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"oriental rant"



* I am pleased that we are allowed to discuss this subject without accusations of of being off topic.

* I am bloody well sick and tired of every expression of personal opinion being called a rant. If you think what had been posted on this list is a rant, you are living in a world of amusing innocence. Please allow a bit of passion without labeling it a rant.

* The suggestion that Japanese design is a direct result of their culture is interesting and worth considering; however, I am skeptical of it. Consider : As an experienced progressive teacher, I assure you that education in the USA is very little more than mindless memorization and copying. Creative thinking, thinking skills, art, and individual expression and innovation scares the hell out of everyone in the states. Parents WANT mindless memorization because they know it will be transformed into grades (meaningless grades too often) and grades is ALL USAians care about. Copying, rather than originating, is the life of our students. I have much more to say about this, but am in danger of ranting. ;-) ( work sheets, fill in the blank, T and F, and so on are respected by parents and school boards because they see it as "structure." Japanese school systems are way ahead of the states in many respects as is the rest of the world.)

* If we are being respectful of all ethnic groups and cultures, we should recognize a couple of important facts.

The adjective "oriental" should simply be tossed from our language. The word "Asian" is accurate and appropriate.

Much more important is to understand that there is NO SUCH THING AS RACE. "Race" is 100% a human invention. Biologically, there simply is no such thing as race. No biological scientist or anthropologist recognizes the notion of race. To use the idea of race as it has historically been used makes as much sense as deciding that humans over the height of 5'8" represent one race while those under another race. Or, those who can fold their tongues represent one race while those that can't another.

* The Japanese have been designing cars for export, certainly in large part for a USA market, for a very long time. Japanese cars sell like crazy. So, who is aesthetically and soul impaired, the buyer or the seller ?

* In terms of design innovation consider : it is only recently that the USA has even thought about innovation. This has been the result of European design actually battering the bottom line of USA manufacturers. That is why, essentially suddenly, the Crane company and the Kohler company have actually begun to manufacture product with style, with aesthetically pleasing design......... that's just an example.

Consider the USA makes products all around your home and office that are clones of products made 75 years ago and are just as shitty.

(Note how the multicolored MAC computers has influenced endless examples of new design; in other words, seemingly everything out there is a copy of the material use of the MAC. Staplers, as a simple example, have been showing up with teal blue transparent shells. The USA will change NOTHING unless forced to. I see no culturally inherent design bent in the USA. Consider how long it took for USAians to accept disk brakes. A walk through Tokyo will present zillions of new innovative products of which the USA is totally ignorant.)

* Finally ( ;-) ) ........... my wife and I have been driving RX-7s as work cars for many years (1st and 3rd gens). My wife is now the ecstatic owner of a mint '94 3rd generation RX-7. These are wonderful machines. Our '84 GSL-SE has 170 miles on it, gets looks, and is a blast to drive. I often use it at driving schools.)

Speaking of innovation and copying : Clearly, the newer Corvette's looks were strongly influenced by the 3rd Gen RX-7. ( The Rex's jack handle must be made of exotica as it weighs nearly nothing. BTW, who was it that stubbornly perfected and evolved the Wankle engine? Forget about it. )

Best Wishes,

David
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