It's not widely known, but also in at least one state (CA) the OnStar people will happily cooperate when the police ask them to slow down a vehicle's engine during pursuit. That's getting creepy.
Re: Japan
I don't know the exact answer, but I think a lot of it has to do with a cultural acceptance of suicide. This may go back to the days of the samurai, when seppuku was a method of restoring honor. Suicide was considered a more honorable path than surrender, for example. Or a samurai who failed his master could at least remove shame from his own family by killing himself.
I'm speculating, but it's possible that in Japan suicide is viewed much the same way divorce is viewed in the US: it's an answer to a problem, nothing more.
I guess it largely depends on one's view of death, also.
But that starts to get into my weird theory about the differences in brain functions between Asians and Westerns. I'll leave it at "We don't think with the same brains."
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Date: 2008-04-24 05:26 pm (UTC)It's not widely known, but also in at least one state (CA) the OnStar people will happily cooperate when the police ask them to slow down a vehicle's engine during pursuit. That's getting creepy.
Re: Japan
I don't know the exact answer, but I think a lot of it has to do with a cultural acceptance of suicide. This may go back to the days of the samurai, when seppuku was a method of restoring honor. Suicide was considered a more honorable path than surrender, for example. Or a samurai who failed his master could at least remove shame from his own family by killing himself.
I'm speculating, but it's possible that in Japan suicide is viewed much the same way divorce is viewed in the US: it's an answer to a problem, nothing more.
I guess it largely depends on one's view of death, also.
But that starts to get into my weird theory about the differences in brain functions between Asians and Westerns. I'll leave it at "We don't think with the same brains."