hammereddownnail comments

Posted in: Snoozing here, there and everywhere See in context

I hear what you're saying Lowly, and I also don't agree with the "cognitively lazy" comment above, but there is a limit to how far the "they are just being polite" explanation can be stretched.

"They" (or would you rather "we" used a term like "The esteemed and unique Japanese people, descendants of Amaterasu"?) crossed the road to avoid the foreigner because they didn't want to impose. "They" abandoned their place in the queue at the shop when a foreigner stood behind them because they didn't want to impose. "They" avoided sitting next to the foreigner on the train because they didn't want to impose. "They" pretended to sleep on the train because they didn't want to impose.

Sometimes, you should just call "social dysfunction", "agoraphobia", "xenophobia" etc. for what they really are. Products of an education system designed to maximize obedience and effort, which can only be achieved at the cost of initiative, assertiveness, and self-confidence.

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Posted in: Snoozing here, there and everywhere See in context

They're always nodding off through lively family dinners

As I wrote, "Yeah - they are mostly faking it, but I think it's because of their discomfort at being in close proximity to many people they don't know for a fairly long period of time."

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Posted in: Snoozing here, there and everywhere See in context

I like how they're completely knocked out in the train, only to spring back up to life as soon as it's their stop. I sometimes think they're faking it, just so they don't have to offer their seat to anyone. In any case, I think it's pretty funny.

Yeah - they are mostly faking it, but I think it's because of their discomfort at being in close proximity to many people they don't know for a fairly long period of time. I've found that, on the trains, if you continuously stare at someone who is not 'asleep', within only 15 or 20 seconds, they will fall 'asleep' out of the awkwardness of the situation.

On the other hand, many of them are chronically sleep-deprived, which does make them more docile and easy to control.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Posted in: WikiLeaks source Manning sentenced to 35 years See in context

but you, Frungy and Jean have ZERO idea as to how wars are fought

Thanks to Manning, we have access to the US military's own data on how wars are now fought: "The reports detail 109,032 deaths in Iraq, comprised of 66,081 'civilians'; 23,984 'enemy' (those labeled as insurgents)" source: http://wikileaks.org/irq/

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Posted in: Bradley Manning says he wants to live as a woman named Chelsea See in context

He wanted this important information to be public, but hoped not to spend the rest of his life in jail if he couldn't help it. Doesn't make him any less of a hero.

I mean, come on, there was a law introduced by George W preventing coffins of American soldiers being shown on American TV. If you want a clear example of the powers that be in the US implementing a disinformation campaign against the American public, then there is no clearer, irrefutable example.

Of course, there are occasions when secret military information shouldn't be made public, but there are limits. If you believe in Democracy at all, then you should believe in some democratic knowledge of and control over your country's foreign policy. That is what Manning has sacrificed himself for. If you don't believe in some democratic control over your country's foreign policy, then, in this case, you are a fascist.

Anyway, it's Friday evening, and there's (more) drinking to be done. Have a good weekend everyone!

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Posted in: Bradley Manning says he wants to live as a woman named Chelsea See in context

He only released one example of the killing of civilians - who happened to be in close proximity to armed insurgents if you actually watched the video. I'm not sure where you get this idea that he leaked thousands of examples from...

There's a limit to the BS you can spout without being called on it. Firstly, the video about which we are talking, which is one of thousands, shows the murder of Reuters journalists and their translators/local guides. They weren't in close proximity to armed insurgents, but one of them was holding a camera. Seven Reuters journalists were killed in separate incidents in Baghdad, all of them by American fire. In addition, the Al Jazeera offices in both Kabul and Baghdad were bombed by Americans, and there is even a report of a conversation between Bush and Blair about destroying the Al Jazeera headquarters in Qatar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera_bombing_memo.

(This is where there should be a movement in your brain, just suggesting that it might be the US that can be, more or less often, a source of state-sponsored terrorism)

In terms of the bull about the leaks being about 1 single hit, welllllllllllll, you gotta be joking: "The leaks involved 90,000 reports from Afghanistan and 490,000 reports from Iraq, including detailed kill counts" They added up the kill counts... in the hundreds of thousands for Afghanistan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A26WOvkMzo#t=32m30s

Finally, please don't make such sweeping statements about things you obviously know almost nothing about, and have not even looked into at the most basic level.

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Posted in: Bradley Manning says he wants to live as a woman named Chelsea See in context

Is the video in this link your idea of honor, courage, and decency? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0I6S8mva-s#t=06m45s

Revealing thousands of examples of indeterminate slaughter of civilians to the world, while risking torture and life imprisonment (with no possible benefit to himself - you inaccurately used the word "selling"), is honorable, courageous, and decent.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Posted in: Bradley Manning says he wants to live as a woman named Chelsea See in context

Why is anyone paying attention to this criminal attention-whore?

