Zell, Chris wrote:
In addition, the suicide spirit was cultivated in wartime Japan,
amidst all the isolation that entailed. This is a far cry from
wandering thru airports, western colleges, strip bars, and various
part time jobs in western businesses.
Of course it is very different. The point is, fanatical, suicidal
people came to their senses and stopped the carnage. This kind of
craziness does not usually continue indefinitely.
A few officers like Yamamoto had extensive exposure to western lands and
culture. His experience therefore made him more realistic - and
somewhat pessimistic - about war with the US.
Very pessimistic. Actually, all Navy officers went on compulsory
overseas tours and compared to the average person they were
sophisticated and exposed to Western nations, so many of them felt
misgivings about the war. The army top brass was more provincial.
Unfortunately the army took over the country, and army hotheads tried
to assassinate Yamamoto.
Shinto was the religion of a single nation and not something easily
exported by missionaries, unlike the aggressive claims of Islam.
Actually, it was mainly cobbled together in the late 19th century as
a mind-control tool to crack down on the people. So was Wahhabism, in
the mid-18th century. These things have not been around long, and I
doubt they will last. People often imagine that such institutions are
ancient and permanent, but that is not the case.
It may be best to keep them divided and killing each other, if
rationality cannot otherwise prevail.
Division and killing are bad for everyone. Misery breeds more misery.
The only hope is that these societies will turn to constructive,
life-affirming paths. And they probably will! Most societies do,
sooner or later. Looking at the sum-total of history, and at present
cultures in the world, you seldom find ones that are deeply
dysfunctional and mired in self-destructive misery. They self-correct
after a while, or self-destruct and go extinct, as described by J.
Diamond in "Collapse." Naturally there are always criminals, social
problems, and disruption. But the notion that we will be locked in an
unending culturally-based war with these people for decades or
centuries strikes me as profoundly unrealistic, ignorant of history,
and far too pessimistic. The only country stuck in that kind of mess
is Israel, sad to say.
Along the same lines, the notion that we are going to run out of oil
and then be plunged into a new dark age of starvation and $20 per
gallon gasoline strikes me as ludicrous. No doubt we will run out of
oil, and the sooner the better. The result will almost certainly be
the rapid development of superior technology and an overall
improvement in living standards, reduced pollution, and so on. As I
said in chapter 18, this is a sure thing, unless we let idiots like
Rifkin and the editor of SciAm stand in the way.
See:
S. L. Sass, "Scarcity, Mother of Invention"
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/opinion/10sass.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
"Throughout history, shortages of vital resources have driven
innovation, and energy has often starred in these technological
dramas. The desperate search for new sources of energy and new
materials has frequently produced remarkable advances that no one
could have imagined when the shortage first became evident."
See also S. L. Sass, prof. of materials science and engineering,
Cornell, "The Substance of Civilization: Materials and Human History
From the Stone Age to the Age of Silicon."
- Jed
