“[t]he human toll [in Japan] looks to be much worse than the economic toll, and we can be grateful for that.”He later claimed he had mangled the line he intended to give, although it's difficult to imagine whatall he meant to say. The underlying principle, however, seems clear: our central concern must always be on the economic impact of any act of god or humanity. This really not a new set of ideas and it is one we have been trying to overcome for most of the 20th century.
In Bellamy's Looking Backwards the key to the transformation from the wretchedness of the 19th century to the wonderfulness of the 20th was exactly to stop thinking that way and to start thinking about putting human needs first.
No doubt, Bellamy's prescription for what ails us is overly optimistic; however, in this post by Ed over to GinandTacos, he shows what can happen
[i]f government takes its responsibilities seriously (which requires the preliminary step of recognizing that responding to an unthinkably large natural disaster is a government responsibility) it is possible to see that the animal-level needs of its people are met. Japan does have the advantage of being a small, dense country, but nonetheless its public sector has managed to shelter, feed, and rescue itself admirably. Why? Because its government is not devoted to the idea that government should be abolished.
Beyond that, Japan hasn't build its entire society on the principle of every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost. Their idea of disaster preparedness is not hoarding enough bullets to shoot their neighbors who run out of food. When America has a natural disaster, the private sector immediately focuses on profiteering and jacking up prices. In Japan the prices are lowered and in some cases basic necessities are even given away gratis. Japanese are more willing to look out for and help one another because unlike the U.S., their social dynamics focus on group harmony (critics say "conformity") rather than constant reminders that You are responsible for yourself and no one else. If your neighbor needs help, the American response is to lecture him about failing to better prepare himself for the crisis.
Americans' attitudes, or some very loud and annoying Americans' attitudes, toward the state and their fellows do drive policies that make life less sweet and, it follows, if we change our attitudes we might find ourselves living in a kind of margaritaville.
A lot of American attitude towards disaster preparedess is driven by racist beliefs, if you sit down with a gun loving American suburbanite for any length of time they will almost always say they need their guns to protect themselves from the brown hoards. I think that is why the right went apeshit over the movie bowling for Columbine, Charelton Heston pretty much admitted that dynamic.
ReplyDeleteYour buddy Matt Yglesias has a graph up showing the radicalization of white people, and It really is somewhat telling.
No doubt racist attitudes condition all manner of responses to perceived problems; however, my guess is Yglesias is misreading the stats because he is wrong most of the time.
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