While relieved, I am at the same time frustrated that the necessary dropping of these madcap requirements of the confrontation over them has not taken place yet.
Good Monty Python references. Who knew they were documenting the future.
Yesterday, on my freelancing platform, I attended a remote event where at one point we all broke into breakout rooms in Zoom. We all were staring at one another. I assumed there was a leader in the group, but everyone was quiet, and the one person who did speak didn't sound very convincing. Maybe it was because English was his second language. Maybe it was that I had managed to roll in seconds after he introduced himself.
I asked myself "When is someone going to talk?" So, after about a minute, I introduced myself and asked if everyone else would introduce themselves offer any questions or comments concerning their work in Graphic Design/Illustration that is the same as my field. At that point the actual leader spoke up and I played support for him for the duration of the meeting.
The reason I am telling you this is I think you might be miscategorizing your role in all this. I could be wrong though, so very thoroughly wrong. But allow me to present my case.
First, RESPECT is very important in Japanese culture...and it is both one of the best things about it, and also a horrible liability. I think if a Japanese person said "With all due respect" in the west we could expect that to be following by "You are an idiot." But the Japanese culture ends at the phrase "with all due respect."
That respect extends to things that are irrational. A huge one that comes to mind is honor suicides and kamikaze "ramming speed." Think of this, in a culture which has a tradition of thinking of suicide as "moral" what does it say about other irrational behaviors as masking? This probably comes from a long ingrained belief in the honor of self sacrifice. Masking would be considered a minor inconvenience in relation to it.
If you can, ask them what they think of you, unmasked in a sea of masked faces. I don't know if their culture will do well with open dialogue. But if they feel free to express themselves without reprisal. Maybe you could even use it as an exercise of roleplay. How to speak to an unmasked person, what to do to convince them(you) of the reasons why they are masking still. But would this be improper as it violates or is not part of the approved curriculum?
So maybe the thing is to convince them that it is disrespectful to lie. Or dishonorable to "hide face."
Maybe your role is to be a leader here. I don't know if they will confront you or not. But on your end, you have to show them that among your reasons for not masking are borne of respect. you respect these people's inalienable right to speak their mind, of breathing unencumbered, and not doing silly things that are lies. That's part of the reason I hated the few times I did mask...because it was disingenuous and I was ashamed that I soiled myself with compliance.
I have to live with it the rest of my life. Such a silly thing to wear a mask, and utterly, completely useless.
This week I have been talking with someone on Twitter who is marinated in the narrative. She has ADHD and apparently has Epstein Barr Syndrome and/or Long Covid. She is also vaccinated. And her thing is she believes all of us need to mask to accommodate her illness. The mental gymnastics in dealing with her have been interesting to say the least. At one point I said to her that I would rather live my life than to force otehrs to mitigate their life. She said she was under no obligation to follow my choices.
She can't be forced to live her own life.
She also perceives that not following mandates, and having no accommodations is "leaving her to die." And that is it, isn't it. She believes that the glass is half empty.
The times that staff barged in to the class room demanding that I mask up, 18 months into this madness, my attempts to explain my qualifications with respirators and their capabilities were shouted down by them actually chanting, “It’s the RULE It’s the RULE” over and over. I stopped, they stopped and glared at me. I resumed and so did they. That was my last time on campus. Had a great relationship with the school, a nursing school, until that moment.
I expect a confrontation as I have been through them at other school and they have sent out in emails that masks are required. Additionally, they are still carrying out all the other anti covid actions even after covid is over as the big scary monster it never lived up to being, at least officially.
On respect. Simply put, there is no respect for the individual in Japan. It does not matter the conditions, the individual must conform to the group. Respect given to seniors is not based upon the individual, rather the position the individual is in, much like saluting the uniform/rank and not the man in the military.
