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    marye
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    Nuclear power! Carcinogenic cell phones! The Stanley Cup! and the usual parade of kids dancing and shaking their bones, politicians throwing stones, etc. Discuss.

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  • marye
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    it was a bad day.
    Got in the car that morning and Grateful Dead music was playing. This was not a good sign.
  • Gr8fulTed
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    16 years ago today Jerry passed away
    " anyday now, I shall be released..." http://www.dead.net/forum/deadheads-europe Good forum for you folks on the other side of the pond: hope things settle down over in London.
  • TigerLilly
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    Awesome CB!
    The Gospel according to Frank!********************************** I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde
  • cosmicbadger
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    Frank Zappa says it all
    Wednesday I watched the riot . . . Seen the cops out on the street Watched 'em throwin' rocks and stuff And chokin' in the heat Listened to reports About the whisky passin' 'round Seen the smoke and fire And the market burnin' down Watched while everybody On his street would take a turn To stomp and smash and bash and crash And slash and bust and burn
  • Anonymous (not verified)
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    hope and pray
    Yes, a lot of it is about pent up frustration; and unfortunately and rather sadly, it's nothing to do with the current situation, i believe.It does seem that the vast majority of young teenagers causing the damage are mainly black. I feel this is down to a whole host of factors; incredibly poor relations between the police and the community; the obvious issues of high unemployment and the searing lack of youth orientated projects and aspirations. Plus, and i do believe this is a major factor in all black related crime, a really sad lack of father figures. I have seen this born out in many documentaries, completely unrelated to this point; programmes about disabled children, inner city buildings, a whole shed-load of topics. And, may i point out, that we are all to blame here as, being human each and every one of us, we all have a responsibility to help and encourage others; but it seems that among the poor black population in London and other grim concrete cities, the desertion of fathers seems to be commonplace. I have absolutely no idea why it is more pronounced in this particular community, but it is a factor that everyone must acknowledge. Which is odd as, although London and England in general has had it's fair share of racial problems and divides, black culture is, in my opinion, at all time high; music, fashion, vocabulary. It's a lot more positive as far as i can see than at any other point in history. And yet, so many kids are without a family unit. And it's always the men leaving of course, never the women; if you have to work to put food on the table and pay the rent and you work two, sometimes three jobs, you are not necessarily there in the evening to check on what your children are doing. Unfortunately, i am running out of time here so will have to continue this tomorrow. But lastly, one of the most disappointing things being "reported" is the eyebrows raised at social networks like Twitter and Blackberry communications etc.; the ease and speed at which people can communicate meeting places and ideas and be one step ahead of the police. If it was a terrorist attack or another appalling catastrophe that occurred they would be praising it for allowing people to warn others of dangers and the emergency services being able to respond quicker. Can't have it both ways guys. Let's hope tonight is a quiet one as it's just down the road from me and all i can hear outside my window is police sirens.
  • TigerLilly
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    indeed marye
    I am also absolutely outraged at the state of the economy, and how in the States the politicians would rather squabble amongst themselves and point fingers than actually DO something. The entire world is riding on whether America stays financially viable or not, and that is a responsibility that the current govt. seems to not give a sh$& about. Even China is cautioning the US to deal with their debt problem-seems almost like science fiction to me. Could you imagine that 30 years ago? ********************************** I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde
  • marye
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    really
    I was just reading in the paper about how some fools burned down a store that's been in Croydon for 8 generations and how the 80-year-old owner is devastated. How is this helping? How is this about "justice"? I used to have a pen pal in Croydon when I was a kid... Of course, we do seem to get government by tantrum-throwing 5-year-olds, so maybe what goes around comes around. S&P says it lowers the US credit rating not so much because of the economy but because the stupid politicians are squabbling instead of solving the problems, and what do the politicians do in response? Squabble even more! Even my neighbors on the street are in disbelief at this point.
  • johnman
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    Rage usually ignores that fact
    ...unfortunately..
