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Alienation Is Killing Americans and Japanese

nautil.us

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Re: Alienation Is Killing Americans and Japanese

#21

Post by Gigablah »

madengr wrote: post #14
eva1984 wrote: post #3

Why US is different from all the other countries in the charts? If author's hypothesis is right, that it is mainly about declining of economic status, I cannot see why other western countries would not follow a similar pattern. And from the chart, US's (whites) death rates takes off starting from late 90s, where the economy was doing great, while other countries' death rates keep declining even during great recession…

Or maybe no one gives a crap about white males; they are just mysoginist, racist, oppressors.

From the article: "The study found that the death rate was increasing particularly quickly for white women."

Re: Alienation Is Killing Americans and Japanese

#23

Post by lgieron »

greydius wrote: post #9
simonbarker87 wrote: post #5

Not the main focus of the article but I've been wondering lately why Japan is considered to have done poorly over the last 30 years economically when a lot of the big multi national brands that are very popular all over the world during that period are Japanese. I'm not an economist (or Japanese) but from the outside when you can list Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Suburu, Shimano, Nintendo, Hitachi, Yamaha, Sega and Mu…

These companies became household names during a period of incredible economic growth in Japan (60s - 80's). But economic growth at that level is not sustainable (as China is finding out), and the country went into a recession in the 90's. Japan is still one of the wealthiest and most productive nations in the world, but the borrowing to fuel its growth has caught up, and it now has one of the largest debt-to-gdp rati…

> but the borrowing to fuel its growth has caught up,

From what I've read, the Japanese public debt is mostly domestic, so it wasn't actually foreign money that was fueling the growth.

Re: Alienation Is Killing Americans and Japanese

#24

Post by simonbarker87 »

distances wrote: post #11
simonbarker87 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An article on HN last week discussed the idea of a class of people called the Unnecessariat ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11765581 ) where a large swatch of people no longer have a place in society thanks to declining manufacturing jobs (and potentially the automation of farming) in the middle of America and as such these people have been left to die by the state as they are surplus to requirements in the mo…

The Unnecessariat also linked to a Washington Post article ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2016/04/08/we-dont... ) describing the life and death of one of those who died too young, in rural Oklahoma. A good read, while of course so very sad that we can't see a solution to this phenomenon.

Read that one as well from the link. Both those articles combines for a very sad hour of reading. Reminded a little of the The Unexotic Underclass[1] - not totally the same but both areas of society not necessarily benefiting from advances in technology.

[1] http://miter.mit.edu/the-unexotic-underclass/

Re: Alienation Is Killing Americans and Japanese

#25

Post by geodel »

Though I am not as disconnected to modern economic realities but as I approach 40s the thought of nature and purpose of my work worries me. I also do not have much social connections outside work and increasingly at work too. I guess in next 10 years I may find myself in similar predicament.

Re: Alienation Is Killing Americans and Japanese

#27

Post by ddebernardy »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #7
eva1984 wrote: post #3

Why US is different from all the other countries in the charts? If author's hypothesis is right, that it is mainly about declining of economic status, I cannot see why other western countries would not follow a similar pattern. And from the chart, US's (whites) death rates takes off starting from late 90s, where the economy was doing great, while other countries' death rates keep declining even during great recession…

An article on HN last week discussed the idea of a class of people called the Unnecessariat ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11765581 ) where a large swatch of people no longer have a place in society thanks to declining manufacturing jobs (and potentially the automation of farming) in the middle of America and as such these people have been left to die by the state as they are surplus to requirements in the mo…

It's less of a factor in the EU because the average Joe here hasn't voted their own safety nets away (yet).

Re: Alienation Is Killing Americans and Japanese

#28

Post by greggman »

onecooldev24 wrote: post #13

Just saying, if prostitution was legal these lonely males would at least have some sort of pleasure.

In Japan prostitution is effectively legal. It's not legal to have penis in vagina sex but everything else is legal and you can bet that all of the places that claim they provide everything but that also provide that service as well. There's tons of "red light" districts as well as call up places.

Even if you don't want sex Japan has a culture of hostess clubs and "snack" clubs. A hostess club is a club you pay to have someone flirt and talk with you. A snack club is a club were the owner entertains everyone. Think of bar where the bartender leads everyone in discussion, games, songs, etc...

In other words, Japan has that but is still having these issues.

Re: Alienation Is Killing Americans and Japanese

#29

Post by napperjabber »

gkanai wrote: post #8
simonbarker87 wrote: post #5

Not the main focus of the article but I've been wondering lately why Japan is considered to have done poorly over the last 30 years economically when a lot of the big multi national brands that are very popular all over the world during that period are Japanese. I'm not an economist (or Japanese) but from the outside when you can list Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Suburu, Shimano, Nintendo, Hitachi, Yamaha, Sega and Mu…

> Can anyone share some insight? If you were around in the 1980s, when Japan was at it's economic peak, Japan has slowly been passed by China and continues to tread water (i.e. stay in the same place, as China has passed it.) Japan is a poorly performing economy in that there's been little to no growth since the bubble burst in the late 80s. Other economies have gone through growth stages and we had the Asian financi…

As an American living in Japan, life in Japan is a lot more enjoyable. From having lower healthcare costs to a more stable food budget.

Re: Alienation Is Killing Americans and Japanese

#30

Post by PaulHoule »

minikites wrote: post #17
tristor wrote: post #15

Another part of this I think that people don't really talk about is increased social isolation as a direct cause of Internet addiction and the rise of social media and online gaming. There is a term for this concept in Japan 'hikikomori', but it's just as true in the US. As someone who recently turned 30, yet has remained single most of my life despite my other successes, I see it very clearly. I grew up along with t…

>remained single most of my life despite my other successes I think the media has a role to play here too, the idea that you need romantic love in order to be successful or complete is a toxic one. Edit: a lot of replies to my comment are misinterpreting what I'm saying as "romance is a new idea invented by the media" when all I said is that it's possible to have a complete and successful life without romance.

Plenty of people would get that idea without the media.

It is sublime how when you feel lonely you look for a lover and then pretty soon you have more people around. It makes heterosex seem almost subversive these days...

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