udon
🍜
I don’t think it’s that normal in other countries, and also I don’t think that it’s always considered racist in the US. The way I see it, immigration politics become problematic when either there is a cultural difference that seems difficult to overcome, or when some politicians/media purposefully reinforce racist stereotypes.
For example: There was a big debate in Germany 20 years ago about whether it should be legal or illegal for women to wear a Hijab. Allowing it would support religious freedom, but be associated with gender discrimination. Disallowing it was seen as supporting gender equality, but be against religious freedom. Both gender and religious discrimination are unconstitutional in Germany. How should you resolve that?
Another example: The republicans in the US lie and say that immigrants eat pets. Media reinforces that. Now people hate immigrants a bit more (following a longer, ongoing narrative).
Hm, I guess it’s hard to get a conclusive perspective on this, because I still don’t see what the “generally frowned upon” claim is based on. I mean, making phone calls on the subway would be a clear breach of norms and people would confirm that to me. There are also announcements/signs that make this explicit. Parents teaching it is such an explicit thing, this is the first time I heard that.
OTOH, I got a friendly comment one time for eating ice cream while walking around Tokyo. An elderly man used this as a conversation starter (and to practice some English, I guess). Sort of: “Ah, the foreigners really do that, like in the movies”. We had a nice little conversation after this, so it didn’t seem to be ironic either.
Still looks ripped under that shirt. Let him sit there for a few years and see how that changes!
I like how this flips the narrative from: “I need to make my impact on the future by leaving a child!” to “I can also make an impact on the future by deciding not to leave a child here!”
Get out of that, uh, jabroni outfit!
Depends on where you live. In Japan, most of the time it’s either way too hot to hang out on the balcony or way too cold. In Europe it’s fine in many places for most of the year.
Some of it also has to do with rent prices which can be higher if you have a balcony.
Also, and again in Japan: There is an emergency balcony exit in some apartment buildings in case a natural disaster hits. It’s probably easier to climb your way down a bunch of balconies with holes in the ground than a blank wall
Can’t grow a beak nor feathers
We can argue as much as we want about whether moore’s law covers technological development in general or be pedantic like good old fundamental Christians and only read what the words say.
The bigger problem is that we have reached the era of what we could tentatively call “wal s’eroom”. Thanks to enshittification (another one of those slippery words!) I predict that technological progress reverses from now on by 50% every 2 years.
Sad to hear that veteran cannot think of more than one person.