[dangonay]

First off, I don't want to diminsh the severeity of what's happening in Japan, but I noticed a couple things and wanted to comment.

There have been 3 other big quake disasters in recent years. 60,000 dead in Sichuan China, 220,000 dead in the Indonesian Tsunami and 300,000 dead in the Haiti quake. Truly staggering death tolls.

So I went back and revisited the RS threads about these events.

- First thing I noticed? The level of interest by RS members was far less. In fact, the Japanese Quake thread has over three times as many posts/views as all the Indonesia, Haiti and Sichuan threads combined.
- Second thing is that there is zero tolerance for stupid comments (like those assholes bringing up Pearl Harbor) in the Japanese Quake thread, but many similarly tastless jokes were posted in the other threads with far less backlash from RS members.


So I'm wondering why this is? I don't think people would like to admit it though.

[LiquidTurbo]

People don't really relate to places like Indonesia I guess. Japan, anime, cars, hentai, cameras, electronics, PS3, etc, you name it, engrain the country into many of RS's members. They probably also have a desire to go there one day. It's a culture that fascinates them.

Prior to Haiti, most RS member hadn't even heard of the country. Now, they've heard of the country, but probably still couldn't point to it on a world map.


Also, the Japan quake has a sensational piece to it.. the Nuclear power plant problems.

So that's probably why.

Sadly, people don't care about numbers... its about relevance. The reality is that probably 5 kids somewhere in the world starved to death as you read this. But, out of sight, out of mind.

[Culture_Vulture]

Just because you don't see it doesn't mean the support wasn't there. I have family members who donated generously to Sichuan, and I myself donated a couple hundred of dollars out of my own pockets to the Haiti relief fund.
Different demographics, different times, perhaps.

That, or RSers just really love their Domo plush dolls and JAV.

[Soundy]

Also, the Japan quake has a sensational piece to it.. the Nuclear power plant problems.
And if you actually look at that thread, you'll see a LARGE proportion of the posts are about that very topic... in part because it's something that (theoretically) COULD potentially affect us here, in part because it's such a rare subject to talk about, and in part because there's a lot of fear and misinformation being propagated.

It's also an ongoing topic - once the quake is done, it's pretty much done, aftershocks notwithstanding, so discussion tends to taper down after a little while, but this is a new development every day, sometimes every hour, so there's always something fresh.

Sadly, people don't care about numbers... its about relevance. The reality is that probably 5 kids somewhere in the world starved to death as you read this. But, out of sight, out of mind.

"One death is a tragedy... 10,000 is a statistic."

Or words to that effect.

[LiquidTurbo]

^Pretty much.

[asian_XL]

Death in developing area is not newsworthy. In fact, most people on RS don't even know where Sichuen is.

For Sichuen quake, people blame the house builders, corrupted officials, fake foods etc.
For Haiti, no one here cares about black people, I am not joking. Some people I know in China didn't even know there was a quake in Haiti.
For Indonesia, it was actually pretty scary, but the footage didn't really show the actual damage to the human kind and to each individual country

The Japanese are facing earthquake, tsunami, nulcear threat, volcano eruption, snowing...ALL AT ONCE. and people there are still being so fucking strong.
at least no looting, helping each other, free food, no panic etc

[hk20000]

also there's live news stream over the intarwebs about how events unfold...So that keeps people posted and hooked enough to keep talking about it.

No such thing from Haiti and Shichuan. If you have no Asian TV channel subscription you won't get any even remotely real time update to the events.

the massive use of fb and yt and twtr also makes a big difference of possible angles of coverage of the ongoing events.

[MG1]

So I'm wondering why this is? I don't think people would like to admit it though.

Interesting......................... what are you trying to get at?

[Shades]

Social media is more advanced now and widely used now than before. Twitter and facebook has been documenting Japan's tragedy and relaying to us and the News in almost real time.

[TheNewGirl]

Especially in Vancouver, what has happened in Japan is relevant, as we have a huge Japanese community and culture here is effected by culture there.

If this board was based out of Toronto, I would expect you would see the reverse and the Haiti earthquake would have a great deal more focus than the Japanese one.

[dachinesedude]

Japan - first world country
Sichuan, Haiti, Indonesia - third world city/country

generally events like these that happen to a first world country will get way more attention, wait till one of a big NA west coast city gets hit for example, its gonna be THE world news

[SkinnyPupp]

I don't know if OP is trolling, but I'll assume not. But if you really think about it for more than a second, his question never really needed asking. What cultural influence does Japan have on us? Now compare that to Haiti or Indonesia. There's your answer.

[SlySi]

Social media is more advanced now and widely used now than before. Twitter and facebook has been documenting Japan's tragedy and relaying to us and the News in almost real time.

