Wednesday February 15, 2012

LFRAgain's past comments

  • 4

    LFRAgain

    "Cruelty, tendency to violence, disregard, incapability to solve problems in a civil human way, mental fragility, frigidity, lack of emotions, empathy and tolerance, heartlessness, coldness, loneliness, hopelessness, illness, aging and the most destructive force ever - fear -- All present in the Japanese society"

    All of the above are present in human society; You've effectively summed up roughly half of what it means to be human.

    The other half is that part that makes it possible for us to recoil in horror at stories like this. And that half is also present in Japan.

    Posted in: Woman dies after beating administered by son, provoked by incontinence incident

  • 0

    LFRAgain

    NetNinja,

    "Sometimes when I read an article like this, I just see a can of worms."

    Well, I wish I could say you had no cause to see things that way, but unfortunately, you and I both know that wouldn't be true.

    Even without knowing the full details of how this tragedy came to be, I think you're spot on to point out that that more facilities and options for an aging society in Japan are in desperate need. But the devil's in the details, as they say, first and formost being how to pay for it.

    Posted in: Woman dies after beating administered by son, provoked by incontinence incident

  • 3

    LFRAgain

    NetNinja,

    You make some valid points about the lack of support for people with elderly parents in need of special care, but you make a lot of assumptions about his sutuation that we just aren't able to glean for the short article above.

    I understand all too well the challenges and stress inherent in caring for someone who can no loger do for themselves those things we take for granted as healthy adults. My 90-year-old grandmother had suffered two strokes, and as a college senior, I slept by her bedside for the better part of a year before she passed away, helping her eat, bathe, and change her clothes and diapers. It's tough, no doubt about it. And without the support of the rest of my family, I'm certain I would have seen my frustration and stress level rise.

    But I never, ever can envision myself physically lashing out at her for doing something that's largely out of her control. Heck, I wouldn't hit my own grandmother, much less my mother, for intentionally doing something that might affect me adversely.

    He punched . . . his 76-year-old mother . . . in the chest . . . for wetting herself. Who in the world does that? And if he has children, is this how he potty-trained them? I just can't sympathize with him, no matter what his circumstances.

    Posted in: Woman dies after beating administered by son, provoked by incontinence incident

  • 3

    LFRAgain

    Just when you didn't think it could get any worse, apparently Chen Xianmei, the woman who came to the child's aid, is being accused by a fair number of Chinese for helping the child solely for publicity.

    http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/10/chinese-toddlers-hit-and-run-mother-praises-rescuer/

    Un-freakin-believable. So people chose not to help lest they garner publicity? What the hell is wrong with some people?

    In better news though, Chen received a reward for her actions from the city, and the gratitude of the dead child's mother.

    Posted in: 2-year-old Chinese girl left on street after hit-and-run dies

  • 2

    LFRAgain

    "Don't tell me the ocean belongs to the sharks!"

    Umm... The ocean belongs to the sharks.

    Along with any other creature that has adapted to live, hunt, and procreate in that environment.

    Don't want to become a shark's dinner? Stay out of the water when there are sharks around.

    Posted in: Australian authorities hunt great white shark after American diver killed

  • 1

    LFRAgain

    I'm sure there are plenty of people who go ga-ga over Kobe beef, but I'm just not one of them. Tried it and didn't see what the hubbub was about. Honestly, I prefer to have a little fat with my steak , rather than the other way around.

    Posted in: A cut above the rest: Japan's legendary Kobe beef

  • 0

    LFRAgain

    "Shows I'd make a lousy PI. (But still, I continue to maintain the woman intended the baby to be found alive.)"

    Part of me agrees with you. If she hadn't wanted the baby to be discovered, she could have had her anywhere.

    Although wrapping the baby up in a plastic bag gives me pause. Maybe it was a ill-conceived attempt to protect the baby from the germs of the trash can.

    Odd are, though, that when they find the mother -- and they will -- there's no way she avoided the video cameras, they're going to discover she's a high-school aged. Hence the foolish idea to get rid of the baby in this manner.

    Posted in: Newborn baby found in convenience store toilet trash can

  • 4

    LFRAgain

    Bogi,

    "In most Western countries, the driver(s) would be severely punished for leaving the scene of an accident."

