"Raj Feridun" <rferid@NOSPAMyahoo.co.jp> wrote in message
news:ehb5sv0rg8vke49oovj1mu8bijpcvede8h@4ax.com...
> And this is clearly a private club no matter what the FAQ reads.

You've mentioned this a couple times. I don't know if you would call this a
private club, but there is of course an in group. That is true of any group
like this. But the people here aren't automatically hostile to outsiders.
Over the years, I have observed that people generally enter this newsgroup
in one of two ways:

(1) They lurk for a while, make a few non-controversial or (gasp) even
helpful posts, and silently becomes members of the group. They don't
generally receive any more shit than the regulars.
(2) They come in guns a-blazing, with or without having lurked for a
substantial period of time first. They get lots of shit from regulars, but
if they stick around they eventually become accepted members of the group as
well.

I would say you fit pretty squarely into category (2), and I think you must
have expected what you got. We are probably even milder than most usenet
bunches, as nobody has yet insulted your mother, questioned the fatherhood
of your children. etc.

After reading a few of your posts, I have come to the conclusion that you
are one of those folks who can't stand negative comments about Japan, and
thinks that every negative comment needs to be balanced by a positive one,
or a negative comment about someplace else. I think most of the rest of us,
myself included, don't really subscribe to that notion, although I will
sometimes mention a point of comparison for perspective.

What kind of amused me the most about your one-man assault on the group's
members was playing the racist card. It brought me back to the good ole days
in the US when that was the sure debate killer. The fact is, there is
nothing racist about stating that the Japanese are not kind (which I take to
mean "not generally kind in the Western sense"), although you could call it
culturally prejudiced or biased. Case in point: Eric is racially Japanese
(whatever that means), but having been raised in the US, "gets" the concept
of Western kindness. For people raised in the Japanese culture, however, I
think they would have a hard time grasping the idea of being kind when there
was no peronal gain to be had, even if just in the form of better human
relations. Most Westerners probably fail to put this into practice as well,
but at least they are relatively sure to understand the concept.

-- 
Regards,
Ryan Ginstrom