Theory about China? Anybody? Also, medical discussion
POSTED BY: Iremisst
UPDATED: Sunday, April 20, 2025 00:31
VIEWED: 8123
PAGE 4 of 8
Quote:
Originally posted by Journey:
It seems that this thread has disenegrated from its original question. But that is not going to stop me. There have been some things said I must add in my two cents, mostly because some right and some wrong has been voiced. I am, of course, ignoring nimrod cannon ball opinions. My credentials to say all of this is that I have studied Chinese culture including living there for some time. That said...
I think the multiple occurrences have a lot to do with a reactions being contagious. Think back to the school shootings in America. We could have asked the same thing about Americans then. What it boiled down to was a person with a problem acted out in a very bad way. Other people with similar problems saw this and somehow got the idea that it would be a solution for them too. I am not saying it is an excuse. But this is a factor to remember.
Knives? If you are going to get in a fight in China (a real one, not a few punches thrown), it is going to be with knives. Guns are out of the picture, so knives are the next best thing. They are easy to get a hold of. They do the damage. In a really twisted way, that part of the saga makes sense.
Kids? I think the person who said soft-target had it the closest. The one-child policy doesn't really make children not as valued (it does that to unborn children, but that is a different rant)...it does the opposite. That one kid you have is your one chance so you better not screw it up. Imagine a classroom full of Daddy's little princesses and Mama's perfect angels and that is about what you get. Most normal/well-adjusted kids I met were minority kids whose families were allowed to have more than one. Going for kids was probably the most devastating thing that could have been done. Think of it as the Chinese version of a school shooting.
Why? The mental health situation in China is not good. People who do not conform to what people are supposed to be (this goes for any disability and extends to how much you weigh or what size your wedding ring is) are pointed out and made fun of. It is a kind of group control, like peer pressure was in high school. Result - you do everything to fit into the mold you are supposed to. Which means sometimes denying yourself the help you need, and that was most definitely a factor. Society pressure is ENORMOUS. China probably has one of the highest student suicide rates in the world (India would be a close second). These situations are just taking it one step beyond not getting the grade you wanted on a test. Sad but true.
But more than that...there is evil in the world and every person living has the opportunity to sink to the bottom. Everyone has a breaking point, sad as that may be. Add to that that people are inherently selfish... Again, not an excuse. Sounds a bit cliche I am sure, but it is true and experience has held that up. While the government there may be responsible for many things, I don't think this is one of them. There are too many other incidents in other countries just as terrible for this to be just a China problem.
The one question I don't see being asked is "We're actually hearing about this?" The media in China is so tightly controlled I find it hard to believe that this made it out. There was a knife fight that killed a student and sent another to the hospital at a university I was at and the next day NOBODY said anything! The one peep we heard was quickly turned the next day into "Oh, I don't know who it was." If there are more incidents, I doubt we will be hearing about them.
So there are my two cents. Rip away.
Thanks Journey, interesting.
Heads should roll
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Journey, I think you most definately have a point there, about how social expectations in opposition to folks inherent desires or morality can drive them over the edge.
And mind, props for diving in headfirst with an actual attempt to discuss it, you got a yard of guts, I'll give ya that. 
But in regards to the social expectations thing, it's something I have been poking my nose into for a while, noting that when you have a highly conformist society it begins to result in serious pyschological damage to folk forced to participate in it, and eventually, some of them don't.
Some opt out, becoming reclusive, and I have always thought that more than any other cause was the primary motivation of most hikikomori.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori
Michael Zielenziger wrote a book related to this, and I found it pretty informative, cause it is true, some folk, myself included, withdraw from society not because of mental illness, but because they find the society of their country so appalling, so repulsive, they cannot remain a part of it and stay sane.
