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18/3/11 17:21Fortunately, I don't have a television.
Unfortunately, I've begun to be exposed to various kind of English-language newspaper editorializing over what is happening in Fukushima. For example, people talking about the bravery of the "Fukushima Fifty" who stayed behind after everybody else was evacuated. There are actually 279 people on-site from TEPCO and affiliated companies! It's just that they're only rotating about 50 people in at a time because of the levels of radiation. I agree that they are very brave! I think they are excellent people and I hope that they all live long and write heart-warming memoirs. The reporting is bad, though.
Reporters are trying to apply their Japanese Culture 101 and their need to turn things into a narrative to the story, which is always an eye-rolly thing, but even more so when it's clear that we don't have all the relevant facts in, and reporters who don't speak Japanese have fewer of the relevant facts in.
Like, for instance. Yes, hibakusha were discriminated against in Japan. How much of that is about some Shinto ideal of purity and how much is about "Radiation, how the heck does that work"? It's probably some of each -- I'm thinking of the early 80s and how homophobia and uncertainty about AIDS and HIV fed into each other -- but to position it as a uniquely cultural thing is, I think, pretty wrong. And I have seen the situation deteriorate over the last week, but I'm still pretty skeptical about whether even a small number of people are going to be affected enough to become "a new population of hibakusha."
Also, people keep confusing microSieverts and milliSieverts. I didn't know what a Sievert was before last week, but it helps to keep them straight I'M LOOKING AT YOU DAILY MAIL.
TL;DR I THINK JAPANESE CULTURE IS LIKE THIS SO LET ME SPECULATE WILDLY AND MAKE UP A HUMAN-INTEREST STORY ABOUT IT!
Unfortunately, I've begun to be exposed to various kind of English-language newspaper editorializing over what is happening in Fukushima. For example, people talking about the bravery of the "Fukushima Fifty" who stayed behind after everybody else was evacuated. There are actually 279 people on-site from TEPCO and affiliated companies! It's just that they're only rotating about 50 people in at a time because of the levels of radiation. I agree that they are very brave! I think they are excellent people and I hope that they all live long and write heart-warming memoirs. The reporting is bad, though.
Reporters are trying to apply their Japanese Culture 101 and their need to turn things into a narrative to the story, which is always an eye-rolly thing, but even more so when it's clear that we don't have all the relevant facts in, and reporters who don't speak Japanese have fewer of the relevant facts in.
Like, for instance. Yes, hibakusha were discriminated against in Japan. How much of that is about some Shinto ideal of purity and how much is about "Radiation, how the heck does that work"? It's probably some of each -- I'm thinking of the early 80s and how homophobia and uncertainty about AIDS and HIV fed into each other -- but to position it as a uniquely cultural thing is, I think, pretty wrong. And I have seen the situation deteriorate over the last week, but I'm still pretty skeptical about whether even a small number of people are going to be affected enough to become "a new population of hibakusha."
Also, people keep confusing microSieverts and milliSieverts. I didn't know what a Sievert was before last week, but it helps to keep them straight I'M LOOKING AT YOU DAILY MAIL.
TL;DR I THINK JAPANESE CULTURE IS LIKE THIS SO LET ME SPECULATE WILDLY AND MAKE UP A HUMAN-INTEREST STORY ABOUT IT!