On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 09:29:43 +0900, Raj Feridun
<rferid@NOSPAMyahoo.co.jp> brought down from the Mount tablets
inscribed:

>On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 21:06:25 +0900, tm <tm@tmoero.invalid> wrote:
>
>>Raj Feridun wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Aaaaaaaaaaah memories! A year and a half ago it was a similarly
>>> sardonic message by the same pundit that dragged me out of the lurking
>>> shadows. I am so happy to see that glorious thread yet lives on
>>> Google: http://tinyurl.com/7eel8
>> 
>>No offense raj, but i'd really rather not reminisce about your old 
>>threads. Move on, step into the future.
>
>Yeah, I know what you mean. I was TOO good back then. Time is the
>great equalizer.
>
>That wasn't my thread. That was another of Ed's anti-Japan rants that
>I simply couldn't find the good sense not to step into like a pile of
>dog doo.

I could do an anti-Japan(ese) rant that would make Ed look like a rank
amateur.

These days I have to purposely restrict my exposure to things that
would serve to further inflate my negative opinion of the Japanese as
a group and try to limit myself to exposure to my immediate real-world
Japanese acquaintances so I can have daily reinforcement of the fact
that they're not ALL assholes.

A big part of the problem in my particular case is that 99% of the
time I have for observing the Japanese is when they are on their
absolute worst behavior (i.e. when they're driving). Some people might
contend that people are at their worst when they're drunk, since
alcohol removes many societal inhibitions. But while alcohol might
allow some people to reveal their mean, combative, irritating, or
otherwise asocial sides, it also gives us a fair proportion of happy,
friendly, and gregarious drunks. For the Japanese, gripping a steering
wheel releases far more inhibitions than gripping a bottle does, yet
doesn't lead to anyone acting in a more friendly or courteous manner
than they do when *not* under the influence of a steering wheel. So
taken all around, you'd be more likely to come away with a favorable
impression of the Japanese as a group if you spent 12 hours a day
surrounded by drunken Japanese strangers than if you spent 12 hours a
day surrounded by Japanese strangers at the wheel.




--

Michael Cash

"Clowns to the left of me and jokers to the right, Mr. Cash.
Clowns and jokers."

                                Prof. Ernest T. Bass
                                Mount Pilot College