    Yes, you're right, of course. But my issue is precisely with the drivers having left the scene of the accident. The first driver slowed down after running over the child, then left. The second driver ran her over without slowing down and left. They both deserve every ounce of wrath society and the parents can muster, although nowhere near the level of anger and disdain that should rained down on the people who just ignored this poor child.

    Posted in: 2-year-old Chinese girl left on street after hit-and-run dies

  • 4

    LFRAgain

    At the very least, the woman who abandoned the baby did so in a convenience store bathroom, which sees relatively heavy traffic. It could have been a trash can in a park somewhere and the baby might not have been found for hours.

    Hope this little girl never learns of how she came into the world.

    Posted in: Newborn baby found in convenience store toilet trash can

  • 3

    LFRAgain

    "Some experts said an unwillingness to help others is an outgrowth of urbanization as migrants pour into cities and create neighborhoods of strangers."

    How does being a stranger suddenly negate the human instinct to help a fellow human in distress, much less a child? Maybe I'm just wired differently, but I really don't think so.

    Posted in: 2-year-old Chinese girl left on street after hit-and-run dies

  • 2

    LFRAgain

    "Police have detained the drivers of both vans on suspicion of causing a traffic accident but have not said what formal charges they would face and if manslaughter would be among them now that the girl has died."

    Both drivers had damned well BETTER be charged for manslaughter. I can't envision any rationale in which they wouldn't.

    Posted in: 2-year-old Chinese girl left on street after hit-and-run dies

  • 0

    LFRAgain

    "Most relationships where age difference is extreme don't work out in some way or another. Some do, but most don't."

    If you have any empirical data to support this claim, I'd be interested to see it.

    My evidence to the contrary is admittedly anecdotal, however I know several couples with a significant age difference who are trucking along just fine. My favorite couple is well into their 40th year of marriage and they are 15 years apart in age, have four children and a small army of grandchildren, every one of them as well-adjusted and normal as one can reasonably expect anyone to be in this complicated world we live in.

    Age difference has very little to do with this story of a young man murdering his lover.

    Posted in: 19-year-old man stabs 44-year-old lover in 'mercy killing'

  • 0

    LFRAgain

    Cool.

    Posted in: Mitsubishi Electric begins full-scale testing of smart grid in Japan

  • 0

    LFRAgain

    The 3-D laser projector has me intrigued. The applications would be impressive. Not to mention very Blade Runner-esque.

    Posted in: Tokyo tech fair opens with clapping robot

  • 0

    LFRAgain

    Newsman,

    "I ask: Why is the nonviolent solution impossible, while the violent one is acceptable under the circumstances?"

    And there you have the $64,000 question that's been haunting humanity throughout its existence.

    Posted in: Vietnamese woman cuts off husband's penis

  • 1

    LFRAgain

    Notthesame,

    Without getting into a prolonged debate with you about human sexuality (BTW, I disagree with you strongly on virtually every generalization you made here -- and yes, they were broad, unfounded, not-just-a-little-bit sexist generalizations), I'm not saying that what she did was right. I'm saying that what she did was understandable. There's a difference.

    Without understanding the root causes of a crime, there is little chance of lessening its occurrence in the future.

    If men want to sit here and rage against a woman who would do something so appalling as slice off a philandering, abusive husband's reproductive organ without at the very least accepting that the man possesses some culpability for his part in this drama, then there's little room for anyone to be surprised or outraged when events like this occur from time to time. Repeating cycles repeat because there's something intrinsic in the plan to make it do so. The plan needs to be changed, and that includes, in the case of women who are victims of physical and emotional abuse in a society that doesn't really care, giving women real, concrete options for dealing with abusive, asshat-husbands.

    She'll pay for her crime. Of that, I have no doubt. And well she should, after all assault is indeed assault. But this rhetoric flying around about how horrid and so much worse that drawing-and-quartering is the act of severing the man's penis is a load of hooey based largely on the misguided notion that the male sex drive, and by extension, his sex organ, is somehow the most important thing he has to contribute to humanity.