  • TigerLilly
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    jonapi
    do you think it's about long bottled up social unrest and discontent? I am trying to understand, but failing miserably, because as you said normal people's livelihoods and safety are in danger, and I can find no explanation for rage that ignores that fact.********************************** I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde
  • Anonymous (not verified)
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    Jerry who?...
    Yep, a sad day in many ways.Gonna hit me with some 06/21/1989 Shoreline Smiles until it all goes away. Unfortunately, i feel that peace and sanity is a long way off yet; shops and businesses around me closing early in anticipation. Why wreck the livelihoods and homes of people who are also poor, misrepresented and struggling to make ends meet? The Lord only knows.
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Nuclear power! Carcinogenic cell phones! The Stanley Cup! and the usual parade of kids dancing and shaking their bones, politicians throwing stones, etc. Discuss.

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So, I know LA has never been a super big Deadhead town, but they simply dont exist on LA classic rock radio. Old school (KMET, KLOS, KLSX) or new (The Sound). Its as if The Dead has been erased by the playlists. Not even Truckin or Touch of Grey! Is this the same in your town?
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But the good news is when we go to the supermarket we occasionally here Touch Of Grey. Want to hear something really strange? When I got stopped by an NC State Trooper for speeding in Charlotte he put me in the back seat of his cruiser while he wrote the ticket. I'm sitting there listening to his classic rock and it's playing: Truckin'! My state Public Radio plays segues of Grateful Dead and they signed off on Jerry's birthday this year by saying "Happy birthday Jerry. We miss you." My advice if you want to hear a classic rock format that has The Grateful Dead in it's playlist? Move to Santa Cruz or Arcata in Humboldt. I lived in La-La land for a year (Beverly Hills, Sherman Oaks) & never goin' back except to visit. ~ Set up, like bowlin' pin, Knocked down, it gets to wherin' thin. ~.
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Thats funny, Lamagonzo. You know I bring it up because I discussed my Dead tribute act with a non-head buddy from St. Louis He said "oh man, they are sooo played out on rock radio" and I was like, what?!? Not in LaLa Land, but apparently in St. Louis. Yeah, and definitely NoCal has the Dead coming out of the walls.
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whereas here in Oakland I was leaving Whole Paycheck last night after picking up a couple of items and realized that the music coming over the speakers was...Estimated Prophet. The real version.
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Thats an oddball grocery store song! I guess youd expect that from a Whole Foods in Dead Country
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...a smallish chain in the Northeast. No doubt they bought a playlist for the baby-boomers and most of us are all walking around a little more or less greyer these daze! ~ Oh well, a touch of grey. Kind of suits you anyway ~
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Anna Hazare entered the tenth day of his fast against corruption in the Indian capitol today and upped the ante. His fast is against the widespread bribery and corruption that is engrained in that part of India. He is 74 years old and was arrested for his demonstrations in India. A bad, stupid mistake for the Indian government, which was, after all, founded by a faster named Mahatma Gandhi. Very savvy organizers have gathered around him and when he was released from jail, where he started the first four days of the fast, there were thousands waiting for him. He went to the Memorial place of the Mahatma to pay obeisance and then went to a prepared dais where he is carrying on his fast in front of 20,000 people, the number of which is expected to grow. While he was only supposed to fast for 14 days he is now demanding that India pass new laws against bribery and corruption before he stops. He may have gone to far. Anybody who has been to that part of the world knows how entrenched corruption is (almost as much as our Congress) in that part of the world. He is a hero to the one billion people of India and many other countries, which could start a new wave of dumping corrupt governments like the Arab spring. In fact, Angsang Sukyi was just released from seven years of house arrest in Myanmar (Burma) the other day. Anna Hazzare is my Alpha Dog of the Year for 2011.
