Here's an interesting article about "grass-eating men" in Japan - young men who are less interested in materialism, lifelong careers, and macho, sexist behavior than their predecessors.
I think that's a good thing. I think America could benefit from such a demographic trend. In Japan, it's a natural adaptation to the economic pressures of job insecurity and declining wages, and to the societal and legal pressures of anti-harassment policies in the workplace.
But I think the economic and social pressures in the United States will have to get stronger, and stay that way for awhile, to have the same effect.
3 comments:
I agree that it doesn't seem like a bad thing. I also believe that we may be surprised at how widespread "grass-eaters" are in the U.S. There are lots of us (prob not as many % wise as in Japan) and our generation (i.e. post-boomer) will make it easier for the following one to live free of macho and consumerism bullshit... we had to feel slightly faulty for our peaceful and unpretentious ways.
That story on Slate really resonated with me.
Interesting!
I think someone will someday get a Nobel Prize if they can devise an economic model that doesn't depend on rampant consumption.
There was an interview on the local NPR station yesterday about how Jimmy Carter was roundly heckled in the late '70s for daring suggest that Americans needed to find a type of freedom that wasn't dependent on unending consumerism. He may have been ahead of his time on that one.
Yah, and now Jimmy's shilling for Hamas. I think he got sidetracked. ;-)))
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