The main reason unfortunately seems to be because it deflects attention away from the mass 'collateral' murder of Afghan and Iraqi civilians that he exposed.

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Posted in: Bradley Manning says he wants to live as a woman named Chelsea See in context

Good luck to him/her, but to be honest, more smoke and mirrors for the media to use to deflect away from the content of the leaks.

What should be a story about the disclosure of detailed information about mass 'collateral' murder of Afghan and Iraqi civilians on an industrial scale is now a tale about a white-haired Australian "rapist" and a transgender soldier "traitor".

Sigh!

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Posted in: WikiLeaks source Manning sentenced to 35 years See in context

for all the good the US has done

You really have fallen for it, hook, line and sinker... Ignorance is bliss, I guess. It's amazing, and deeply depressing, how effective the old propaganda machine can be.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: WikiLeaks source Manning sentenced to 35 years See in context

This is the whole point - it isn't secret anymore... it's all available... it's just that the leaks haven't been disseminated properly by the media. See a minute or two from the link below: "the leaks involved 90,000 reports from Afghanistan and 490,000 reports from Iraq, including detailed kill counts" They added up the kill counts... in the hundreds of thousands for Afghanistan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A26WOvkMzo#t=32m30s

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Posted in: WikiLeaks source Manning sentenced to 35 years See in context

Bored kids of Oklahoma

Exactly. They talk so much about "honor" and "glory", but it seems for many of them that this is just BS to cover up the fact that they signed up to continue playing their video games but in real life, to kill some (in their words) "sand n*ggas", and to make much more money than they would at the local Walmart.

Manning and Assange have revealed the truth behind this myth of "honor" and "glory", detail after excruciating detail. That's the real reason why they are the target of so much vitriol from US military personnel, not because they have endangered anyone.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Posted in: WikiLeaks source Manning sentenced to 35 years See in context

You make it seem like it was the norm as to how the US military operates and to your disappointment, it is a very rare exception.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A26WOvkMzo#t=26m46s

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Posted in: WikiLeaks source Manning sentenced to 35 years See in context

Yeah cleo, I know, I messed up the quote function thing. Someone else wrote that the 'guys werent firing for fun', but there is video that directly contradicts that.

There is loads more http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0I6S8mva-s#t=10m04s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0I6S8mva-s#t=09m25s

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Posted in: WikiLeaks source Manning sentenced to 35 years See in context

The guys in the helicopter weren't firing on those people for the fun of it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0I6S8mva-s#t=03m41s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0I6S8mva-s#t=06m45s

It was a mistake. Stuff like that happens in war. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A26WOvkMzo#t=26m46s

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Posted in: WikiLeaks source Manning sentenced to 35 years See in context

@Probie

Yeah, I am advocating murder. Because traitors deserve it.

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Posted in: WikiLeaks source Manning sentenced to 35 years See in context

Against this background of comments like "American troops don't target civilians for fun" and so on, everyone should check out John Pilger's The War You Don't See, which is available free online on his site at: http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-you-dont-see

It's a breathtaking documentary about the content of the information that came to light via Manning and Assange. I know that it probably won't affect the opinions of the 'America is my truth, my honor, my religion' brigade, but for everyone else, it paints a very clear picture of what was going on Iraq and Afghanistan, and the attempts to prevent the public from knowing about it. The so-called 'treachery' of making these war crimes known to us should instead be considered heroically brave.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Posted in: WikiLeaks source Manning sentenced to 35 years See in context

@ Probie

We can only hope that some other prisoner sees fit to give his own sentence.

Let's just get this right. You are advocating the murder of someone simply for exposing some murderers. You need a serious recalibration of your moral compass. Patriotism is only second behind religion as a factor promoting irrationality and cruelty, as you have perfectly demonstrated.

5 ( +10 / -5 )

Posted in: Family of 91-year-old dementia sufferer struck by train ordered to pay JR compensation See in context

I think these charges to the poor people who have suffered (including suicide victims, and especially their families) are just a lot of BS. Trying to deter suicide by making this practice public and putting pressure on suicide contemplators not to inconvenience their families with huge bills?

I think this is exactly right. They simply don't care if it is horribly unjust. If this approach of ensuring the financial ruin of the family of suicide victims leads to just a few people going and hanging themselves in the woods instead of jumping on the train tracks, then JR will consider it a success. It makes me sick!

