Asia's Cult of Intelligence versus the US' Cult of Ignorance

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Strange, given that US spending on the government education industry complex dwarfs Japan on a per capita basis.

But I suppose they don't have a moocher problem.

All the fact that you think Japan doesn't have what you would consider 'a moocher problem' demonstrates is that you don't know anything about Japan.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

This isn't very surprising to hear from a liberal university professor. Of course he would value the contributions of his own profession to society above all others, the lazy moocher. He seems to think that you can come full circle by increasing funding to the government education industry complex. The only result is that the unions win and the common man loses. I hope he gets fired so that he can find a real job and stop mooching off the public treasury.

All good points! These are thrifty and crafty folk. Japan shows a good path to winning the treasury back.


Link

Teachers’ wages in almost all countries in the world have been on an increase over the last ten years. In Japan, however, their wages were reduced by 9% during the same period of time.

Compared to 21.2 pupils on the OECD average, 28 children on average are crammed in one classroom in elementary schools in Japan, and 32.9 students in junior high schools as of 2010, making the class size in Japan the second largest among OECD member states.

Read a Japanese satirical novel written after 1980, or any work of modern Japanese crime fiction with a teenage culprit.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The truth is that one of our parties is devoted to hillbilly supremacy and the other is partially devoted to coddling losers. East Asia lacks those types of parties, so they naturally work harder and are smarter than either your soccer moms, your rednecks, or your hoodlums.
This is why we need Obama: he is cutting through this nonsense with common core.

Like I said to krazen, if you think there aren't political elements in Japan or South Korea or wherever else devoted to (the equivalent of) hillbilly supremacy or coddling (what you might consider) losers, you don't actually know much about that part of the world. Idealization of the cultures and political economies of Northeast Asian countries is irksome, and isn't really a function of treating that part of the world with genuine interest or respect at all.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The truth is that one of our parties is devoted to hillbilly supremacy and the other is partially devoted to coddling losers. East Asia lacks those types of parties, so they naturally work harder and are smarter than either your soccer moms, your rednecks, or your hoodlums.
This is why we need Obama: he is cutting through this nonsense with common core.

Like I said to krazen, if you think there aren't political elements in Japan or South Korea or wherever else devoted to (the equivalent of) hillbilly supremacy or coddling (what you might consider) losers, you don't actually know much about that part of the world. Idealization of the cultures and political economies of Northeast Asian countries is irksome, and isn't really a function of treating that part of the world with genuine interest or respect at all.

I can't take that assertion seriously without you citing your sources.

You know, I've been to Japan. I've studied the country for years. (Note: Some of the links are to articles on political, philosophical, or sociological concepts that are bull[Inks]. What's relevant is the fact that said concepts exist.)

Fun fact: In Japan as in America the 'loser-coddling' factions have done some of the most and most lasting good for the country in all sorts of ways.

Fun fact #2: There are at least two variations of the type of populist nationalism that you seem to mean by 'hillbilly supremacy' in Japanese politics, an urban kind and a rural kind. The urban kind is actually a lot more pernicious. The rural kind is sometimes benign, sometimes even helpful, and sometimes disgusting. The urban kind is always disgusting.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The truth is that one of our parties is devoted to hillbilly supremacy and the other is partially devoted to coddling losers. East Asia lacks those types of parties, so they naturally work harder and are smarter than either your soccer moms, your rednecks, or your hoodlums.
This is why we need Obama: he is cutting through this nonsense with common core.

Like I said to krazen, if you think there aren't political elements in Japan or South Korea or wherever else devoted to (the equivalent of) hillbilly supremacy or coddling (what you might consider) losers, you don't actually know much about that part of the world. Idealization of the cultures and political economies of Northeast Asian countries is irksome, and isn't really a function of treating that part of the world with genuine interest or respect at all.

I can't take that assertion seriously without you citing your sources.

You know, I've been to Japan. I've studied the country for years. (Note: Some of the links are to articles on political, philosophical, or sociological concepts that are bull[Inks]. What's relevant is the fact that said concepts exist.)

Fun fact: In Japan as in America the 'loser-coddling' factions have done some of the most and most lasting good for the country in all sorts of ways.

Fun fact #2: There are at least two variations of the type of populist nationalism that you seem to mean by 'hillbilly supremacy' in Japanese politics, an urban kind and a rural kind. The urban kind is actually a lot more pernicious. The rural kind is sometimes benign, sometimes even helpful, and sometimes disgusting. The urban kind is always disgusting.

I assume that by the rural kind, you mean the absurd deference to Japan's small, elderly, powerful rural farmers, who have convinced the Diet that it makes more sense to forbid rice imports and have the Japanese buy high-cost rice that 80 year old Japanese grow on postage stamp sized terrace plots than it does to just get it from countries like China or Vietnam who can grow it cheaper and in larger quantities.

Partially, yes. That as a part of the whole 'construction state'/ex-Tanakaist/rural and suburban cronyism side of the LDP in general, which, while on balance objectionable, is I think less so than some of the alternatives.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The JRP and similar outfits, which it must be remembered are very much flashy, Tokyo- and Osaka-centric in terms of their voting base, and in many cases youth-fetishizing movements, but which retain the blend of nationalism, populism, and tacit anti-intellectualism that I assume was the specific ideological tendency that Mr. Pollo meant by 'hillbilly supremacy'.