I was originally going to post this under the Canada Doesn't Evolve thread but that one seems to have been derailed. This is posted as both a thanks and an apology to the other loyal Randi fans. I was the one who originally sent Randi the e-mail about how I was concerned that Canada was ducking the evolution debate by not teaching it. Thanks to James and forum members I have learned that I was quite wrong. It's funny that here I am feeling all proud and vigilant, pointing out ignorance and hypocrisy around me when it turns out that I am the one who is in the wrong. I reacted with emotion and depended on personal anecdotes to determine my position when the facts were quite easy to obtain. Or as Penn & Teller would say: I'm a bullsh-t spouting a--hole. I guess I just wanted to say that as a person who considers himself to be a critical thinker, I'm embarassed that I made a mistake but at the same time big enough to admit it. And an extra thanks to all the forum members who spoke the truth and defended Canada.
Just give up, sit back, watch them play their games, and roll our eyes.
Did you know that there's a new policing method starting in Tokyo? It was on tv last night. Groups of policemen walk around crowded streets, stopping anyone who "looks suspicious" and searching their bags and pockets.
This includes "people who seem to avoid eye contact with the police".
And I'll bet at least 51% of the population agrees with that too.
Sorry to derail the thread.
Did you know that there's a new policing method starting in Tokyo? It was on tv last night. Groups of policemen walk around crowded streets, stopping anyone who "looks suspicious" and searching their bags and pockets.
This includes "people who seem to avoid eye contact with the police".
And I'll bet at least 51% of the population agrees with that too.
Sorry to derail the thread.
Anyone who "looks suspicious" is a gaijin. Don't get me started on the racism of the authorities here.Voob said:
We must never "give up and roll our eyes" though. The purpose of JREF is education, which obligates us to explain the truth. Lobbying the Diet might help, too. But never give up. Never surrender.
(There: thread back on track.)
You're right, and believe me, I do so on an almost daily basis, one person at a time. It's just that at my advanced state of cynicism, the idea of foreigners changing the government's policies from within seems preposterous.
I forgot to add "car" to the list of things the cops help themselves to during their searches.
I'd love it if they mistakenly started frisking an LDP politician with t.v. cameras nearby.
They showed several people being arrested, and I was surprised to see there weren't any gaijin! I expected to see at least one, since the media /government has been fueling the "gaijin threat" paranoia so effectively lately.
Foreiners are 1.45 % of the population and account for 1.39% of the crime in Japan.
link
I don't know about the percentage of violent crime, but I just assume it's about the same, because if it were disproportionately high, the numbers would have been all over the news already.
I want to look into what you said about evolution. Most people around me seem to accept it. Not surprising, really, since there seem to be few who have what I would call "strong" religious beliefs to be threatened.
Religious adherance to traditions, yes. Religious dogma, I would say no.
I'm ashamed I don't know this---I'm assuming that Japanese Buddhism allows for evolution anyway. Then again, the Catholic Church does too, somehow...
Hey, reincarnation is a kind of evolution--if you're good.
I don't recall specifically being taught evolution in school in Canada, but there must have been something there, as I grew up accepting it as fact. I used to read a lot more...
Anyway, that's about all I have to blab on about. I guess if this derailment continues we should probably start a new thread or something.
ciao
N
ps Come up to Mito sometime when we have a live gig!
(Jesus, what have I done to Stew's thread...)
(edited--Yes, folks, this is what it looks like after I fix the punctuation!)
Working backwards:
Where's Mito? I'm in Osaka curently, but am moving to Kawasaki (commuting to work in Shibuya) from next month.
Buddhism doesn't have anything to say on the subject of evolution; however, the theory of evolution doesn't conflict with any Buddhist tenets (unlike with Biblical literalism) so there is no problem with Buddhists accepting evolution. Even esoteric Buddhists like the Dalai Lama can accomodate evolution within their religious worldview, so it goes without saying that the average Japanese, who has very weak religious sentiments, can accept evolution. The issue here, however, is that as they are not specifically taught evolution in schools (an increasing problem in the West as well, unfortunately), their consciousness regarding human origins is also vague, and hazy notions of science are what allow in competing pseudosciences as well. In other words, to defend against unscientific or irrational dogmas, people need a robust understanding of lynchpin scientific ideas, something they don't get with the teachings in schools at present. (This is largely because the purpose of the Japanese education system is not to produce educated people, but to turn out a compliant workforce for the gigantic Japanese manufacturing economy.)
As to the police, their racism is well documented; check out David Aldwinckle's page for chapter and verse.
