Re: East is East and West is West



Peter Brooks wrote:
On Mar 10, 2:02 am, Dave Smith <da...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 9 Mar, 21:39, Lance <LanceG...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:



Peter Brooks wrote:

.

That seems quite likely given the ethnically and culturally homogenous
population of Japan and the ethnically and culturally heterogenous
nature of America.

Well, it has never struck me that way, but I suppose, compared to the
Japanese (who after all live in one quite small island) they are quite
heterogeneous. Ethnically, the Japanese are quite mixed, having
invaded (and been themselves invaded) the Chinese and the Koreans (as
well as at least some others). I'm sure that they are quite culturally
heterogeneous as well for the same reason.

There are many dialects in Japanese - are there really fewer than in
America? If you are counting North and South America, I think then the
diversity might be quite a bit higher, but just North America, I'm not
so sure.

Is there any sort of objective measure for this sort of thing? I'd
imagine that Eskimos are pretty ethnically homogeneous, but I can't
see all that many other peoples being so.

Certainly some encyclopaedias list Japan as one of the most homogenous
populations to be found anywhere. True there are the Annu (sp) up
North, and true they have a complex history - but they have been a
single nation for a long time. America of course is a land of
immigrants, slaves, diverse cultures.

Lance

I've no relevant personal experience, but I read a chapter in
Singer's 'How Are We to Live?' a while ago which argued that the
Japanese are less individualistic and strongly identify with the
groups they belong to, such as the corporation, sports team or family.

I've read similar things, but there are, as I say, many different
dialects of Japanese and there is a strong (if not very
individualistic) cultural tradition. The US has, on the other hand,
moved a heterogeneous population (as Lance points out, from many
places) into an extremely homogeneous one, with a single simplified
form of English, relatively few dialects (certainly for the size of
the country) and a very simple and circumscribed notion of what
'individualistic' behaviour is. As for identification, both groups
appear to have shown, or show, extraordinary levels of identification
with sports teams and an the case of the US, an amazing level of
homogeneous patriotism, engendered by daily compulsory patriotic
exercises by all children. 'Brave New World' was, I think, more
heterogeneous than either the US or Japan.

For making a comparison, I'd have thought that there were many better
examples than these two. Eskimos, being isolated until recently, or
Bushmen, are likely to show more homogeneous behaviour. Somewhere like
Switzerland would seem a much better example of heterogeneous
behaviour than the US - until recently some Swiss cantons had not
adopted female sufferage, for example, whilst others support needle
exchange for heroin addicts, euthanasia and homosexual unions, not to
mention that they speak at least three languages.

I think America is incredibly diverse. Even the state system means
that different law systems are used -- Code napoleon is used in
Louisiana for example). Spanish is very widely spoken, but so are
quite a number of European and Asian languages. The Chinese and
Vietnamese and Japanese communities are large and prosperous and the
growing Indian (very well educated by all accounts group) is making
its presence felt. Anyone travelling in the USA is struck by the huge
chabnges in culture from one area to another. The Midwest is very
different from Texas and both are very different from California and
the Northeast. But I suspect that you and I are not going to agree on
this matter...

Lance
.

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