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By Crypt Rocket - disaffected rabble rouser
I keep seeing talk of looting in Japan, or more accurately why there is no looting going on in Japan. It seems to have amazed people that there is an ongoing disaster and the Japanese have not reverted to some lower life form that starts taking what it wants from wherever it can get it by any means necessary. I guess that in America disaster and looting have become synonymous and we have a hard time grappling with civility even during a disaster. Or maybe civility isn’t entertaining enough and at some base level we want to see the emergence of the human animal to add additional chaos to the destruction of the quake/tsunami/meltdown. Riots get ratings, orderly lines do not. Looting gets ratings, sharing supplies and rations does not.
So what is the difference? Why have they not reverted to some lesser creature that is only concerned with itself? I am sure that media outlets are paying social scientists to delve into the phenomena, so I may as well chime in with my two cents worth.
I think the difference is respect. I am not saying that this applies to all Americans but it does to enough that it is relevant. It seems that in America we have lost respect for everything and everyone else but demand respect from everyone. In Japan there is respect for everyone and everything (except whales and dolphins but this is not the time or place for that argument). And what is neat about that is when respect is given it reciprocates and is returned. So where does this respect come from? I am not sure but I think that having a population half that of the United States, a land mass the size of California with a livable land area the size of Georgia has something to do with it. You shove 127 million people into Georgia and if they don’t have respect for one another, watch the shit hit the fan. Really. I don’t even have a degree in head shrinkery and can figure out that math equation. Oh wait, this is America, we fail at simple math.
I will give you two examples of this respect...