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Gaddafi's forces are making a last stand, fighting off rebels from his compound. Nobody knows what the "eccentric" Colonel may do. I guess he is finding out what Hitler felt like in his bunker as the Allies were invading Berlin in 1945. Libya liberated again on 8/22/11 ~ Stand up for you rights ~
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Rent this movie if you want to know why we are still in an economic crisis. It tells the tail better than I could. Mortgage backed derivatives sold by unregulated investment banks. ~ Ship of fools, sail away from me! ~
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I think it's wonderful that the insane bastard is going, but am cynical about what comes next. Dictators tend to leave very large governmental holes behind them. Egypt is still struggling, look what happened in Yugoslavia after Tito fell and so on. Libya has so many tribal overlords, how will the reconcile them to a new govt? Am very curious. ********************************** I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde
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On the East Coast, At least the nuke in Virginia shut down. We should be Grateful we're not Dead!
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i agree TigerLilly; the situation in Libya is a farce. Berlusconi signed a friendship pledge and co-operation treaty just two months before the uprising. now Italy is busy in the carve-up of Libya's vast oil riches.and we wonder why they hate the West. the rebels doing the dirty work as we wade in via the slipstream. it will end in disaster. meanwhile McCain spouts nonsense about Russia and China next in line for upheaval. and wouldn't the US just love that. Leary's "whiskey drinking generals" springs to mind. i feel embarrassed while watching these brave people die; do they know what they've inadvertently let themselves in for? the word of the year is Shame.
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please support this everyone - for japanese speakers - http://www.pj-fukushima.jp/index.html for English speakers - http://www.pj-fukushima.jp/en/project.html a wonderful, inspiring project to support this troubled area. the government isn't doing much but you can. instigated by Otomo Yoshihide, it calls for musicians, scientists and artists to help. as he says "The situation is really sad but we need a smile otherwise we cannot survive. So we need music, we need a noise, we need improvised music."
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China is a cobbled together country of many regions. Migrant laborers are not allowed in on the party but provide the backbone of cheap labor. As long as China is booming (through everybody buying crap at Wally World) there will be no revolution. However, as time progresses and labor becomes cheaper in other parts of the world China will have less employment and then the probability is high that the naitives will become restless. The power in China rests on a very thin thread. The money has to go out to the outlying provinces and the communist bosses and army who protect this far-flung empire. When it doesn't watch out. A true break-up of China, like the Soviet Union in '89, is inevitable. The question is when. The sad part is that it won't come in time for HH the XIVth Dalai Lama to visit Tibet before he dies (Tibet is part of the Chinese empire since 1959).
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we must transcend nostalgia; the inner-reality is home. constant cycle (the fire wheel burning?); nothing is ever resolved. perpetual turning in nothingness. we do what we can. blip on radar; fireworks once a year. fuse light and turn to smoke. single rung of the ladder. blink and miss it. destined paths or affect and combust. burnt amber glow amongst flesh and bone. just a vessel that's all. piercing insight behind the veil. too much vaseline on the lens. current evolution a geographical fossil. genetic recombination dust in the wind. gene drift and flow. taller higher inwards higher taller. don't come to me for answers but i'll trade you for another question. we do what we can.
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Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche said (something like) in Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism: "Nostalgia for the past is bullshit." Very true. And I bite all the time on that one. Anybody got any screen wipes to get the vaseline off my lense??
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don't come to me for answers lamagonzo, i said i only have questions!!i've used all my wipes on my own lens. can never seem to have enough.... that's a great book by the way; have read many times. last time was drenched in humidity in Yokohama, Japan. droplets of salt water leaving their trace on paper pages; Coltrane through the speakers. dripping insight while my fractured ribs pulsed. a long story. 2.00am lessons as the city tried to sleep. neon outside the window, air desertion in an upright chair. i treasure that book; it's simple but it teaches plenty.
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If anybody thinks that the recent earthquake that shook our nation's capitol to it's foundation stone coupled with the first hurricane to hug the East Coast in about thirty to forty years isn't a bad omen, think again. I got a bad feeling that this is a warning in our face. Eternal vigilance is the price we pay for our freedom. I could say that another way but I won't. This shit is too serious. ~ Things went down we don't understand but I guess in time we will ~
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a great piece written by musician, historian, journalist Bob Ostertag; one of my favourite artists. about the web's influence on our understanding of music. similar parallels can be drawn, i feel, regarding the need to reassess live performance and it's future presentation; ticketmasturbator should become unnecessary.