This also goes for information. It does not matter if the goup is operation upon inaccurate information, all that matters is from where the information comes from. It must come from the top of their group or only from the correct outside sources but here too, through their group leader. I am not in this chain of command. While I am not forced to teach incorrect English as many ALTs here are, I am constantly met with shock and disbelief when I attempt to correct common errors in English because these are actually taught to them as correct English by their Japanese teachers of the language. I have long stated that most of what I do is try to correct the mistaken forms of English that they have been taught, then state that perhaps I should not complain as that is what I am paid to do. Unlike the woman I think it’s was you who conversed with who seemed to be gleeful of a similar situation she was in, I says this in jest as the outcomes would be so much higher if I could spend so much less time on at least informing them of these errors. All I can do is plant seeds and hope some sprout and eventually bear fruit.
Masks however, are destructive. In my mind, the discussion on masks is much like one on preventing a tiny fire from becoming a mass conflagration. That must be done NOW, not years after it has started. The brains of young children are still developing. The ability to learn various tasks differs with age. While this is true for adults, the differences stretch over decades in age differences with us but just between two sequential years in young children. I experienced life at 50 little differently than I did at 40 and I would say no differently than I did at 45. One can only experience the world as a 6 year old when one is actually 6 years old. 9 year olds can not go back and learn anything on any topic as they would have when they were six. Same at 7 and 8. More so, much more so for younger children. Simply put, children who have gone through “education” these past three years will not be able to reach their full potential due to how much basic communication instruction and practice they have been denied. All effort in remedial education would have been used to further their abilities. image what is going to happen to these kids when they finally do see strangers faces, or even the faces of the teachers and classmates for the first time in the memories. This is the stuff horror stories are made of, a living horror that grows with each day of others being masked.
We know that qualifications and logic mean nothing. In truth, we can only do what we can do, and that is somehow find a way to reach them and let them know that somehow they have joined a religious cult against their will. By the way, if you google "deprogramming cultist" Qanon and antivaxxers come up quite predominantly throughout. This isn't on accident.
"It's the rule." When did we become such children? That's the adult equivalent of "because I said so." It's also the same as saying "end of discussion."
As far as the rules still being carried out. I want to yell at these people. WHAT DID THEY EXPECT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN WHEN THEY INSTITUTED THE RULES TO BEGIN WITH? As you said, the rules in Japan are based on the Spanish Flu, so what will be the fallout from it this time around? If they can still adhere to masking over a 100 year period, what happens when their beliefs are heavily reinforced over the past three years?
Thank you for the clarification concerning respect, I suspect I will forget about it...or will still insinuate my western sensibilities on it. It also sounds to me that respect has a suspicious "appeal to experts" type o logical fallacy. So if the "information" permeated from the correct location, but the individual representing it is "daft" then it still will be followed because "hey, if he comes from this quarter, he must be the voice of authority."
The woman I conversed with is indeed gleeful. The mask is her symbol of solidarity. She is one of the voiceless...we who dare breathe unfettered our fetid breath in her presence.
Masks are destructive. You would know better than I concerning robbed childhoods, but I can still tap the kid that I was and I know he would not like it. I think my parents would have responded differently than parents do now but we grew up in a different time.
I remember as a kid how time passed. An hour was a huge segment of time. I would watch the clock, see the ticking, and think it would never end, that class would go on indefinitely. The night before Christmas stretched on forever.
In regards to kids seeing faces. I don't know if the effect will be that dramatic but then again, I am not in Japan. It will definitely be a novelty. "I only see faces on TV" At least we have plenty of examples of what it was like before 2020. Maybe in Japan they filter out "bare face" examples from their TV programming.
Let me say that although I believe in the resilience of kids, I do not in any shape or form condone what has been done to them. I believe there will a lot of social fallout from this, a lot of unintended consequences. We're already seeing it. Three years of their life's narrative has been subjected to this BS. To some of them, this is all that they remember.
Jimmy, as usual, there is so much content worthy of comment in this last post of yours that I simply lack the time required to give it its due.
“THE RULE” has been a confounding factor remarked upon by Westerners living in Japan for at least as long I have have been in country. In fact, it goes back millennia in Japan. It is a defining feature of Japanese society and it is meant exactly as you paraphrase it, which I do again myself, “Shut up, do as you are told or else (with the gesture of the hand being drawn across the throat to indicate beheading, which until recently was not an idle threat.) End of discussion.” “The Rule” enforces the all important co-prime states of Japanese society, peace and harmony. Realizing that harmony is all important makes it much easier to understand how any thing different is automatically wrong. Different equates to disharmonious, a violation of “WA”. A violation of WA in the presence of one of those sword carrying fellows brought instant death. Anything that sticks out is to the Japanese sense of social harmony as expressed by WA is like a sour note in what is otherwise a perfectly executed musical performance. Breaking The Rule breaks the WA.