Yup. Many other factors.
News travels faster out of Tokyo than Haiti or Sichuan.
All the HD videos flooded into social media websites.
The rare possible of devistation of power plants.
Less technology in Haiti to spread the information.
Lets not forget China's media cencorship.

Skinnypupp .. yup.. cultural influence.... not only on us. Worldwide influence.

[Riddle]

I don't think it's just RS but like everyone said more coverage on this event

Just did quick google search
"Japan+Earthquake" = About 5,030,000,000 results (in past week)
"Haiti+Earthquake" = About 22,000,000 results (anytime)
"Indonesia+Tsunami" = About 19,000,000 results (anytime)
"Sichuan+Earthquake" = About 1,770,000 results (anytime)

[Maliuz]

arent there two or three rs members currently in japan? I believe this also had a impact to us as well. We are getting our own live reports from them right here on RS.
Posted via RS Mobile (http://www.revscene.net/forums/announcement.php?a=228)

[originalhypa]

Simple answer?

I like Japan.

[jmvdesign]

So I'm wondering why this is? I don't think people would like to admit it though.

Care to elaborate what your assumptions are?

[TRDood]

Relevance

Japan = JAV, stock market, cars, toys, food, electronics, clothes, etc, etc, etc, etc. (I bet a lot of people on RS have actually visited Japan before)
Haiti = ?
Sichuan = ?
Indonesia = tourist attractions, beaches

I am not trying to downplay the other 3 places. Natural disasters like earthquakes lead to tragedies. But when it affects you and me, we tend to talk about it.

[Hheidi]

I think people on RS have more interest in Japan because of their cars.

Not to mention a lot more of us have family members in Japan rather than Indonesia, Haiti, and Sichuan. There are more interests in this topic (it's probably) because our friends and/or family members are either living close to the city space or visiting. (assuming Tokyo is where a lot of friends are visiting)

That's just my guess...my interest is because my family is situated in Tokyo :S

[bloodmack]

It doesn't matter if its relevant or not. It just effects more of the RS community then the other quakes have. Also like to note that Japan - 1st world country Haiti/Indonesia/Sichuan - 3rd world countries. As much as we don't want to admit it, we don't care as much because we have no stake in those parts of the world. To me I think a donation is just another way of making yourself feel better, just like other consumer goods that are at in the "want" category. Look at what Japan supplies us vs those 3 places. We've already seen an impact. Lots of big companies of halted production even some online items have suffered push backs or shut downs.

[achiam]

I think the main reasons are news accessibility.
People actually have a connection to Japan as many have been there, or indeed have friends there who are updating their FB status or Twitter regularly.

As well, the reality is that Japan is a highly advanced country -- anytime something happens to a developed place it is sensationalized e.g. 9/11, where 3,000 people died.

In comparison, 8 million people have died in the Congo/Zaire civil wars since the 1980s, which obviously far outweighs all the above disasters combined.

[Arash]

Dangonay there arent as many people/mods to fend for the other tragedies so it makes it open game to crack jokes at their human loss.

[El Bastardo]

For Haiti, no one here cares about black people, I am not joking. Some people I know in China didn't even know there was a quake in Haiti.



Speak for yourself man. I was interested in the the quake every step of the way. And there was loads of CNN coverage so there was no question of exposure. Its just that the world has moved on to the next event which is equally as newsworthy.

Its closed-minded to say that nobody here cares about Haiti or black people. Its just that Japan is what we're paying attention to now

[dangonay]

It's already been mentioned what I was getting at. To put it simply:

The value of a human life of someone from Japan, the US or other G7 country is more valuable than a human life from a 3rd world country.

[LiquidTurbo]

It's already been mentioned what I was getting at. To put it simply:

The value of a human life of someone from Japan, the US or other G7 country is more valuable than a human life from a 3rd world country.

Wrong.

The value of human life is the same in ALL parts of the world. The PERCEIVED value of a 3rd world country citizen from a 1st world country point of view is less.

[Wongtouski]

Who makes Tentacle Porn? Exactly.

Close the thread.

[Soundy]

Go back to the quake thread... look at how many pages/posts are actually dedicated to the quake/tsunami, and how quickly that tapers off... and look at how many *ongoing* threads are about the reactor problem and associated issues.

I think the main difference you'll find here is that the numbers of posts about the quakes themselves are relatively close (with the Japan one being a little higher because of the greater direct interest, as others have noted)... the bulk of the others are about the nuclear threat. Look at how many are just hk2000 and Arash losing their minds, and everyone else trying to tell them how stupid they are - there's about 10 pages of JUST that.

