http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/world/asia/16japan.html?hp&ex=1145160000&en=b51db1078cecb63e&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Today, in a country whose view of itself was once captured in the
slogan, "100 million, all-middle class society," catchphrases harshly
sort people into "winners" and "losers," and describe Japan as a
"society of widening disparities." Major daily newspapers are running
series on the growing gap between rich and poor, with such titles as
"Divided Japan" and "Light and Darkness."
Of course Japan never really was entirely an
egalitarian society, but even the ideal (ideology)
is apparently disappearing.
One person is quoted in the article as saying:
"I wonder what kind of country Japan is becoming if you're told you're
either a winner or loser," she said. "I don't want to be either. I
just want to lead an average life."
That's what seems to me to be the problem: that
"we" have made the [ontological] meta-choice to become
a society of winners and losers. Individuals, of course,
tend to think of themselves, empirically / ontically
[i.e., *within* the "world" so-constituted...]
as either winners or losers, but what persons need to keep
in mind is that there would be other possibilities
if we organized our shared social life differently....
Yes, of course, if we organized our social
life differently, then persons might have fewer possibilities to
become either winners or losers, and
those individuals who want to be one or the other of those
two kinds of entities would potentially be deprived of *their*
opportunity for self-realization, self-actuallzation
and this-worldly salvation, etc. so that
persons could have more opportunities for other
kinds of self-realiztion.... So, I guess, even
in a society without "winners" or "losers" there would
still be "winners" and "losers" after all (e.g., what
would there be left in life for Donald Trump to live for
if he couldn't practice "the art of the deal" at the
US$9-digit+ level?)....
\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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