No comes the ugly part. The Rule protects those who follow it for personal responsibility is another item that is to be shunned at all costs. It is in fact, immoral to accept personal responsibility. The results do not matter, all that matters is that the rule is followed. If following the rule would lead to someone’s death, well it sucks to be them for if the rule is broken to save that person, the rule breaker assumes all responsibility for whatever can be blamed on the act. Person’s life is saved at the cost of halting plant operations assigns all the costs from lost production to the person who broke the rule. It does not matter if the same costs would occur due to loss of life forcing then forcing a shut down, the person breaking the rule assumes the responsibility.
Put into to practice with masks, if someone or multiple people at work catch Covid but all were masked, no one person or group of people are the obvious one/s to pin the blame upon. However, if one went unmasked for any period of time, they are blamed. The fact that they have never popped positive for Covid matters not. This blame game terrifies Japanese more than death.
What did they think was going to happen? They didn’t. As my wife said, “Do not ask that question, just wear a mask.” Small wonder the suicide rate here is so high.
Talk to your colleague, he may need it as you certainly do mate. Every talk is like a pressure release and makes you realise you're not alone, not the only sane person in an insane situation
Others have remarked upon this which prompted me to dig back through my posting and relook at the comments. I am just now seeing your comment. Seems that we do not get notifications for all replies.
Thanks. Your points are valid. Sadly, there is a bit of bad blood between us and I just do not trust him. However, given what I know (knew?) of him, I am shocked that he was maskless. There may just be hope for him. Otherwise, I have yet to enter the staff lounge so have seen him only the one time by chance. I have since seen the other old timer there and he too was unmasks.
Good Monty Python references. Who knew they were documenting the future.
Yesterday, on my freelancing platform, I attended a remote event where at one point we all broke into breakout rooms in Zoom. We all were staring at one another. I assumed there was a leader in the group, but everyone was quiet, and the one person who did speak didn't sound very convincing. Maybe it was because English was his second language. Maybe it was that I had managed to roll in seconds after he introduced himself.
I asked myself "When is someone going to talk?" So, after about a minute, I introduced myself and asked if everyone else would introduce themselves offer any questions or comments concerning their work in Graphic Design/Illustration that is the same as my field. At that point the actual leader spoke up and I played support for him for the duration of the meeting.
The reason I am telling you this is I think you might be miscategorizing your role in all this. I could be wrong though, so very thoroughly wrong. But allow me to present my case.
First, RESPECT is very important in Japanese culture...and it is both one of the best things about it, and also a horrible liability. I think if a Japanese person said "With all due respect" in the west we could expect that to be following by "You are an idiot." But the Japanese culture ends at the phrase "with all due respect."
That respect extends to things that are irrational. A huge one that comes to mind is honor suicides and kamikaze "ramming speed." Think of this, in a culture which has a tradition of thinking of suicide as "moral" what does it say about other irrational behaviors as masking? This probably comes from a long ingrained belief in the honor of self sacrifice. Masking would be considered a minor inconvenience in relation to it.
If you can, ask them what they think of you, unmasked in a sea of masked faces. I don't know if their culture will do well with open dialogue. But if they feel free to express themselves without reprisal. Maybe you could even use it as an exercise of roleplay. How to speak to an unmasked person, what to do to convince them(you) of the reasons why they are masking still. But would this be improper as it violates or is not part of the approved curriculum?
So maybe the thing is to convince them that it is disrespectful to lie. Or dishonorable to "hide face."
Maybe your role is to be a leader here. I don't know if they will confront you or not. But on your end, you have to show them that among your reasons for not masking are borne of respect. you respect these people's inalienable right to speak their mind, of breathing unencumbered, and not doing silly things that are lies. That's part of the reason I hated the few times I did mask...because it was disingenuous and I was ashamed that I soiled myself with compliance.