---
Now, to get this thread back on track, here is an anecdote from personal experience that may help to explain the lack of consciousness regarding evolution in the general populace:
I remember clearly the science teacher in my junior high school teaching evolution in a single 70-minute lesson (so clearly, he glossed over it at warp speed), during the course of which he claimed that evolution was, of course, "only a theory". As no self-respecting scientist would ever utter such an oxymoronic phrase, it got me wondering as an adult why he would say such a thing. It was only about two years ago that I discovered that the school had been unable to recruit a science graduate to teach the science classes because of the low pay, so they had been forced to settle for a liberal arts major who cribbed from the science textbooks a class or two ahead of the students. In other words, he was no more aware of what constitutes a theory, or of how evolution works, than we kids did!
Does anyone else have similar horror stories?
Where's Mito? I'm in Osaka curently, but am moving to Kawasaki (commuting to work in Shibuya) from next month.
Buddhism doesn't have anything to say on the subject of evolution; however, the theory of evolution doesn't conflict with any Buddhist tenets (unlike with Biblical literalism) so there is no problem with Buddhists accepting evolution. Even esoteric Buddhists like the Dalai Lama can accomodate evolution within their religious worldview, so it goes without saying that the average Japanese, who has very weak religious sentiments, can accept evolution. The issue here, however, is that as they are not specifically taught evolution in schools (an increasing problem in the West as well, unfortunately), their consciousness regarding human origins is also vague, and hazy notions of science are what allow in competing pseudosciences as well. In other words, to defend against unscientific or irrational dogmas, people need a robust understanding of lynchpin scientific ideas, something they don't get with the teachings in schools at present. (This is largely because the purpose of the Japanese education system is not to produce educated people, but to turn out a compliant workforce for the gigantic Japanese manufacturing economy.)
As to the police, their racism is well documented; check out David Aldwinckle's page for chapter and verse.
---
Now, to get this thread back on track, here is an anecdote from personal experience that may help to explain the lack of consciousness regarding evolution in the general populace:
I remember clearly the science teacher in my junior high school teaching evolution in a single 70-minute lesson (so clearly, he glossed over it at warp speed), during the course of which he claimed that evolution was, of course, "only a theory". As no self-respecting scientist would ever utter such an oxymoronic phrase, it got me wondering as an adult why he would say such a thing. It was only about two years ago that I discovered that the school had been unable to recruit a science graduate to teach the science classes because of the low pay, so they had been forced to settle for a liberal arts major who cribbed from the science textbooks a class or two ahead of the students. In other words, he was no more aware of what constitutes a theory, or of how evolution works, than we kids did!
Does anyone else have similar horror stories?
Skeptical Greg
Agave Wine Connoisseur
Voob said:
Just curious.. What are they supposed to be searching for?
Robin
Penultimate Amazing
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2004
- Messages
- 14,971
From Voob:
They have been doing that in London for years. I don't know if it still happens (I moved out a few years ago) but the police used to just stop people at random in the streets and get them to put their hands against the police car and search them.
It was allegedly mainly black people but I got searched a couple of times. It was commonly referred to as the "Suss" law.
They have been doing that in London for years. I don't know if it still happens (I moved out a few years ago) but the police used to just stop people at random in the streets and get them to put their hands against the police car and search them.
It was allegedly mainly black people but I got searched a couple of times. It was commonly referred to as the "Suss" law.
The "suss" laws, introduced by then-Home Secretary Mervin Rees during the heyday of Thatcherism, were abolished, but now David Blunkett has brought them back. Blunkett is proving to be quite the facist; he called civil liberties "airy-fairy" and is hellbent on introducing ID cards, as well as making the individual pay for them. So, you will have to fund your own oppression! "New" Labour is more Tory than the Tories...Robin said:
CapelDodger
Penultimate Amazing
from Kimpatsu:
Er ... Merlyn Rees was a Labour Home Secretary, in the Callaghan Government. His involvement with suss laws I'm not sure about, but he did have PIRA to contend with. Blunkett, of course, is a nasty piece of work who regards every arse as something to either kick or kiss.
DeliveringVito
Scholar
- Joined
- May 27, 2002
- Messages
- 119
Kimpatsu said:
Sorry for derailing this thread even further, but I've seen a bunch of these searches lately, and I think I caught a bit of that news segment that Voob mentioned. Total BS.
Worse than that, someone broke into my apartment two weeks ago. The police were very polite and helpful, and even apologized for this happening to me in their country. But I got really annoyed when I mentioned it to people at work and continually got the, "well, it must've been a foreigner" response. They just can't admit that a Japanese could be capable of comitting a crime.
But then again, this is the country that largely ignored the prostitution of its teeenage girls, and where stealing is bicycle is an accepted way to get home at night.
DV
Kimpatsu said:Hey, with you, me, and Voob all here (I'm moving back to Tokyo at the end of the month), we should have a JREF Tokyo boozeup (hint, hint)...
Please see the thread about the FEAST.