Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
tech.yahoo.com
Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
1–10 of 32 posts
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#2[deleted]
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#3simply displaying a historical document is not prejudice; what this is instead is just another indication that the japanese are incapable of coming to terms with their past and that their supposedly modern society continues to harbor a primitive mentality that would be considered distasteful and shocking in a westerner.
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#4[deleted]
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#5About the Japan's buraku: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=436453
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#6The bizarre thing about the complaints about the maps is that Matsuoka initially criticized Google for displaying the maps and even complained to the Justice Minister about them, but when the references to burakumin communities about which he complained were removed, a representative of the organization of which he is secretary-general asserted that removing them was an act of prejudice. It seems as though there is nothing Google can do regarding these maps besides not making them available. In a situation in which the only option that would not be considered prejudiced is to not provide useful information, the complainers are probably being oversensitive. The information about discrimination against descendants of burakumin in Japan does somewhat justify their oversensitivity, but prejudice in Japanese culture is no reason to suppress these maps.
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#7simply displaying a historical document is not prejudice; what this is instead is just another indication that the japanese are incapable of coming to terms with their past and that their supposedly modern society continues to harbor a primitive mentality that would be considered distasteful and shocking in a westerner.
But the problem is that this is not purely a historical document, it is an ongoing rights issue. By publishing these maps on top of modern maps, Google is facilitating the racism against these people.
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#8simply displaying a historical document is not prejudice; what this is instead is just another indication that the japanese are incapable of coming to terms with their past and that their supposedly modern society continues to harbor a primitive mentality that would be considered distasteful and shocking in a westerner.
But the problem is that this is not purely a historical document, it is an ongoing rights issue. By publishing these maps on top of modern maps, Google is facilitating the racism against these people.
respectfully, I posit that the right to information outweighs the potential negatives for which it may be used.
If we were to allow what you suggest(cultural sensitivities) to be a legitimate basis for the suppression of knowledge, then clearly we should begin stoking the fires for our book burnings.
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#9simply displaying a historical document is not prejudice; what this is instead is just another indication that the japanese are incapable of coming to terms with their past and that their supposedly modern society continues to harbor a primitive mentality that would be considered distasteful and shocking in a westerner.
But the problem is that this is not purely a historical document, it is an ongoing rights issue. By publishing these maps on top of modern maps, Google is facilitating the racism against these people.
If you can hire a company to check where someone's ancestors lived, I think it's already out of the bag. You can't just pretend the maps don't exist.
Re: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil prejudices
#10Is this some sort of long-winded joke?