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These people are loons

In The Spirit Level, the latest (as I\’ve mentioned) attempt to show that equality is what it\’s all about, they actually make the argument that Japan is an equal society.

That there\’s no particularly strong social heirarchy.

They\’re loons, aren\’t they?

4 thoughts on “These people are loons”

  1. The equality they are talking about is the one where you hold back and punish those who have talents…

    There is another word for this “equality”, it’s called Envy.

    Some say it’s a deadly sin.

  2. Combine astonishing ignorance with a fierce desire for reality to be whatever you say it is and you get ‘thinking’ like that.

  3. From the article:
    “But the kind of hierarchical sense that pervades the whole society is of a different sort, which anthropologist Robert J. Smith calls “diffuse order.” For example, in premodern times, local leaders were given a great deal of autonomy in exchange for assuming total responsibility for affairs in their localities”

    Which sounds to me identical with medieval feudalism.
    Not saying that in its context there was a great deal wrong with feudalism. Given the difficulties of administering a post Roman Europe the feudal system of devolved government, the lord owing fealty to his king & layers of loyalty going up & responsibilites going down was an improvement over chaos.
    Nevertheless, recommending a society still governed by the vestiges of feudalism to one that junked the system 600 years ago seems a tad odd.
    A return to guilds, baronial armies & serfdom?
    Sorry, I was forgetting the GMC, Group 4 & the welfare state.

  4. Only went to Japan once.

    They were very welcoming, up to a point.

    But when we went to the thermal spa, they would not allow us to get into the same water, despite our getting in the bathtub first.

    It’s their country, it’s racist, theirs, and that’s how they like it.

    Now about ours….

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