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Posted in: Family of 91-year-old dementia sufferer struck by train ordered to pay JR compensation See in context

Family of 91-year-old dementia sufferer struck by train ordered to pay JR compensation

Wow - unbelievable. JR obviously don't give a sh*t about PR. Or maybe, as in most other situations encountered in life, the average Japanese person simply wouldn't have an opinion upon reading this headline. Shou ga nai!

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Posted in: Aging hikikomori children's lifelong dependency on parents See in context

The scary thing is that 'only in Japan' problems like hikikomori have reached this scale without Japan really fully entering its inevitable period of decline yet.

Sure the economy's been bad for a while, but the layoffs associated with this haven't been too bad yet, although they are going to get far worse if Abe's plans for loosening up employee rights get enacted. The opportunities for Japanese youth are also gonna get worse given the facts that:

(i) China will soon be totally dominating East Asia, economically if not militarily, (ii) the acceleration of Japanese aging and depopulation and the increasing burden that this will place on the young, (iii) the repeal of Article 9 and associated increasing militarization of Japan. This is not just important because of drafting the young into the armed forces, but because it'll be associated with a push for more discipline in schools, public places etc. and even less freedom for the young. (iv) the public debt will have to be repaid somehow, so it's hard to imagine there will be a massive expansion in mental health care provision. Pension funds will also be raided (have already been raided?), placing even more of a burden on the young to look after their relatives.

I can't imagine how Japan is gonna be like in 20 or 30 years, but it isn't going to be pretty. I sure as hell will have gotten out of here by then.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Posted in: Aging hikikomori children's lifelong dependency on parents See in context

young people who never had a chance – or who, some say, were too spoiled or spineless to rise to the challenge

If your main goal when raising the next generation is to create passive, docile, obedient, malleable drones, then there are always going to be some who are pushed beyond the limit, never developing the social or communication skills to function in the real world

That suggests a nationwide total of 300,000 hikikomori people over 40

Japan - you reap what you sow

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Posted in: Obon holiday exodus begins at Narita airport See in context

Yeah - I sometimes don't believe the Japanese really have a holiday because they want to. It's more like they feel obliged to (because everyone else is) and they understand that it's a time to boost the economy of tourist areas by emptying their pockets and work bonuses on overpriced tat and hotels.

Alternatively, they go to the US or Europe for 4 days, which involves being jetlagged for two, and running round visiting ten museums and art galleries a day while taking way too many photos of walls and pavements. It'll be alright though, with what Abe and co. have in store, they'll be working 360+ days a year and marching/singing Kimigayo on their days off fairly soon.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: I don’t think 1,000 yen is expensive. But I have no idea how the money will be spent, so if I were asked to pay again in the future, I honestly don’t know whether I’d do it. See in context

pretty simple. It will be used for drinking parties and onsen trips

Now come on. You've just got to phrase it better.

It'll be used for "team-building promotion and local committee and delegation activities (possibly including drinking parties and onsen trips) that will facilitate discussions and co-operation that might lead to preliminary plans, which, subject to multiple rounds of further discussions and voting, could possibly lead to the establishment of a putative project schedule for the implementation of a super-committee that can then, if appropriate approval is granted and provided that reliable corporate partners are induced to get involved, decide to........ send some people up the mountain to pick up litter and maintain the steps and paths when needed."

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Posted in: Oliver Stone visits Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima See in context

from the era before sarcasm

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Posted in: Oliver Stone visits Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima See in context

@Galspa: Which page his book mentioned about Oswald? Was Oswald born in 1945?The book mentioned Truman. Mafia was too busy in Nevada, then. Maybe you will write fiction and submit to movie studio.

never mind Toshiko-san... go back to your comics and karaoke

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Oliver Stone visits Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima See in context

Mr. Stone is the only American trying to show the real face of the USA, of course most Americans here on JT don't like him LOL

None of the comments here indicate that people don't like him. The comments say that people don't think that the fact he visited Hiroshima is newsworthy. I agree.

His efforts to increase Americans' knowledge of their own and global history deserve to be and have been applauded. On the other hand, your critical thinking skills deserve to be given a thumbs down.

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Posted in: Kagome aims to boost tomato consumption in Japan See in context

Kagome aims to boost tomato consumption in Japan

Lower the price below 100 yen each and I'll eat more of them

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Posted in: Oliver Stone visits Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima See in context

why is it a LEADING story?

More importantly, where are the tarentos and the people dressed up as mascots (genpatsu-chan, hibakusha-kun etc.)? You can't have an American celebrity visiting without those...

Oh...

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Posted in: Aso says he won't resign over Nazi comments See in context

People in power being held accountable for their actions? In Japan? As if...

It'll be forgotten in a day or two

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