I have to live with it the rest of my life. Such a silly thing to wear a mask, and utterly, completely useless.
This week I have been talking with someone on Twitter who is marinated in the narrative. She has ADHD and apparently has Epstein Barr Syndrome and/or Long Covid. She is also vaccinated. And her thing is she believes all of us need to mask to accommodate her illness. The mental gymnastics in dealing with her have been interesting to say the least. At one point I said to her that I would rather live my life than to force otehrs to mitigate their life. She said she was under no obligation to follow my choices.
She can't be forced to live her own life.
She also perceives that not following mandates, and having no accommodations is "leaving her to die." And that is it, isn't it. She believes that the glass is half empty.
The times that staff barged in to the class room demanding that I mask up, 18 months into this madness, my attempts to explain my qualifications with respirators and their capabilities were shouted down by them actually chanting, “It’s the RULE It’s the RULE” over and over. I stopped, they stopped and glared at me. I resumed and so did they. That was my last time on campus. Had a great relationship with the school, a nursing school, until that moment.
I expect a confrontation as I have been through them at other school and they have sent out in emails that masks are required. Additionally, they are still carrying out all the other anti covid actions even after covid is over as the big scary monster it never lived up to being, at least officially.
On respect. Simply put, there is no respect for the individual in Japan. It does not matter the conditions, the individual must conform to the group. Respect given to seniors is not based upon the individual, rather the position the individual is in, much like saluting the uniform/rank and not the man in the military.
This also goes for information. It does not matter if the goup is operation upon inaccurate information, all that matters is from where the information comes from. It must come from the top of their group or only from the correct outside sources but here too, through their group leader. I am not in this chain of command. While I am not forced to teach incorrect English as many ALTs here are, I am constantly met with shock and disbelief when I attempt to correct common errors in English because these are actually taught to them as correct English by their Japanese teachers of the language. I have long stated that most of what I do is try to correct the mistaken forms of English that they have been taught, then state that perhaps I should not complain as that is what I am paid to do. Unlike the woman I think it’s was you who conversed with who seemed to be gleeful of a similar situation she was in, I says this in jest as the outcomes would be so much higher if I could spend so much less time on at least informing them of these errors. All I can do is plant seeds and hope some sprout and eventually bear fruit.
Masks however, are destructive. In my mind, the discussion on masks is much like one on preventing a tiny fire from becoming a mass conflagration. That must be done NOW, not years after it has started. The brains of young children are still developing. The ability to learn various tasks differs with age. While this is true for adults, the differences stretch over decades in age differences with us but just between two sequential years in young children. I experienced life at 50 little differently than I did at 40 and I would say no differently than I did at 45. One can only experience the world as a 6 year old when one is actually 6 years old. 9 year olds can not go back and learn anything on any topic as they would have when they were six. Same at 7 and 8. More so, much more so for younger children. Simply put, children who have gone through “education” these past three years will not be able to reach their full potential due to how much basic communication instruction and practice they have been denied. All effort in remedial education would have been used to further their abilities. image what is going to happen to these kids when they finally do see strangers faces, or even the faces of the teachers and classmates for the first time in the memories. This is the stuff horror stories are made of, a living horror that grows with each day of others being masked.
We know that qualifications and logic mean nothing. In truth, we can only do what we can do, and that is somehow find a way to reach them and let them know that somehow they have joined a religious cult against their will. By the way, if you google "deprogramming cultist" Qanon and antivaxxers come up quite predominantly throughout. This isn't on accident.
"It's the rule." When did we become such children? That's the adult equivalent of "because I said so." It's also the same as saying "end of discussion."
As far as the rules still being carried out. I want to yell at these people. WHAT DID THEY EXPECT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN WHEN THEY INSTITUTED THE RULES TO BEGIN WITH? As you said, the rules in Japan are based on the Spanish Flu, so what will be the fallout from it this time around? If they can still adhere to masking over a 100 year period, what happens when their beliefs are heavily reinforced over the past three years?
