In recent developments, Japan has established national standards for waist sizes.
If your waist exceeds the government-mandated maximum (33.5 inches for men, 35.4 for women), you will be receive government 'guidance,' and -- if that doesn't get results in three months -- you will then be assigned for government 're-education.' I'm not making this shit up.
While not punishable by death (yet), this legislation strikes me as human stupidity on a colossal scale, which I object to. The only things that should be produced on colossal scales are burgers, roller-coasters, and redheads (and I mean lots of redheads, not colossal redheads).
Idiocy.
And I'm not just saying this because my waist, at 34 inches, exceeds Japan's statutory max. Even allowing for cultural differences (I would assume that 6-foot-3, 200 lb. hockey players are fairly rare in Japan), waist size is hardly the end all and be all of health. I appreciate the need to alleviate endemic diabetes and heart problems, especially in a nation with socialized healthcare, but there's got to be a better way to determine healthy/unhealthy than this shit. I mean, this is the country that has graced the world with... .... .... Sushi? Yeah! SUSHI! (Mmmmm.... sushi....) With all the crazy ways they can mix together rice and dead fish, you'd think they'd be a little more flexible about their definition of flab!
Lately, I've been spending quite a bit of time thinking about insanity -- perhaps as a buildup to expounding own my own unusual mental state; let me know if you want to read about that -- and I have a theory about why Japan regularly comes up with ideas like, for example, bukake. (Google it.) Japan also has a large industry providing and supporting people with insects for pets, and purportedly, it is not an uncommon phobia among men to believe that one's penis might retract inside one's body. Again, I'm not making this up.
The Japanese people fall victim to their own social pressures. A nation that proudly flaunts its millenia of warrior history, that was stomped into the ground by a bunch of uncultured, honorless, foul-smelling gaijan. Where men are expected to be men, but also to swallow their pride and throw themselves onto their swords over relatively trifling (by western standards) issues of honor. Where the a relatively huge population is stacked into a remarkably small geographic area. With all the competing and/or conflicting expectations, repression so pervasive as to be the defining cultural norm, to say nothing of the constant pressure and buzz of so much humanity, it really is no wonder that they come up with so much crazy shit.
Take, by contrast, the Canadians. The only crazy headlines you see from Canada are about riots following big victories or big losses by the Leaf or the Habs. That's because hockey is the only thing Canadians take that seriously. Sweeping social freedoms, carefree lifestyle, and lots of open space: Their freedom of individuality is challenged only by the Aussies (who get crazy about rugby). Interestingly enough, both nations are also notable in that you can pick bar fights by criticizing someones beer choice. I guess when you don't really take anything seriously, you need to to contrive things to take seriously, just to remind yourself that you do, in fact, still have a pulse.
This had led me to the conclusion that nearly all forms of insanity and social deviancy arise as direct results of the social institutions we embrace, or -- more often -- that our parents force us in to. In American culture, the highest items on the list would be: 1) religion 2) family events, and 3) high school. *Sigh* Once again, I find myself trumpeting the cause of rebellion for all social and cultural norms as the path to better and healthier living.
2 comments:
Hmmm, where to begin? (1) Sushi...mmmmm sushi. Man, I'll miss that shit if I ever get knocked up. (2) Waist size is important because your waist hosts most of the critically dangerous fat in your body. The bigger your waist, the faster you'll waste away. Although 33.5" is a wee bit thin. The standard in this country is 35 for women and 37 (or is it 39?) for men. (3) Your point about a tall hockey player in Japan is right on point. Comparing you to a Japanese Suicide Bomber is like comparing you to the "average" young man growing up in the south eating fried this and fried that. You just cannot be compared to anyone else but another tall hockey player. (4) You need to stop blaming parents for everything. (5) I can only speak for myself in saying this... but, my parents have no impact on my political beliefs (dad liked Perot for pete's sake). (6) Blame high school. It's the most bullshit reality show ever. DEFINITELY a post for another time.
Intelligence is primarily genetic, but mental health is a cultural phenomenon.
I stand by the point that culture is primarily responsible for most forms of insanity and deviency that appear in any given population. (Although individual members of the populace may be more or less likely to suffer damage, based on intrinsic character.)
Parents are the ones primarily responsible for instilling culture, and fully deserve credit (or blame) for how their kids turn out. High school is a VERY close second, and is in some ways worse, since it acts with impunity, and generally doesn't even pretend to give a shit about individual students.
But that's just my take on it all.
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