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...against corruption in Delhi, India. He is 74 years old and vows to continue the fast until an Ombudsman is appointed with special powers (Lok-phal in Indian) to expose and fight bribery and corruption. He has told his supporters, 10s of thousands at any given time, to block the gate if police come to arrest him. It seems he will fast onto death. This is potentially the biggest political fast since Bobby Sands and several other IRA members died in jail in 1981. The Grateful Dead dedicated a show on that day at the Nassau Coliseum (He's Gone). Still my Alpha Dog of the year 2011.
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Hurrican Irene will leap frog along the mid-atlantic coast tonight and tomorrow. Floridians are relieved, although beach erosion may be happening. On a more somber note, green sea turtle Andre, released 3 weeks ago by the wonderful folks in Juno Beach at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, washed up dead on Hutchinson Island 2 days ago. Andre was critically injured by a propeller awhile back, then was nursed back to better health, for a year, at the Loggerhead facility. There is a video of his 8/3 return to the ocean on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC0bI6Wpqko
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i'd be when careful mentioning Bobby Sands and the IRA; Bob Weir should've done a wee bit more homework before tossing out dedications. not clever.this is an organisation that killed many innocent people indiscriminately, people that may well have actually supported what they had to say. a simple hunger strike against bribery, corruption and greed is not the same as fighting for a cause with guns, bombs and murder. as a buddhist lamagonzo, i'm surprised that you drew such a parallel. it was not impressive for the Grateful Dead to open their mouths in that fashion. worse still to release a CD containing it. my family on my mother's side is Irish and while i totally support people's right in wanting independence, once you introduce violence and murder you have lost all respect. not clever.
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The tactic of nonviolent fasting is the only thing Huzzare and Sands have in common. Huzzare is my Alpha Dog, not Sands and the IRA who, in the end, were really nothing but a bunch of mobsters who had co-opted a political cause. I have used the nonviolent tactic of fasting several times in my life to good effect. The longest was 32 days. I also did 17 days with the Tibetan youth Congress in Geneva at the annual UN Conference on Human rights. I stepped aside to let the Tibetans have the limelight. In the end they fasted 22 days. Nonviolence is an incredible tool for social change. I wish people would use it more than it's polar opposite.
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well that's totally fine, but in which case there was really no reason to mention bobby sands then. non-violent fasting he may have done (is there any other kind?!); he did his violence before that remember.
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I have posted before here about Weir’s thoughtless Bobby Sands dedication. If you consider that at that time the US Authorities were turning a blind eye to massive IRA fund raising in the USA, enabling the terrorists to buy arms and explosives (mostly in the USA) to kill and maim people in Britain and Ireland. The US based fundraising and gunrunning was only really stopped in 2005, as part of the sudden enthusiasm for a ‘war on terror’! The other main supplier of arms and explosives to the IRA was of course Libya.
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absolutely right cosmicbadger. maybe because the US financed them (and others) so much that certain parts of the american public stayed ill-informed and thought that their actions were just (not aimed at you lamagonzo, i know you're one of the good guys!! and salutes to you for the Tibetan solidarity. check out the "Metamorphosis" DVD by the incredible band Ghost; includes footage of leader Masaki Batoh protesting outside the Chinese embassy in Tokyo. a long time supporter of the Tibetan cause, the cover of their album "Tune In Turn On Free Tibet" is on the wall of the Dalai Lama's residence!!).interesting at the furore by US citizens over the freeing of the (falsely?) convicted man by the Scottish government regarding the Lockerbie disaster. they probably paid for the bombs that killed members of their families. absolutely shocking. that Bob Weir remark still irritates me when i hear it. we all make mistakes i know, but my shoulders automatically hunch and contract when that comes out. silly boy. by the way, i heard Angelos Epithemiou recently did his comedy for the troops in Afghanistan; something to cheer up the lads. apparently didn't go over that well. i guess his material was never going to be suitable for the Taliban.........................
