In Japan, they have a term Mura Hachibu that apparently signifies when someone is ostracized and shunned from society for doing something really bad and abhorrent. I have never lived in Japan so I only know about it and have heard about it, don’t really know how it works. But in the USA it kind of seems like you can do all sorts of horrible, bad things, and there’s no real societal consequence for it… If you need any evidence of this, just look at Matt Gaetz. People literally hate this guy, in Congress and outside of it. Some people call him a child predator don’t know if it’s actually true or not and honestly don’t care to discuss it here but You would think that people that do terrible, horrible things would get put on a list and that list would be passed around society So people can be actively aware that they should avoid them, and restrict them from participating in society due to their terrible actions…

So why isn’t this ever done in the USA? Has this ever been considered, or is this like not a good thing to do?

  • Swordgeek@lemmy.ca
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    4 days ago

    It’s not something you do, it’s something that society is. Japan has a long cultural history of a few things that are absolutely foreign to Western culture (not just the USA, but Canada, Great Britain, Australia, most of western Europe, etc.)

    Even in a high-stakes game of consumer-capitalism, Japan has a sense of ethics that just isn’t present elsewhere. A CEO might pull the same shady shit in Japan as they would in the US, but if they’re caught, they still mostly take responsibility - resigning in disgrace, rather than “resigning” to another company with a fat bonus, which is what we see elsewhere. I mean, three years ago McDonalds actually made news for clawing back a $105M severance package from their disgraced ex-CEO, who was having an affair with several of his employees. The fact of the matter is that he initially got the package, no matter what he did.

    Likewise, there is an expectation of acceptable behaviour in Japan. There are all sorts of circumstances where a blind eye is turned, but they’re oddly strict - and sketchy behaviour outside of that is considered reprehensible.

    So can we? Maybe in theory, but we’d have to revamp our culture - and in a direction opposite to the trajectory it’s currently on.