Scott Reynolds wrote:

> On 11/23/2003 9:08 PM, Raj Feridun wrote:
>
> > Because I get very VERY sad to think that I'll never go home again no
> > matter how nice life here is. Dorothy SAID there's no place like home.
> > She's right.
>
> Well, then you should be aware that most of the people you have been
> calling ignorant, elitist, racist (etc., etc.) are here for the long
> term, many probably permanently. (I include myself in this group, BTW.)
>
> But then again you gave yourself away with your "if you don't like it,
> go home" comment. You don't seem to understand that for many of the
> regulars in this group (and, specifically, for the ones you have been so
> busy insulting) Japan IS home.
>
> And what Ed wrote is what all of us have felt at one time or another. To
> pretend that the coldness of the Japanese toward others in public
> settings, and the shocking lack of compassion or even consideration
> toward strangers, is some sort of "racist, elitist" lie is simply to
> deny reality. It surely is the least attractive aspect of this country,
> and it does get to you sometimes.
>
> Are you seriously trying to tell me that it has never bothered you?

I can believe that in a rural area with a more traditional sense of
community, he might actually be sheltered from the problem, and be allowed
to have his view that problems he has never seen or experienced are merely
a way of life, and someone else's problem.