    With the population of the world teetering on the brink of 7 million, and the prevalence of rape as a form of punishment unabated in some of the darker corners of the planet, let me assure you it's not.

    No, that doesn't mean I'm willing to give up my little fella'. We're quite attached. It just means I have a more realistic appreciation for his place in the world.

    And while we're on the topic of reasonableness, I'm curious to know how the men here, if placed in similar circumstances, i.e., physically and mentally abused regularly by an openly cheating, drug-addled partner, would react to their predicament. Would they go to the police and file a report? Or would they take matters into their own hands, whatever that entails?

    How about simple infidelity? How many of us would lash out at the wife or girlfriend?

    How about simple abuse? Someone beating on you day after day? How many of us would strike back without consulting the local police?

    I'm laying odds that more posters than not had an initial reaction to this scenario of revulsion, as if to say, "What sort of man would put up with that type of treatment from anyone, much less a woman?"

    Posted in: Vietnamese woman cuts off husband's penis

  • 1

    LFRAgain

    Newsman,

    Thank you for the correction. You're right. The story takes place in Taiwan. Not that that changes much of what I posted about social roles of women in that country as compared to Vietnam. Confucian mores still exists. Male dominance over society still exists. The abortion of female fetuses is still rampant. Physical abuse of a women is still considered a man's right.
    ] The laws in Taiwan are more developed in prohibiting these behaviors, but the underlying cultural structure remains intact, leading to the same problem -- she could have indeed complained. But the societal structure is such that I doubt she would have had a very receptive audience.

    Posted in: Vietnamese woman cuts off husband's penis

  • 2

    LFRAgain

    More from the same report:

    Vietnam has enacted legislation to prohibit certain of these practices, but implementation is slow and insufficient. Twenty-five years after the ratification of [Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women], women in Vietnam are still largely unaware of their fundamental rights. No court decision has cited or drawn upon CEDAW.

    You're right. She could have complained or reported her jerk of a husband to the authorities.

    But who would have listened?

    Posted in: Vietnamese woman cuts off husband's penis

  • 0

    LFRAgain

    "He was jobless -- that is not a crime. He took drugs -- depending on the drugs, that is probably a crime in Taiwan, but your average libertarian would categorize that as a victimless crime. He had an affair -- that is not a crime. He abused her -- that presumably IS a crime in Taiwan, but the proper response for that was for her to report it to the police straight away, and not to let anger and resentment build unchecked for years until she felt morally justified to do whatever the h--- she wanted to do."

    All valid points, if we weren't talking about Vietnam, where women's social standing is anything but equal to those of men. We're talking about a society in which dowries are still a major component of the marriage transaction.

    From a report prepared by the organization Vietnam Commitee on Human Rights:

    Today, patriarchal Confucian values and practices remain deeply entrenched, and women suffer from prejudices in the home as well as the workplace. In the rural areas particularly, but also in many modern families, women are under pressure to bear at least one male child to continue the family lineage and keep up the traditional practice of ancestor worship. Failure to produce a son is directly attributed to the wife. Reports indicate that abortions of female fetuses are practiced in certain rural areas, even though this is now prohibited by law. Domestic violence against women remains widespread, and often perceived as a husband's legitimate means of "educating" his wife.

    Posted in: Vietnamese woman cuts off husband's penis

  • 0

    LFRAgain

    Herefornow,

    "It has nothing to do with economics or sustainability, but everything to do with entrenched interests like the JA and the Agriculture Ministry and the disproportionate voting power they control.

    Disproportionate to what, exactly? If you aren't worried about profiteering or corruption from Japan Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture, then so what if they're entrenched and interested? Both JA and the MoA are tasked by the electorate with ensuring Japan has a stable food supply. Why wouldn't they have considerable influence? Why wouldn't their influence be virtually unassailable? We're talking about a nation's food supply here.

    If your issue is with JA and the MoA simply having influence, then I want to hear why. Specifics. Details. Reports. Links. You know, proof. I want to know what's so bad about Japan's agriculture system that it necessitates Japanese farmers losing their jobs in droves in order to keep American farmers employed -- aside from you loathing to have to pay 100 yen for an apple.

    Posted in: Japan to decide on joining TPP by next month

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