Remember those Suicide Booths in Futurama? I swear to God, one of these days soon, a Japanese firm is gonna build them and install them in Japan.
The Japanese suicide rate is shockingly high. Police usually run patrols through the forests near Tokyo because they usually find skeletal remains of people who either hung themselves or commited ritual suicide out there.
As in several other cases, they died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a coal-burning stove after sealing themselves in a room with plastic sheeting and duct tape.
And you people laughed at the effectiveness of duct tape and plastic sheeting.
It’s sad, really. The pressure to perform/conform in Japan must just be unbearable. It’s like their society is trying to turn all of them into a bunch of machines, utterly without affect.
Oh well. All societies have problems. At least the Japanese don’t live and die by the very American god of money. Although I get the impression they’ve been working on changing that for a while now.
Where’s Kitsune for the inside scoop?
It’s sad, really. The pressure to perform/conform in Japan must just be unbearable
Yes, just as unbearable as the American pressure to embrace mediocrity, laziness and ask for a handout. And if money were our ‘god’ then things might be better here, unfortunately we worship the ‘common good’ at the expense of individual liberty.
Yeah, and we even let people like you complain about it.
:roll:
So Kitsune’s suicidal now? ;)
I’ve found a picture of bmulligan on the Internet. It pretty much explains bmulligan’s worldview.
And you people laughed at the effectiveness of duct tape and plastic sheeting.
and we even let people make insensitive comments about the dead.
Why are crass comments like this so goddamn funny?
I’ve read this line a hundred times and I still giggle every time.
I’ve found a picture of bmulligan on the Internet. It pretty much explains bmulligan’s worldview.
actually that’s me in my younger days, I was much better looking then.
Elaborate.
We punish achievement by confiscating the wealth of those who make the most. We set the example that if you are lazy and destitute, the government will always be there to help you so you don’t need to help yourself. We are told that we need to sacrifice our good fortunes for those who are less fortunate, only we have no choice, it’s automatically taken from us by force for the “good” of society.
We have a deeply rooted, misguided belief that equality means homogeny, progress means compromise, and being moderate is preferable to principle.
Shall I go on?
I dunno, a marginal tax rate of 38.6% if you make over $307K
doesn’t seem exorbitant – especially if you realize this is before
deductions. Once you factor in mortgage deductions and all
the rest, we’re not talking about vast sums here. And a lot of it
goes to military spending, infrastructure, R&D and a host
of other functions that have nothing to do with wealth redistribution.
Been reading too much Ayn Rand lately, eh?
Uh… no.
I just wanted to mention that the TopHat-wearing-Tycoon-Dog looks nothing like me. No matter what the duck says…
We must not be doing a good job. The rich are still getting richer. The poor are still getting poorer. The middle class is shrinking; most would be middle-classers are ending up as lower class. For the first time in a history, a generation (my generation) is going to have a lower relative standard of living than the previous generation. Where is the money going?
We set the example that if you are lazy and destitute, the government will always be there to help you so you don’t need to help yourself.
You’re saying that the poor are explointing the gov and the gov is allowing it? If so, then I think it goes both ways. The rich exploit it, too.
We are told that we need to sacrifice our good fortunes for those who are less fortunate, only we have no choice, it’s automatically taken from us by force for the “good” of society.
I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Be more specific.
We have a deeply rooted, misguided belief that equality means homogeny, progress means compromise, and being moderate is preferable to principle.
Shall I go on?
You’re sounding like a rhetoric squawk box. Give me some specific examples so I can make sure we are on the same page before I respond with generalizations like you already have.
Ha, I hadn’t noticed “Gotcha” on his coffin.
Anyone old money will tell you why we do it and why we need it. If each generation doesn’t make their own money then they end up rather useless.