[Nightwalker]

To the OP:

We like Japan more (...and that tiny area is the 3rd largest economy in the world)

/thread

[SkinnyPupp]

Relevance

Japan = JAV, stock market, cars, toys, food, electronics, clothes, etc, etc, etc, etc. (I bet a lot of people on RS have actually visited Japan before)
Haiti = ?
Sichuan = ?
Indonesia = tourist attractions, beaches

I am not trying to downplay the other 3 places. Natural disasters like earthquakes lead to tragedies. But when it affects you and me, we tend to talk about it.
Sichuan = AWESOME spicy food, thanks to

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bqgOeZRQQPg/TLxh0ew2oAI/AAAAAAAACz4/W5OaeXkJU8c/s1600/szechuan_pepper.jpg

[Senna4ever]

^^^ Shit, you beat me to it!

[ImpactZ]

And if you actually look at that thread, you'll see a LARGE proportion of the posts are about that very topic... in part because it's something that (theoretically) COULD potentially affect us here, in part because it's such a rare subject to talk about, and in part because there's a lot of fear and misinformation being propagated.

It's also an ongoing topic - once the quake is done, it's pretty much done, aftershocks notwithstanding, so discussion tends to taper down after a little while, but this is a new development every day, sometimes every hour, so there's always something fresh.



"One death is a tragedy... 10,000 is a statistic."

Or words to that effect.

I dont think it was really about the nuclear problem that caused so much discussion initially (although it is the hot topic now). As soon as I found out about the earthquake (which was about 1 hour after news hit the air), RS already had over 8 pages on the thread without mention about the nuclear problems.

[Hondaracer]

Support economic power houses with donations but give nothing to nations where people cant afford clothes!

:troll:

I completely agree with OP and have been thinking the same thing ever since watching the japan thread explode

Personally i really couldn't care less about any of it, it doesn't effect me in the least and making even a $1000 donation wouldn't change a thing besides giving you that warm fuzzy feeling inside knowing some CEO of a corporation just got a little more wealthy with money you worked hard to earn, the majority of any donation wont even make it anywhere that does a lick of change

I'm more annoyed with the idiots who are scared of the looming nuclear fallout coming to Canada!! OMG!! same people that probably locked their doors and sealed their windows when the WORLD ENDING H1N1 virus was dominating the globe!

[!LittleDragon]

Japan - first world country
Sichuan, Haiti, Indonesia - third world city/country

The divisions between first, second and third world countries are political, not economic.

1st world = USA + allies
2nd world = China, Soviet Union + allies
3rd world = Neutral countries and non aligned countries

Basically it's democratic countries, commies and everyone else.

[MG1]

Support economic power houses with donations but give nothing to nations where people cant afford clothes!

:troll:


You need to, "Clip Coupons." LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL..........

[goo3]

I dont think it was really about the nuclear problem that caused so much discussion initially (although it is the hot topic now). As soon as I found out about the earthquake (which was about 1 hour after news hit the air), RS already had over 8 pages on the thread without mention about the nuclear problems.

well when you see a tsunami washing things away live on tv..

[achiam]

BTW if anyone here wondered how the term Third World came about, its because of the Cold War.
After WW2, the democratic countries led by the west were termed the "First World" followed by the communist countries, which were the "Second World."
Needless to say, everything else was collectively the "Third World."

[Culverin]

Here's how I see it.

Ourselves > Everyone else.
Selfishness.

Those who affect our lives > Those who don't.
Selfishness.


So naturally, the reactor and any sort of potential that ends up harming us or interfering with our lives gets sensationalized. Sichuan and Haiti doesn't mess with our lives. So we give it less thought.

And as for affecting our lives. Japan is no longer the kingdom of the rising sun, they are no longer physically imperialistic, but have figured out that being cultural imperialistic is much better for them, and is much more acceptable to us.
Japan = toys, future tech, cars, porn, anime, manga, food (sushi, ramen, japadogs), etc, etc, etc.

haiti and china collectively don't influence us as much as japan.

So to me, it all comes back to ourselves, and I'm no different.
I should care about haiti and china, but those quakes happened where I have had not previous not current connection so as much as it shames me to say this, I don't really give a flying flip about them cause I'm a selfish person.


But not counting Canadian culture and American TV shows, Japan influences me the most.
I listen to the music, watch the anime *ahem*jav,hentai*ahem*, wear japanese shoes, sit in a japanese car, and sushi and ramen is in my top 5 foods. If you compare that to the others, I don't think I've ever encountered any piece of Haitian culture aside from that black guy who can't talk on Heroes. And despite being Chinese, sichuan peppercorns and I don't get along.


So there you have it, the answer to your question is that we are all selfish.
And Haiti and Sichuan have done absolutely zero to influence/benefit us previously to demand/expect our intervention.


