Monday, April 27, 2009
Do Not Disrobe, Or Else
Two stories in the news this week have me questioning a basic premise that modern society seems to run on: being naked in public is wrong.
Depending on your location in the world and your fondness for viral videos, both stories may be unfamiliar to you. The biggest news story of the week in Japan has been the arrest of Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, a member of the phenomenally popular pop group (redundant!) SMAP. Tsuyoshi and his cohorts are fixtures on television with each member of the group appearing on several different regular programs, including the weekly SMAP x SMAP variety show which features them all. I cannot stress how famous this man is in Japan and how often I see his face in any given day, which makes his arrest this week such a big deal.
It seems Tsuyoshi was out late drinking and ended up in a public park shouting loudly and being completely naked. The police were called because of the noise and when they tried to settle him down (and get him dressed) he quipped "What's wrong with being naked?" (in Japanese: 裸になって何が悪い?). They promptly arrested him and now he is locked into an endless stream of apologies and is facing a long period of shunning from the entertainment business. While a stunt like this would only enhance an American celebrities' reputation, here in Japan anything remotely illegal or scandalous results in a sudden disappearance from the public spotlight for a while. I'm sure he'll be back, but it's bizarre how quickly sponsors and TV executives feel the need to purge a "disgraced" celebrity from the airwaves. Whether he appears or not, I'm guessing tonight's episode of SMAP x SMAP does phenomenal ratings.
The other story I learned about through Digg and it is not nearly as amusing to me. A man got naked at a concert and the police came to get him dressed again. An amateur video shows the confrontation start out kind of silly (the cops toss the guy clothes and he tosses them away) to harsh (the cops forcibly put him on the ground) to downright brutal (they eventually break out the goddamn TASER). I don't know what even happened to the guy as far as charges, but I know what I saw sickened me.
Here's the problem, as I see it. Yes, both men were in clear violation of the law, more so Tsuyoshi who was "drunk and disorderly" and might have been arrested even if he wasn't nude. But both cases ultimately boiled down to two men not wearing clothing outside. I'm as shy about my flabby ass as the next out-of-shape American, but why is this illegal exactly? Why did the police officers feel it was so imperative to get some underwear on that naked guy that they essentially tortured him? And why did the Tsuyoshi case focus on his bareness rather than his behavior?
I happen to believe that making nudity forbidden is the biggest reason that sexuality and pornography are so twisted in this world. If women were topless as often as men, the notion that bare breasts should not be seen in public would eventually disappear. Wouldn't the same thing extend to full nudity? Aside from some key public health situations (food service, public transportation), I just cannot see the harm in seeing some guy's penis. If you watch the video of the man at the concert, there is nothing sexual about him at all. It ceases being comical pretty quickly as well. He's just a guy, and that was the extent of his crime.
Tsuyoshi never got an answer to his question. What IS wrong with being naked? I'd really like to hear an explanation that doesn't involve circular reasoning.
つづく...(Click here to read more)
Depending on your location in the world and your fondness for viral videos, both stories may be unfamiliar to you. The biggest news story of the week in Japan has been the arrest of Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, a member of the phenomenally popular pop group (redundant!) SMAP. Tsuyoshi and his cohorts are fixtures on television with each member of the group appearing on several different regular programs, including the weekly SMAP x SMAP variety show which features them all. I cannot stress how famous this man is in Japan and how often I see his face in any given day, which makes his arrest this week such a big deal.
It seems Tsuyoshi was out late drinking and ended up in a public park shouting loudly and being completely naked. The police were called because of the noise and when they tried to settle him down (and get him dressed) he quipped "What's wrong with being naked?" (in Japanese: 裸になって何が悪い?). They promptly arrested him and now he is locked into an endless stream of apologies and is facing a long period of shunning from the entertainment business. While a stunt like this would only enhance an American celebrities' reputation, here in Japan anything remotely illegal or scandalous results in a sudden disappearance from the public spotlight for a while. I'm sure he'll be back, but it's bizarre how quickly sponsors and TV executives feel the need to purge a "disgraced" celebrity from the airwaves. Whether he appears or not, I'm guessing tonight's episode of SMAP x SMAP does phenomenal ratings.
