vettegirl comments

Sorry, I meant that I think most non 100% Yamato people on this thread will agree racism ia a prevelant problem AND I think that people who assert that it's not rampant are pollyanna. NOT that most people on this thread think they would be pollyanna. Unclear. My bad.

Good Jorb--

Yes, I did make those assumptions about posters in a hypothertical situation, but the point was that both gogogo and cleo made assumptions about me which are factually incorrect. gogogo assumed I "obviously" don't live in Japan--which, he is technically correct because I left Japan six months ago. But I did live there for five years. That is provable. Cleo accused me of not having read the thread, which is untrue. I can't prove I read it, but she deduced incorrect conclusions from an incorrect assumption. In a hypothetical, you assume a situation and try to draw conclusions from it. I did not start out my arguement with a untrue assumption. "Hypothesis is never to be stated as a question, but always as a statement with an explanation following it. It is not to be a question because it states what he/she thinks or believes will occur." (Wikipedia) You are correct that I haven't proven that these same posters would react as I predicted, but there is no logical breach in my argument, unlike cleo's and gogogo's basing their arguments on untruths. (Though I think gogogo wasn't assailing what I had to say, he/she just made a mistake.)

And I am neither a Japanophile or phobe. I'd like to think of myself as a realist. There are good and bad aspects to Japan, just as there are to the country of my citizenship, the US. But Japan has some serious xenophobia and race problems itself, though because it is a different country, the racism manifests itself in completely different forms than elsewhere. I think that most non 100% Yamato people on this thread will agree that racism (in whatever manifestation)is a fairly prevelant problem in Japan, and that people who assert that it's not rampant in Japan are pollyanna in their outlooks. To gloss over and make excuses for some very real experiences of posters on this thread implies an almost brain-washed cult-like jihadist belief in the "wonderfulness of Japan." And yes, disagree with me if you wish.

Cleo-- If you had actually read through this thread with a unbiased mind and not a pollyanna, defend Japan at all costs mindset while cherrypicking people's posts and then attacking them in red herrings, you will note that this IS a board where all of what I described has happened. Posters HAVE complained about those various things, and various responders have posted repilies in the vein I listed. I generalized a few samples of thoughts and replies posted. You peremptorily assumed I had not read this thread which meant I MUST have been talking about the most recent subject at hand (school beatings). You, like gogogo, are quick to make assumpions and draw incorrect conclusuions about people's experiences.

My point was that the posters on this thread use different standards to judge racism in Japan than in their home countries. If the "hypothetical" biracial people were posting about the same type experiences in Western countries, many of the same posters here would respond with outrage and demand zero-tolerance for racism. In Japan, these same posters say, "Get used to it." I have my own experiences growing up half in Japan and the US, and many of the posters here have had different experiences of racism or discrimination and I will not discount their experiences because there are no more burning crosses or lynchings or because it's a different type of "low-key" racism in Japan or because "Japan is different."

I will not discount them because I think minorities everywhere are often told by the majority or even Uncle Toms to ignore their treatment and because things are better than they used to be. I will not discount them because it's their right to fight to make things better. I will not discount them because their experiences have been different from mine or my relatives'. People in the majority tend to look at race in an optimistic way, looking at race relations from the perspective of "Look how far race relations have progressed."

Minorities view racism pessimisstically, focusing "how far there is left to go." And please, people, stop talking about how it's (racism) worse or has been worse elsewhere. Tell that to the Ainu. Hey, Japan had no anti-discrimination laws because they just DENIED that there were minorities until recently. (Congratulations Ainu; you exist!) Or the ABHORRENT treatment of Koreans. Of course there are no anti-discrimination laws in Japan, the Japanese laws are discriminatory! Ask zainichi Koreans who have to become naturalized even if they have been here for generations. And good luck telling the foreigners on this site that there's no need for anti-discrimination laws in housing. There's a battle you'll lose.

gogogo--I lived in Japan for five years. My mother is Japanese and when I was young I spent every summer there. I moved back to the US six months ago. I read and speak Japanese fluently. My point is that the posters on this board have different standards for judging racism in Japan and racism in their home countries.

I wonder if what would happen if this were a disscussion board in the US or Canada or UK where bi-racial black people were sharing their experiences of racism such as friends getting beaten up on their ways to schools, getting stared at, and receiving racial slurs, and the other posters said to stop whining because 1)Racism is everywhere, deal with it. 2) Most people around you aren't racists, so it's no big deal. 3)There are no lynchings and burning crosses so don't complain. 4) If your peckerwood, inbred town is racist, you should move.

Try wrapping your head around this-- I'm half-Japanese, half American. My mother came to the US at 28 years old when she married my father. She still lives in the US and I speak and read Japanese. When we get into arguments, she screams at me, "At least I'm pure-blooded!" I can't even begin to deconstruct that...

Ai is a typical supermodel---very tall, very skinny, with a masculine face. Clothes drape better on tall skinny preying mantis-types. Designers also dont want T&A to distract from the clothes. The consumer should look at the clothing, not the body of the woman wearing it. Also, angular faces photograph better than round, soft faces. A person can be attractive in real life and photograph badly and vice versa. A face photographs well when the light reflects off of planes, so strong sharp faces are ideal for models. High testosterone in men accounts for sharper jaws and chins and angular faces. Thats why models faces tend to be very manly (ie Gisele)