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Progressive News & Views (since 1982)
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[More]
A Fad to Die For
While I was on a time-out to feed my dogs I kept thinking about those just
reported (March 11, 2006) suicides in Asia and how nutty the world has
been, is, and likely always will be. Give us a brain and this is what you
get, looney tunes.
Yes, it is true that the Japanese are about the fad-craziest people on the
planet and some of the smartest - but you really have to wonder why not
only electronics and over the top fashions and cubicles to sleep, not to
forget they gave us sushi and now it is suicide too??
Who is that oriental women who always writes that right wing drole and
her own parents were locked up in American concentration camps during the
war and she defends the action? I can't think of her name???
And I remember all the fads when I was younger. Hell, rock and roll was a
big fad and some of it lives on; but so were Mohawk haircuts and I had
one. And there were the Cubaveras (from Cuba) which were shirts that you
would wear on the outside of your paints (great to hide your belly). And
jeans were dungerees when I was a kid. There was also the Nehru collar
jacket and leather which is no longer a fad, but the uniform today for
bikers. I bet you can think of a lot of fads? How many fads can you relate
to your youth and how many can you relate to the internet?
Remember bell-bottom paints and dashikis (I'm not sure of the spelling). I
had one in the 60s. There were beanies which I wore in school but I can't
remember what kind of statement I was making by wearing one? I especially
remember the beanies with the windmills on top. (g)....
Who here remembers Wee Willie Winkle Hates and Dickeys?
Of course there were peace symbols and I've already mentioned a bunch of
fads on the InterNUT.
I heard somewhere recently, if true?, that
13% of everyone using the internet has a website now and most of them are
blogs. CMS is relatively new and it is a content management system, which
is software for building a total site or portal. I have played around with
dozens of them but got tired of the effort and now I may install one and
then I tear it down. Wikis too are a fad although Wikipedia is still up
and better than most but not the definitive source for dependable,
complete information. There is a more professional version now, which is
being developed.
But, most disturbing is the fad, which is a new trend for young folks to
discover each other and then commit suicide. Some meet in the flesh and
asphyxiate each other with plastic bags or by carbon dioxide in sealed
cars.
91 people died in 34 suicide incidents in 2005. That is double what it was
in 2004. There have also been suicides on subway tracks in Japan if you
cause delays to the subway and damage the railway company goes after the
family for compensation <sick>.. The figure so far is about $70,000 being
sought for damages by the railway companies.
Suicides in Iraq by Japanese soldiers.
Of the 240 Japanese "Self Defense"
Force soldiers which were deployed to Iraq (see Wikipedia) about
64 of them have committed suicide from January 1 to March (2005). I
don't know how many have died since then by their own hands - or if
they are still there? Are they?
Suicides up everywhere: World Health Organization reports that the suicide
rate in China is 17 per 100,000 and more by females from rural areas and
students in college/universities. The U.S. suicide rate is 12 per 100,000.
The Japanese rate which use to be the same as the U.S. rate has jumped to
24 per 100,000 -- but the U.S. rate for returning soldiers is soaring and
expected to jump way up there.
Crazy world, isn't it?
Hank Roth
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