> On 5 oct. 06, at 17:40, Tayssir John Gabbour wrote:
>> Something Bertrand Russell wrote made me notice that often, such
>> dress codes are an attempt at cultural regression: "formal
>> manners are most fully developed among barbarians, and diminish
>> with every advance in culture."
>> http://www.zona-pellucida.com/essay-russel.html
>
> Which would tend to hint that Japan is one of the most barbarian
> nation on earth...
Interesting; when I learned basic Japanese, I wondered about their seemingly ritualized manners and acceptance of authority; it appeared they even encoded relations of authority within their language. (Though I've never visited Japan, so I don't know. It could be that I just hear exaggerations, and what I learned was old-fashioned.)
Working in the western tech world, I also sometimes wonder whether tech fetishism correlates with "barbarism", whatever that means; particularly since in the US we fund tech through military subsidy... the drive for new weaponry. Maybe I should read more from David Noble on tech fetishism.
Tayssir