Thank you for the clarification concerning respect, I suspect I will forget about it...or will still insinuate my western sensibilities on it. It also sounds to me that respect has a suspicious "appeal to experts" type o logical fallacy. So if the "information" permeated from the correct location, but the individual representing it is "daft" then it still will be followed because "hey, if he comes from this quarter, he must be the voice of authority."
The woman I conversed with is indeed gleeful. The mask is her symbol of solidarity. She is one of the voiceless...we who dare breathe unfettered our fetid breath in her presence.
Masks are destructive. You would know better than I concerning robbed childhoods, but I can still tap the kid that I was and I know he would not like it. I think my parents would have responded differently than parents do now but we grew up in a different time.
I remember as a kid how time passed. An hour was a huge segment of time. I would watch the clock, see the ticking, and think it would never end, that class would go on indefinitely. The night before Christmas stretched on forever.
In regards to kids seeing faces. I don't know if the effect will be that dramatic but then again, I am not in Japan. It will definitely be a novelty. "I only see faces on TV" At least we have plenty of examples of what it was like before 2020. Maybe in Japan they filter out "bare face" examples from their TV programming.
Let me say that although I believe in the resilience of kids, I do not in any shape or form condone what has been done to them. I believe there will a lot of social fallout from this, a lot of unintended consequences. We're already seeing it. Three years of their life's narrative has been subjected to this BS. To some of them, this is all that they remember.
Jimmy, as usual, there is so much content worthy of comment in this last post of yours that I simply lack the time required to give it its due.
“THE RULE” has been a confounding factor remarked upon by Westerners living in Japan for at least as long I have have been in country. In fact, it goes back millennia in Japan. It is a defining feature of Japanese society and it is meant exactly as you paraphrase it, which I do again myself, “Shut up, do as you are told or else (with the gesture of the hand being drawn across the throat to indicate beheading, which until recently was not an idle threat.) End of discussion.” “The Rule” enforces the all important co-prime states of Japanese society, peace and harmony. Realizing that harmony is all important makes it much easier to understand how any thing different is automatically wrong. Different equates to disharmonious, a violation of “WA”. A violation of WA in the presence of one of those sword carrying fellows brought instant death. Anything that sticks out is to the Japanese sense of social harmony as expressed by WA is like a sour note in what is otherwise a perfectly executed musical performance. Breaking The Rule breaks the WA.
No comes the ugly part. The Rule protects those who follow it for personal responsibility is another item that is to be shunned at all costs. It is in fact, immoral to accept personal responsibility. The results do not matter, all that matters is that the rule is followed. If following the rule would lead to someone’s death, well it sucks to be them for if the rule is broken to save that person, the rule breaker assumes all responsibility for whatever can be blamed on the act. Person’s life is saved at the cost of halting plant operations assigns all the costs from lost production to the person who broke the rule. It does not matter if the same costs would occur due to loss of life forcing then forcing a shut down, the person breaking the rule assumes the responsibility.
Put into to practice with masks, if someone or multiple people at work catch Covid but all were masked, no one person or group of people are the obvious one/s to pin the blame upon. However, if one went unmasked for any period of time, they are blamed. The fact that they have never popped positive for Covid matters not. This blame game terrifies Japanese more than death.
What did they think was going to happen? They didn’t. As my wife said, “Do not ask that question, just wear a mask.” Small wonder the suicide rate here is so high.
Talk to your colleague, he may need it as you certainly do mate. Every talk is like a pressure release and makes you realise you're not alone, not the only sane person in an insane situation
I.e.
https://vicparkpetition.substack.com/p/australias-novavax-contract
Never forget you are the sand in the insanity, why/how are you alive. No mask no vaxx(hopefully) and still breathing.......
Thanks for your writing, its a relief to read the humanity and not just the analysis science.
Others have remarked upon this which prompted me to dig back through my posting and relook at the comments. I am just now seeing your comment. Seems that we do not get notifications for all replies.
Thanks. Your points are valid. Sadly, there is a bit of bad blood between us and I just do not trust him. However, given what I know (knew?) of him, I am shocked that he was maskless. There may just be hope for him. Otherwise, I have yet to enter the staff lounge so have seen him only the one time by chance. I have since seen the other old timer there and he too was unmasks.