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“We've just learned about the Federal Reserve's extraordinary secret bailout of the country's big banks. We now know that the TARP bailout program was only the tip of the iceberg, and that financial institutions received a total of $1.2 trillion in loans and other funds while the rest of the country was left to struggle for economic survival. We also know that, despite all that "we got our money back" rhetoric, these loans represent a cash giveaway to the banks that totals up to tens of billions of dollars - while homeowners and student loan borrowers continue to struggle. Here's what we now know about this secret bailout, thanks to a Bloomberg report, along with what we already knew - and what we still don't know.” Read the rest of the story @ nationofchange.com
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Even though presidential contender Rick Perry still believes the jury is out on whether climate change/global warming is real or not, the rest of the country's public officials well understand that it is better to over hype the weather events and get people out than to wait to the last minute for things to develop (except in Indianapolis at the State Fair). All the weather events from drought in Texas to tornadoes to lightning have all been more extreme. Meanwhile, China & India & the USA, at the Federal level, remain deadlocked in a death grip. Nobody is going to blink until everybody agrees. The Antarctic is melting.
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gonzo! How can we not notice? I really do think that we have helped ALOT with climate change, BUT, if we look back through the milenniums-dramatic climate changes have always happened every few thousand years. ********************************** I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde
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I caught a demonstration there, in Republique. It was consisting of African immigrants, protesting about document and residency in France issues. There were about 400 Africans out there, with a drum circle, and native dress (could really see that different countries have very different people) and I stood there for over an hour-talking to the guys and watching them. Was fascinating to learn about what they have to go through in order to be "safe" in France. I also got some great shots of the dancing!!********************************** I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde
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This corporation is getting three month visas for foreign students and enslaving them in factories. And not just the Hershey corporation! Yeah, corporations good, people bad -- right! What do you think these students will say about America when they go home? I think they will be easily recruited by terrorists because they have seen for themselves the worst greedhead conduct ever. Where are the police and social workers and courts when this stuff happens? The CEO & CFO of Hershey need to be horse-whipped in the public square in Hershey, PA while the victim students look on, along with Fortune 500 CEOs and CFOs. A message needs to be sent to the corporate world that this is NOT ACCEPTABLE!!! ~ Barbed wire whipping post ~
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cuz think they are pretty cool! :D********************************** I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde
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Must have been a nice trip to Paris except for the hail storm coming back.
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This Colorado race almost feels like le Tour de France! Terrific scenery, crazy spectators and great competiton. Merciless for the early leaders, as the peloton catches up and Elia Viviani wins again, yesterday in Steamboat and today in Breckenridge. Levi Leipheimer retains the yellow.Tomorrow's last leg is from Golden to Denver. Party time in Breckenridge tonight!
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Anna Huzzare ended his fast today in the 16th day (4 days were done in jail) after the Indian government passed a non-binding resolution to consider laws against corruption. Huzzare admitted it was only half a victory but vowed to continue to pressure the government. He had lost more than 16 lbs at the age of 74. I am glad that the man continues to live. Had he fasted onto death there was widespread consensus that it would have been a momentous, pivotal turn in the campaign to wipe out corruption and bribery which is widely entrenched in all of Asia. Way to go Anna Huzzare! ~ Long May You Run ~
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From the safe and dry environment of eastern Kansas, I'm wondering how folks are doing from Nags Head to Maine today? CNN is showing flooding in Norfolk & Virginia Beach.
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Our state took a direct hit in terms of rain. A uniform average of about 7" fell on all parts of the state from South to North yesterday causing towns to flood from Bennington to St. Johnsbury. The state's new emergency management agency in Waterford was evacuated yesterday when Winooski River overflowed it's banks. Many roads and bridges have been washed out. There have been numerous power outages and 1 death reported. There is widespread flooding in all parts of the state. The eye of the storm passed directly overhead of me at 6:10pm yesterday. This was caused when the storm tracked further westward than was forecast, taking a route up the Hudson Valley and then up the Westwards spine of the Green Mountains. There was no wind but torrential downpours the entire day. This was absolutely a result of climate change and global warming. Hurricanes and tropical storm do not usually cause such severe rainfall. The last time was 1938 for this kind of damage in the State of Vermont. This flooding is being called a once every 500 year occurence, though that may be an exaggeration.
