Letters to the Editor
aajohn
Published Letters: 4 Editor's Choice: 1
-
Synecdoche and double standards
[Read the article: Geisha guys: Japan's hottest new accessory]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think the problem here is that people read this post and immediately assume that it has something to do with “Japan” or “Japanese culture.” We don’t do the same thing with many other countries and we (Americans) certainly don’t do it to ourselves. Suppose the post was concerning “rent boys,” or the “beach boys” in Haiti, Jamaica, or elsewhere that cater to middle-class white American women. Would people read it and think “Americans are so strange” or “America has some strange sexual hang-ups.” We wouldn’t; if anything we’d limit our critique to the small segment of society that goes to these things. So why do we do it to Japan all the time? Millions of Japanese people don’t know that there are “geisha boys” nor would they patronize them, so why do the several hundred women who do stand for the whole?
-
One suggestion
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How about some reasonably friendly flight attendants. The last flight I took - United from Tokyo to Dulles - the attendants were mocking (Japanese and Singaporean) people's accents, making crude ethnic jokes, and singing "Kung Fu Fighting" in the back of the plane during the middle of the night. At least they were having fun. More common are the surly responses, having the whole row skipped for beverage service, and generally treating the passengers like they are either children or inmates or both. I understand that people are working over 13 or 14 hours, straight, but there's no need for that!
It was a shock to come back to the American system, after having flown such stripped-down Asian budget carriers such as Air Asia, Nok Air, or even the infamous (in terms of safety, at least) Lao Airlines - they may be lacking in some things, but at least the staff was polite!
-
Hierarchy and dragons
[Read the article: The beauty of the geek]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm sorry, but I take exception at the idea of nerds not being adept at negotiating hierarchy. One needs these skills to know that an ancient red dragon is far tougher than an ancient blue dragon, and furthermore that one needs to bring one's ring of fire resistance along for the former (and not the latter). Also, that while a five-headed regular hydra is no great shakes, a twelve-headed Lernean hydra is quite a different story.
Finally, your readers should be aware that my eighteenth-level Wood Elf ranger is waiting to take on any naysayers that might come my way. There will be two arrows of slaying aimed your way...
(But seriously, enjoyed the article!)
-
Archetypes? Stereotypes?
[Read the article: Confessions of a salvia eater]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There's some interesting trends in the "visions" that the author receives on salvia, namely, a lot of overgrown Aztec-looking things and the "white lady." Other letter-writers seem to be asking why there are all of these commonalities to salvia use.
Here's some interesting thoughts: the author seems like he did a lot of looking into salvia before he tried it: seeing salvia-related art online and talking to people about it. Also, he definitely knew that it came from Mesoamerica. So these thoughts: that 1) I will see some sort of spirit guide, and 2) I will have a kind of "Aztec" experience were his expectations going into the trip. Little wonder, then, that that's exactly what he got.
People speculating on "something external" are reversing the cause-and-effect. There is a reason why Catholics see Mary in visions or Southeast Asians see Nagas when there is an ambiguous shape or trippy experience - these things are planted in your mind by what you've been immersed in before you trip. Hence they come out. You are not seeing visions in the same way that a Central American seer would see visions - you are seeing in the way that an American (or perhaps English, or German, you get my point...) new age devotee would see visions. This is in a very particular kind of way, one which mixes pop psychology (e.g. "inner child") with the surface reading of other cultures (little difference if the veneer is "Mesoamerican" or perhaps "Thai," "Balinese," or "Native American").
Salvia is "fun" in a rollercoaster kind of way (where you're flat on your ass for five minutes, seeing strange things), but it is not a path to any deeper truth other than what happens to perception when your brain is misfiring. Sure, people see creepy-crawlies (I imagined the room covered in scales), but how they interpret any prickly sensations is entirely up to themselves.