Cold and brutally honest isn't it?

[Soundy]

^Japan gives us some of the best "WTF???" moments, too!

http://anonymousradioshow.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/japan_weird_shit.jpg

http://www.chris-n-kim.com/serendipity/uploads/Images/Pictures/2008_Pictures/06_Jun/no-further-description.jpg

http://thenextbarstool.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/japan02.jpg

http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp6/iamemileo/Semi-Motivators/japan_weird_shit.jpg

http://andre.stechert.org/weird_japanese_shit/only_in_japan.jpg

[Skyline350gt]

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_li2ztnVCkG1qzxzwwo1_500.jpg


The news is just entertainment and it's here to put fear into our lives. Media mindfuck.

About Africa As a civilization who cares if we aren't affected, it's still going on Motherfucker..

Quite sad to know.

[Mananetwork]

Japan has contributed an unbelievable amount of culture, technology, food to the rest of the world!! No doubt about that!

I'd support Japan any day to see it stay around compared to any other country!

[liu13]

no one gave two shits about the pakistan earthquake

it's illogical and silly to think the japan earthquake is the worst tragedy just because it's the most recent, we still have tens of millions of ppl dying from starvation and dirty water each month, now that's a fucking tragedy if anything

[TRDood]

Who makes Tentacle Porn? Exactly.

Close the thread.

Thanked - it's true.
Failed - it's fucking disgusting.

[Culverin]

As ridiculous as this might seem, I think a lot of people subconsciously process a natural disaster differently than dying and starving children.

A natural disaster is like God or mother nature intervening and messing stuff up, and as humanity, we are all on the same team and we're not going to take that crap. I think people band together better in that scenario.

Now if you compare this to ongoing tragedies such as people killing other people, and starving kids. It's not an exterior force attacking us. It's like inter-team fighting and bickering. And what's worse off is that I'm betting a lot of us think in a way that it's "those country's problem".


Think of it this way.
Break and Enter into your house, everybody attacks the robbers.
vs
Younger siblings are fighting, older sibling just lets them beat the snot out of each other.

[death_blossom]

interesting fact I heard on news-radio today. so far, there hasn't been as much donations being sent to the Japanese quake/tsunami fund compared to the Haitian earthquake fund. in the first week, around 200million was raised for Haiti. something like 50million has been raised so far for Japan. this is because most ppl feel that Japan is a "rich" country, so financial assistance is not needed as badly compared to a third world country like Haiti.

[Hurricane]

Not to mention there are a bunch of us members who are actually living in Japan and a lot of people who have lived in/visited Japan. How many RS'ers were living in/have visited those other places?

If you actually paid attention you would see most of the posts were from people with some kind of real connection to Japan.

Finally, surprise surprise, its a Sport Compact Car website. Need I say more?

[Wongtouski]

Thanked - it's true.
Failed - it's fucking disgusting.

Haha, this thread honestly though needs to be closed. It's a dumb argument isn't it? Shouldn't even be discussed because its incredibly irrelevant and it doesn't explain human behaviour.

[Great68]

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/2011/03/18/pf/japan_earthquake_aid/chart_disaster_donation.top.gif

While there may be greater media coverage of the Japan quake than those other disasters, this graph shows that Japan is FAR behind other countries in the amount of financial aid they are receiving.

Donations to Japan lag far behind Haiti or Katrina

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/18/pf/japan_earthquake_aid/index.htm

[Timpo]

^ yeah, I think the reason why people talk about it so often is because as other people said, Japan has so many things...like stock market, cars, electronics, anything business oriented and all that..

also, I think people have more friends and relatives who live in Japan.
I've seen my friends calling and posting on facebook to see if they're ok.

[Peturbo]

^Japan gives us some of the best "WTF???" moments, too!

http://anonymousradioshow.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/japan_weird_shit.jpg


Off-topic but anybody else notice the resemblance? :troll:
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhq57d7CK31qblgi8.jpg

[Nightwalker]

Off-topic but anybody else notice the resemblance? :troll:

Totally did lol

[MG1]

^ yeah, I think the reason why people talk about it so often is because as other people said, Japan has so many things...like stock market, cars, electronics, anything business oriented and all that..

also, I think people have more friends and relatives who live in Japan.
I've seen my friends calling and posting on facebook to see if they're ok.

and........... Tamiya!

Buddy, you and I have to talk.

[Soundy]

^Mike Levy, on the Bill Good Show yesterday, was noting that depending on how long the Japanese plants are offline, it could have a major impact on the auto industry over here. He noted how a lot of Japanese cars built in Ontario, get some of their central assemblies shipped from Japanese manufacturing - like whole engines and electrical systems. Once the channels dry up, they're going to have to start putting assembly plants on hold...