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...16 trillion dollars in bailout loans to banks from the New York Fed., starting in October of 2008. This is really unbelievable. Socialism for the rich while the rest of us rugged individuals earning less than $250,000 a year have to scratch for a living. This audit would never have happened if not for the efforts of Special Investigator General Barofsky at the Treasury Department. Geitner tried to stop him but Obama green-lighted his mission. Alan Greenspan, Larry Summers and Tim Geitner screwed the entire planet in deregulating the investment banks so they could create the mortgage-backed sub-prime derivative ponzy scheme and then bet against it. Every generation there is a massive swindle of the American public where the rich & connected get their fortunes handed to them. This one was the first to go global and spare no poor person on Earth. ~ Taught me so well I grabbed that gold... ~
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new Japanese prime minister? a-ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha........the Korean invasion continues. probably a soka gakkai loser as well. i bet his throat muscles must be huge. bow down Noda to your Korean and your cult masters; strip away every last shred of self-respect and fill your greedy gullet. soka gakkei = everything that makes the world shit.
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All Japanese are of Korean descent, despite their incredible arrogance that they are the greatest culture in the world. They totally screwed the aboriginal people living on those islands. They have become so corrupt. It really shows in their traditions of Buddhism -- monks who drink and marry and eat meat. What a terrible example for the rest of developing Buddhist nations. I'm not saying their isn't anything good about their culture. There is, but you have to go there to see it.
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"despite their incredible arrogance that they are the greatest culture in the world." where on earth do you get your information from lamagonzo?!!! i seem to recall some posts by your good self in true knee-jerk fashion suggesting all kinds of things; not a good example to Buddhists either. you're even more contradictory than me sometimes which takes some beating, i'll tell ya! nothing the matter with drinking, marrying or eating meat by the way, monk or not; it's called "normal behaviour". if anything is a perversion of humankind it's bizarre abstinence. the Dalai Lama also enjoyed meat; Buddhists can eat meat, although usually they do not want to get involved in the butchering or handling of animal flesh. you on that crack pipe again?.........
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please send love, support and anything else you can offer to Johnman; the shit has hit the fan for him and his son and needs whatever you can give. please read the "positive vibes" topic for further info.
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Are you denying that the Japanese people are descended from Koreans? That they are not very arrogant in their behavior toward other cultures? That they didn't crush the aboriginal people on the islands they took over? Tell it to the Koreans whose women were enslaved in brothels in WWII. This is not a knee-jerk reaction, these are facts. There is a prescribed code of conduct for monks and nuns in Buddhism (none of which is not eating meat, I'll admit) and the Japanese don't follow it. The Dalai Lama does eat meat. He is Tibetan. Tibetans live in a very cold climate. He tried not to eat meat and got sick, so he eats meat. It's a genetic thing. In all of the great monasteries of Tibet re-established in exile in South India, none of them eat meat, at the Dalai Lama's request.. I've seen both Korean & Japanese culture and while I'll admit that both have more than a healthy dose of pride it is certainly the Japanese who show a superior arrogance and flaunt it in the face of those other cultures. Here I am not defending American culture at all. We certainly followed the Japanese model of invading and slaughtering the natives. You mentioned Japan and Korea in the same breath and I made a comment on the Japanese culture. You can like it or not but don't try to distort facts.
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Vermonters are not taking a wait-and-see approach. With their neighbors from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, they are organizing a movement. They promise to close down the plant by direct action if it continues to operate past March 21, 2012. Activists are discovering that support for direct citizen action is growing throughout the region. From senior citizens to harried single moms, people are volunteering and vowing to get arrested or whatever else it will take to close down the reactor. Non-violent civil disobedience training sessions are being conducted throughout the region and organizers are working in a variety of ways to build a region-wide movement. Read the rest of the story at nationofchange.org
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I was gonna say, they seem pretty upset about a shoe factory in Vermont. But it seems to be about something else. What can I say, I've been clearing out way too much sneaker spam lately.
