tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11125127.post6924209247629921289..comments2023-05-02T10:52:43.408-04:00Comments on Church of the Big Sky: Sony. Bony.Merujohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14123831956012950960noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11125127.post-65722022447535656902007-03-22T22:19:00.000-04:002007-03-22T22:19:00.000-04:00Here in the melting pot, where even though equalit...Here in the melting pot, where even though equality may not necessarily always be a reality it's at least near the forefront of people's thoughts a good deal of the time, it is simply hard to fathom the mindset that would bring about the comments people like Aso make. I got perhaps a glimpse when I visited Japan for 6 weeks, then came home only to stare around the airport and think, "Whoa, look at all the white people!"<BR/><BR/>It is simply crazy how homogenous Japan's population has been up until modern times. Now there are lots of "foreigners" living in Japan, but even five or ten years ago that wasn't the case. (While there I was riding bicycle through town and people I passed remarked in surprise, "Look, it's a foreigner!" I called back over my shoulder, "Yup, I'm a foreigner." They laughed :>)<BR/><BR/>I think when the other is so very definitely Other, it's much easier to be prejudiced without realizing you're being prejudiced. If you grew up in a town where everyone wore red hats, and you never left town and hardly anyone ever visited town, then when someone wearing a yellow hat <EM>did</EM> visit you might extrapolate that everyone who wore a yellow hat was like that person...<BR/><BR/>It sounds terrifyingly simplistic, but then again that's how our brains work. We make associations based on what we know. Even our imaginations are limited by our experiences.<BR/><BR/>One of my favorite things to do is think about why I think about things the way I do.<BR/><BR/>Whee.Heather Meadowshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04962932701620185508noreply@blogger.com