18 Mar 2011 (updated 18 Mar 2011 at 23:33 UTC)
»
cdfrey:
I'll openly stereotype and state that I consider the
Japanese some of the nicest, kindest, hardest working, least
selfish
people on the planet. Of course, every group has its bad
apples, but I get a bit envious when I compare certain
aspects of their culture with that of my own country. Do you
know of any other place where schools, both public and
private, are
cleaned
by students and teachers [1]? (Maybe that's
why they
never litter.) Stereotype it may be, but one that is
supported by their admirable behavior throughout this
catastrophe (no looting, people helping each other).
I don't want to have anything to do with a
spiteful god that punishes such people.
I'm sorry for my earlier offensive (and quite
crackpotish)
diary entry, but a comment I read somewhere really pushed my
buttons. I understand that one can be a Christian and not
think that way [2]. I
was going to delete that diary entry, but I
suppose that now it's a bit late and I'll just have to own
it up.
And yes, I donated to the Haiti relief
efforts, too.
[1] when I
commented on
this to
my Japanese friend, she was quite surprised. "What do you
mean? It
isn't like that in your country? Who does the cleaning, then?"
[2] I still love you, Don Knuth.