The other story I learned about through Digg and it is not nearly as amusing to me. A man got naked at a concert and the police came to get him dressed again. An amateur video shows the confrontation start out kind of silly (the cops toss the guy clothes and he tosses them away) to harsh (the cops forcibly put him on the ground) to downright brutal (they eventually break out the goddamn TASER). I don't know what even happened to the guy as far as charges, but I know what I saw sickened me.
Here's the problem, as I see it. Yes, both men were in clear violation of the law, more so Tsuyoshi who was "drunk and disorderly" and might have been arrested even if he wasn't nude. But both cases ultimately boiled down to two men not wearing clothing outside. I'm as shy about my flabby ass as the next out-of-shape American, but why is this illegal exactly? Why did the police officers feel it was so imperative to get some underwear on that naked guy that they essentially tortured him? And why did the Tsuyoshi case focus on his bareness rather than his behavior?
I happen to believe that making nudity forbidden is the biggest reason that sexuality and pornography are so twisted in this world. If women were topless as often as men, the notion that bare breasts should not be seen in public would eventually disappear. Wouldn't the same thing extend to full nudity? Aside from some key public health situations (food service, public transportation), I just cannot see the harm in seeing some guy's penis. If you watch the video of the man at the concert, there is nothing sexual about him at all. It ceases being comical pretty quickly as well. He's just a guy, and that was the extent of his crime.
Tsuyoshi never got an answer to his question. What IS wrong with being naked? I'd really like to hear an explanation that doesn't involve circular reasoning.
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Labels: Japan, the Law, Write or Die
つづく...(Click here to read more)
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Terror of 2024
I listen to a weekly "horror podcast" called Pseudopod. The quality varies wildly from week to week, but the general tone of the show ranges from "creepy" to "disturbing." Yet nothing on Pseudopod could ever scare me as much as this week's episode of This American Life.
I am not, as a rule, frightened by public radio. Neither the concept nor the content are typically unsettling. Most of the time the stories are quirky, interesting, or even thought-provoking. I guess this latest episode about parental worst-case scenarios falls under the latter category, but it did so while absolutely scaring the hell out of me.
My wife and I talk a lot about our forthcoming baby, mostly focusing on the necessary preparations that we need to make before he is born, but we do ask ourselves the question: "What kind of baby will he be?" We look at her sister's kids as two wildly different baby archetypes. Her son Daichi is loud (I should say LOUD), lively, and constantly demands attention. Her daughter Mizuki is quiet and rarely makes a fuss. Mizuki may very well turn into Daichi over time (she is only sixteen months old) but I have been interacting with Daichi for some time now and I feel like he has always been a noisy, active child.
This American Life forced me to think about what kind of teenager my son will be, thanks to two terrifying tales of families nearly destroyed through a few simple mistakes. One mother found her young teens drifting away after she divorced their father and when she tried to pull them closer, they rebelled and eventually ran away from home. While she certainly treated them with a bit of a heavy hand, I'm not sure how else she could have responded. Had she gone easy on them after they started skipping school and partying all night, surely that would not have reeled them back in? Then again, when they ran away they descended into even more self-destructive behavior and one of them almost died from a heroin overdose. Given the choice, I think I'd rather have my son disrespect me in my own house than not know if he's dead or alive on the streets.
The second horrifying story was a teen who screwed up at school. His grades were sinking, he was caught stealing school supplies, and when he threw some lit matches in a gym locker, he feared the worst when the school threatened to expel the guilty party. Despite having friends, a caring older brother and two "disappointed" but obviously attentive parents, he tried to kill himself. It wasn't even the first time and he openly told other students he was going to commit suicide. Again, the parents and teachers were right to disapprove of his outright criminal actions, but how could they have better expressed themselves so as not to lead him to choose suicide as the best response?
