, Pruitt announced his decision to deny a petition to ban Dow’s chlorpyrifos pesticide from being sprayed on food even though a review by his agency’s scientists concluded that ingesting even minuscule amounts of the chemical can interfere with the brain development of fetuses and infants. There’s really no debate about this that I can find.
2) Trump is a scummy human being and an utter disgrace to the U.S. I won’t be normalizing his erratic, emotionally unhinged, hateful behavior.
3) If you or anyone else doesn’t like this, I’m OK on that. I choose words according to my own wits; I don’t need help in this department, though thanks for the offer.
Craig,
Of course you are entitled to express your feeling toward the President, or anyone else for that matter, and it’s the right of others to disagree.
But in your fury, aren’t you replying to the wrong post ?