And I think, that some of this in China, it might be an extreme reaction of this same drive, but instead of simply withdrawing, they choose to actively retaliate, perhaps without even a conscious awareness of the desire or intent, something Alice Miller touches on in her own work, and I have seen all too many times even here - we do unto them, over and over, and act surprised when they finally act out against us and our society, like an abusive pet owner who wonders why they just got bit.
And as repressive as Chinese society is, it's gotta be worse for them, cause society and culture aside, they're human beings, and human beings have certain natural inclinations, and when those inclinations are counter to what they are being taught, how they are forced to behave, it results in all manner of mental aberration.
Americans react to this by trying to classify it, treat it as some kind of disorder to choke on the kool-aid of lies and distortions we use to cover ugly truths, Chinese seemingly react by ignoring it, or criminalising/marginalising those individuals.
I'd like to say I am surprised by this, but yanno, I'm not - this was always coming, sure as day follows dawn, when you create a society counter to human instinct, every child born to it is a potential ticking bomb, and once the fuse is lit by some incident that may not even be noticeable by anyone else, once that final straw has snapped, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.
So every time you try to crush the humanity out of a child, pound their square peg into societies round hole, all I hear is a pop...
And tick, tick, tick.
-Frem
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Mike,
And I would argue that people who took offense should stop whining. I can call it not funny without calling for censorship, I think that's the libertarian perspective, right?
Journey,
I suspect that it all makes children more valued, not less
Also, the conformist society might be a factor of population density, I notice the trend in that direction when I go into the city, it doesn't help if you have a govt which supports the idea though. Grey pajamas anyone?
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Quote:
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
Don't even get me started on the horrors of a State deciding whether folks can have children, or how many, the truth of that is a nightmare beyond your comprehension, and you're probably better off for it.
dont see how thats anyting to do with the topic at hand....raging psycho murders kids....blame China 4 its zero population growth policy..?
and what's the other extreme mr opinionated
Let them breed like rats and let those in the baby making business create a bankrupt welfare state
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Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
I'm certain Jong was joking.
Penny for the smart lady, although the part about Tom Cruise movies was sincere.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Saying it's a joke doesn't mean it's any less offensive or stupid a thing to say.
Thank you Miss Vanderbilt, except you've always defended it if it's a Liberal like Letterman or Mahr "joking" about raping Sarah Palin's daughter, or South Park "joking" about Palin's Down's Syndrome son. Then it's a real hoot.
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Joss,
You don't think the one child policy has anything to do with Chinas collective mental health? Been there lately?
Oh, and Jong, for the record, frem is a little girl and mike is a cat.
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Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
Oh, and Jong, for the record, frem is a little girl and mike is a cat.
I'm wonderin' where that gets fun. Care to elaborate?
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Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Saying it's a joke doesn't mean it's any less offensive or stupid a thing to say.
Thank you Miss Vanderbilt, except you've always defended it if it's a Liberal like Letterman or Mahr "joking" about raping Sarah Palin's daughter, or South Park "joking" about Palin's Down's Syndrome son. Then it's a real hoot.
Care to show me where I defended South Park doing that? Care to show me where I defended Bill Maher joking about raping underage girls?
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Hey now, I've only let Wendy borrow this name twice.
Damn surprised anyone caught on though, what gave it away ?
ETA: Oh, you mean the avatars.
Mine is Enma Ai, a spirit of rage and revenge, and like Lucy from Elfen Lied (the former av), an example of the very worst consequences of mistreating people when they're too young to do anything about it.
She is the main character of a series known as Hell Girl, or Jigoko Shoujo, which revolves around the horrors of that kind of revenge, and the damage it does to both ends of the transaction, and everyone around them, showcasing the social consequences of that kind of behavior.
But one thing for sure, once she has been set loose, once the string is pulled, no force in heaven, hell or earth is gonna stop her - an even more important lesson in thinking about the *consequences* of taking such actions, and what one's personal accountability IS.
Unlike the mindless drek Hollywood shovels out by the bucketful - I warn you though, for all that there's a serious factor of creepy to it.
-Frem
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