I think back to my teenage years and it scares me even more because I wasn't too far off from these kids. No, I never got caught doing anything outrageous like arson or theft, but my friends and I did a lot of stupid things that could have easily gotten us into a lot of trouble. I destroyed school property on a number of occasions, and when things got bad in high school I would cut class. In the real world, I shoplifted once or twice and I had plenty of opportunities to drink or smoke whatever I wanted (although I never did while I was in school). Had someone ratted me out on my bad behavior, had a store clerk been a bit more attentive, had I been more receptive to the offers of alcohol or drugs...basically, I was a few coin-flips away from being in the exact bind that these kids got themselves into.
Yet here I sit today in a very fortunate position, happily married with a decent job and a baby on the way. I narrowly avoided wrecking my life and instead merely put myself on the shelf for a few years before getting back on track. Was it merely luck? Did my parents do something right? Was there something else they could have done to prevent the (shallow) ditch I dug for myself? These are now the questions I'm asking myself, both in looking back at my own life and looking ahead to my son's future antics. If he strays or puts himself at risk, will I make the right call? Worse yet, is there a right call to make? That's the scariest thought of all.
つづく...(Click here to read more)
I am not, as a rule, frightened by public radio. Neither the concept nor the content are typically unsettling. Most of the time the stories are quirky, interesting, or even thought-provoking. I guess this latest episode about parental worst-case scenarios falls under the latter category, but it did so while absolutely scaring the hell out of me.
My wife and I talk a lot about our forthcoming baby, mostly focusing on the necessary preparations that we need to make before he is born, but we do ask ourselves the question: "What kind of baby will he be?" We look at her sister's kids as two wildly different baby archetypes. Her son Daichi is loud (I should say LOUD), lively, and constantly demands attention. Her daughter Mizuki is quiet and rarely makes a fuss. Mizuki may very well turn into Daichi over time (she is only sixteen months old) but I have been interacting with Daichi for some time now and I feel like he has always been a noisy, active child.
This American Life forced me to think about what kind of teenager my son will be, thanks to two terrifying tales of families nearly destroyed through a few simple mistakes. One mother found her young teens drifting away after she divorced their father and when she tried to pull them closer, they rebelled and eventually ran away from home. While she certainly treated them with a bit of a heavy hand, I'm not sure how else she could have responded. Had she gone easy on them after they started skipping school and partying all night, surely that would not have reeled them back in? Then again, when they ran away they descended into even more self-destructive behavior and one of them almost died from a heroin overdose. Given the choice, I think I'd rather have my son disrespect me in my own house than not know if he's dead or alive on the streets.
The second horrifying story was a teen who screwed up at school. His grades were sinking, he was caught stealing school supplies, and when he threw some lit matches in a gym locker, he feared the worst when the school threatened to expel the guilty party. Despite having friends, a caring older brother and two "disappointed" but obviously attentive parents, he tried to kill himself. It wasn't even the first time and he openly told other students he was going to commit suicide. Again, the parents and teachers were right to disapprove of his outright criminal actions, but how could they have better expressed themselves so as not to lead him to choose suicide as the best response?
I think back to my teenage years and it scares me even more because I wasn't too far off from these kids. No, I never got caught doing anything outrageous like arson or theft, but my friends and I did a lot of stupid things that could have easily gotten us into a lot of trouble. I destroyed school property on a number of occasions, and when things got bad in high school I would cut class. In the real world, I shoplifted once or twice and I had plenty of opportunities to drink or smoke whatever I wanted (although I never did while I was in school). Had someone ratted me out on my bad behavior, had a store clerk been a bit more attentive, had I been more receptive to the offers of alcohol or drugs...basically, I was a few coin-flips away from being in the exact bind that these kids got themselves into.
Yet here I sit today in a very fortunate position, happily married with a decent job and a baby on the way. I narrowly avoided wrecking my life and instead merely put myself on the shelf for a few years before getting back on track. Was it merely luck? Did my parents do something right? Was there something else they could have done to prevent the (shallow) ditch I dug for myself? These are now the questions I'm asking myself, both in looking back at my own life and looking ahead to my son's future antics. If he strays or puts himself at risk, will I make the right call? Worse yet, is there a right call to make? That's the scariest thought of all.
Labels: family, fuzzy memories, predicting the future, the horror, the Law, This American Life
つづく...(Click here to read more)
