This really tweaks me.
May. 9th, 2005 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saffronhareAccidentally heard a bit of a report on NPR this morning (you know, before I switched the station to something less aggravating) that's got me angry. So angry, in fact, that I wondered if I'd heard correctly and looked it up before getting pissy about it in public.
Morning Edition, May 9, 2005 ยท Japanese authorities are responding to the legendary overcrowding on Tokyo commuter trains. Railway officials say they can't actually relieve the crowding, but they can make it easier on women. In a survey, almost two-thirds of women between age 20 and 40 said they'd been groped by men in the crowded train cars. So the railroads are increasing the number of women-only cars. This protective measure has drawn protests from men, who call it discrimination.
Sure, it's discrimination. What's got me angry, however, is the growing movement I've seen in so many "developed" countries to restrict freedom by saying it's for somebody's protection. It short-changes everyboy, and not just those who are considered prey that needs protecting. In the words of the new Jack Johnson song, "Where have all the good people gone?" Why is there no effort being expended to require people to Behave Decently, for chrissakes?
I could go on and on, but now I need to raise some more money for the Evangelical Christians. My network passwords are becoming more and more like little prayers for the prosperity of the new business, so that I can leave my day job. ::sigh::
Morning Edition, May 9, 2005 ยท Japanese authorities are responding to the legendary overcrowding on Tokyo commuter trains. Railway officials say they can't actually relieve the crowding, but they can make it easier on women. In a survey, almost two-thirds of women between age 20 and 40 said they'd been groped by men in the crowded train cars. So the railroads are increasing the number of women-only cars. This protective measure has drawn protests from men, who call it discrimination.
Sure, it's discrimination. What's got me angry, however, is the growing movement I've seen in so many "developed" countries to restrict freedom by saying it's for somebody's protection. It short-changes everyboy, and not just those who are considered prey that needs protecting. In the words of the new Jack Johnson song, "Where have all the good people gone?" Why is there no effort being expended to require people to Behave Decently, for chrissakes?
I could go on and on, but now I need to raise some more money for the Evangelical Christians. My network passwords are becoming more and more like little prayers for the prosperity of the new business, so that I can leave my day job. ::sigh::
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no subject
Date: 2005-05-09 04:46 pm (UTC)There is a definate cultural problem though, in most grope-videos I've seem (granted, they are teasers off some site like consumption junction) the surrounding passengers are simply ignoring the assault. Like the images of New Yorkers simply walking by muggings.
The videos on the Usenet are linked to websites which archive such videos... it is annoying that the Japanese officials cannot go after the producers of the videos (which propagate the attacks by popularizing the fetish) but instead just make more gender-biased trains.
I want to believe that this is just a matter of international law making prosecution of the video purveyors too difficult... but given what I have read of Japanse culture and implications of tradition and Yakusa influence, I wonder if this isn't just a blind eye turned. These are crimes againse the Japanese, committed by Japanese. I find it hard to believe that as good as the JPs were are catching people in Okinawa, that they can't do anything about this in the Mainland. 8-/