11–20 of 183 posts
By tradition, suicide can absolve guilt and cancel debt, can restore honor and prove loyalty. In this respect I feel Japan's culture is superior to ours in the USA. For example, I felt Mark Madoff's suicide was entirely appropriate, a final act that put the rest of his life in a more dignified context. Yet every article one reads about it treats the suicide as an additional disgrace, yet another horrible thing we can…
This last spring, there were at least three major animes revolving around the concept. "Nanana's burried treasure", "No Game No Life", and "Mekakucity actors" all have title characters who are Hikikomoris.
Hikikomori (shut-ins / NEETs) seem to be a real problem... real enough that they've entered Japanese Anime culture as a new character archetype.
I don't have much Japanese exposure outside of anime, so I'm not going to draw conclusions based on this alone. But I thought I'd give my perspective. Everything seems to tie together: an economic downturn that prevents many young people from getting a job, the uptick in shut-in culture, and finally an uptick in the suicide rate... (which seem to only cause more Hikikomoris as their loved ones disappear and make life more difficult for those left behind...)
By tradition, suicide can absolve guilt and cancel debt, can restore honor and prove loyalty. In this respect I feel Japan's culture is superior to ours in the USA. For example, I felt Mark Madoff's suicide was entirely appropriate, a final act that put the rest of his life in a more dignified context. Yet every article one reads about it treats the suicide as an additional disgrace, yet another horrible thing we can…
By tradition, suicide can absolve guilt and cancel debt, can restore honor and prove loyalty. In this respect I feel Japan's culture is superior to ours in the USA. For example, I felt Mark Madoff's suicide was entirely appropriate, a final act that put the rest of his life in a more dignified context. Yet every article one reads about it treats the suicide as an additional disgrace, yet another horrible thing we can…
Does anyone else here finds that there is disproportionnate amount of articles related to death, depression and mental illness that reaches the frontpage of HN ? I'm not saying it's necesseraly a bad thing, but it makes me wonder about the effects working in IT might have on mental health.
One might also think that such articles are underrepresented everywhere else. In fact, seeing them getting voted up is some evidence that people actually want to read them.
Does anyone else here finds that there is disproportionnate amount of articles related to death, depression and mental illness that reaches the frontpage of HN ? I'm not saying it's necesseraly a bad thing, but it makes me wonder about the effects working in IT might have on mental health.
Does anyone else here finds that there is disproportionnate amount of articles related to death, depression and mental illness that reaches the frontpage of HN ? I'm not saying it's necesseraly a bad thing, but it makes me wonder about the effects working in IT might have on mental health.