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Yeah, we do here in VT. But you're right, first things first. Get the mud out of your basement, then go fight the nuke. It still ain't pretty, but we're recovering.
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'm afraid you leapt before you looked lamagonzo.i didn't distort any facts; i never denied any descent from Koreans. i never mentioned anything about what they did in the past. maybe a re-read is in order? if you look again, my first sentence is questioning your quote about their supposed "incredible arrogance". which is nonsense. from some quarters of government maybe but since when did anyone pay attention to politicians to inform us of a nation's personality traits? sweeping statements such as those just seem to glorify your own thoughts on matters not the actual truth. and yes, i do that too sometimes, guilty as charged sir!, but don't expect me to overlook a comment that is horseshit. every country has done horrific things in the past. but we live in 2011. i know you're full of facts about injustices on every damn culture but let it go. my initial post was highlighting the worrying influence of South Korea in all areas of Japanese political life. nothing to do with dredging up shock quotes about women in brothels and suppressing the ainu. that is government, not the overwhelming majority of the country's peaceful, humble citizens. does this mean if i post a positive topic about Germany i'm going to be hit with facts and figures about the Nazis and what they did to the jews? move on. my wife is Japanese, we visit there regularly, we are moving there permanently next year. we know about Japan, believe me. superior arrogance and flaunting in the face of others? learn the language, visit there more often, live there for a time and speak to the population. also, i'm curious; what prompted you to mention buddhist monks in the first place? i am really hoping it had nothing to do with me writing about soka gakkei. If you want to talk corruption look into those scumbags; they are a manipulative, murderous cult that has zero to do with buddhism and are spreading their ugly tentacles into politics, business, finance and intimidation. if you want to campaign about something and highlight abuse and real injustice, investigate these guys. just be careful as your phone will be bugged, you will be followed and possibly dumped in a river wearing concrete shoes. right, now let's dig up something about those Vermont citizens; misdemeanors in the past i'll bet. must be a couple of pedophiles in there somewhere. maybe the nuclear company there have an employee with a disabled child with aids that needs caring for, hence the reason for keeping the plant open. none of which would have anything to do with the fact that nuclear energy is dangerous and that the local people should be supported. how many zen buddhists does it take to change a light bulb? none. they ARE the light bulb........
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The word "Gaijin" means foreigner and has a negative connotation. Even though you are married to a Japanese woman you will always be "Gaijin" in that society. People will look at you differently and think you have body odor until they get to know you. Using these kind of terms and having these assumptions, I believe them to be arrogant. Plus, I base my opinion on my dealings with Japanese monks and nuns in this country. Not the SG crazies, but Nipponzan Mjohoji (same mantra, different sect). Then there is the oriental culture of politeness to your face while they tear you a new one behind your back. All oriental cultures have it but it is really quite unbearable with the Chinese and the Japanese. This is my opinion. You know what they say about opinions,,, Everybody has one.
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I think your analysis is rather simplistic, Gonzo. I spent many years living and working in SE Asia and have some experience of this, dealing with everyone from ordinary folks to government ministers. The ‘Asian way’ is not wrong or bad, it is just different and it is up to us to learn to understand it. Formal meetings and many social interactions are conducted in a polite, respectful way because it is very rude to draw undue attention to yourself and others in such situations. Nothing wrong with that. Careful attention to what is being said often provides clues to how the other party is really feeling….and if you are relying on translation you easily miss these. That can be a problem; I have known several people who have overlooked what were considered to be clear warning signs and suddenly found themselves persona non grata. Similarly you have to learn ways to get your messages across. Often the real ‘getting to know you’ and deal making is done in less formal circumstances and it is easy for outsiders to relax too much when out drinking or socialising and miss the opportunity to find out what the real agendas are. Yes it is hard, but for outsiders in the US (including me) the combination of in your face macho posturing and pretend buddy-dom in many social interactions can be just as confusing and offensive.