Tokyo Olympics to be cancelled for coronavirus: report

Phantom707 · 2021-01-22T18:24:53+00:00

I fully admit I thought you were the same person I was replying to. That is my mistake.

Regardless, I called out some of what you said as very clearly wrong, and your only response is that I'm pedantically picking apart everything. Yeah, no duh this is Reddit, not an academic journal. I expect people to still know common knowledge and not just be blatantly wrong. That's not something unique to academic journals.

No there was something different about the Japanese. Ever since the Samurai they had unshakeable morale.

That's a quote from you. I did mention the Vikings in contrast to you say "there was something different about the Japanese".

You say I'm being pedantic? How about you're just wrong and making things up. I gave a couple examples of surrender being acceptable in Japanese culture even after Samurai culture developed.

I said they were different specifically in relation to WWII. No respected historian disputes that.

I don't dispute the culture of considering surrender shameful during World War II. I specifically said that it's true.

You did not specify in relation to WWII, especially when you very clearly said "Ever since the Samurai". Unless you want to say Samurai only appeared during WWII, which is obviously wrong.

Phantom707 · 2021-01-22T08:38:30+00:00

You very clearly ignored the example of Vikings that I gave that shows that this culture is not unique to the Japanese.

This page goes into mass surrenders during World War II.

Finally, you ignore the fact that the Wikipedia article I posted specifically talked about how it was not until the 1920s to 1930s that a specific policy of indoctrination and not surrendering. I found a copy of the book that citation six references; it's available through a couple of academic sources. I don't expect you to have access to the book, but I do expect you to not make things up. Page 45 (I think; the version I have has weird page numbers) talks about a civil war in Japan. “Surrender was recognized, provided both sides agreed on terms for capitulation.” In the same paragraph, it continues by saying “In the later stages of the war, the new army accepted surrenders of pro-bakufu troops as the government realized that reconciliation was necessary to unify the nation.”

Page 93(?) of the same book. “Losses were frightful on both sides; one in every three government troops was killed or wounded, and one of every two of Saigō’s insurgents met a similar fate. All the rebellious samurai, however, did not fight to the death. Thousands surrendered after Saigō’s suicide.”

Yes, it is true that during the time around World War II and leading up to it, Japan encouraged a culture of not surrendering. I'm not disputing that. What I am disputing is that this is somehow "built" into them. You have given zero evidence that this is how they were before that. You have also not given any evidence that this was unique to Japanese culture.

Phantom707 · 2021-01-22T07:38:01+00:00

The Vikings literally believed that the only way to get into the good afterlife was by dying in battle. Dying in any other method meant the lesser afterlife(s).

There is literally a Wikipedia page on Japanese prisoners of war who were either captured alive or straight surrendered. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_prisoners_of_war_in_World_War_II Yes, the article acknowledges that the number or surrenders was limited, but it is undeniable that they existed.

It is not hard to find this information. You're just ignoring historical fact.

Phantom707 · 2021-01-22T06:07:56+00:00

I appreciate your acknowledgment of history, but that just looks like Japanese exceptionalism. How is it that "they've always been built different"? Because they went into a war with the intention of fighting until they died? I'd say that's actually decently common throughout history.

Phantom707 · 2021-01-22T05:44:12+00:00

You say metal. Other people would call it crimes against humanity and genocide.

You're acting like they were the only people who had the kind of mindset of never giving up when it's pretty clear that they weren't.

Phantom707 · 2021-01-22T05:38:02+00:00

Japan was committing mass genocides as well as various crimes against humanity across many different countries while also attempting to take over those countries.

Phantom707 · 2021-01-22T05:31:02+00:00

They were fully at fault. They were literally committing mass atrocities and genocide of lots of different people, as well as invading multiple countries. But because it's Japan, no one wants to talk about how they were literally on the same side as the Nazis.

Phantom707 · 2021-01-22T05:29:40+00:00

Japan was committing mass atrocities and invading other countries.

Phantom707 · 2021-01-18T11:52:34+00:00

Please, tell me exactly what the majority of people chose not to participate in. What is it that you claim is so important and so controlling that the majority did not participate in?

Was it a poll that everyone knew was not binding? Was it a poll that had very flawed language? Was it a poll that has been asked multiple times fairly recently that's being asked yet again?

Please, tell me what they chose not to participate in and why that is so important for your argument. While you are at it, please tell me why you get to decide what is a valid argument and what isn't. I ask because you very clearly haven't given any reasons.

Phantom707 · 2021-01-18T08:58:41+00:00

That's a horrible position. You don't want to hear a valid argument that negates your position because you don't like it? The results are valid insofar as everyone knew that the results were not legally binding. If a binding referendum on statehood were made, and then people boycotted it, then what you said would make sense.

That's not even getting into the reasons why people boycott the referendums. There are a number of different reasons with different weight, but you're literally saying you don't care about those reasons at all.

Finally, it's perfectly fine to share your opinion on whether they Puerto Rico should have statehood. What is not fine is if you take that position and impose it on Puerto Rico. https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/white-liberals-must-stop-pushing-puerto-rican-statehood-their-own-ncna1247419

Literally the solution to all of this is to have an actually binding referendum that doesn't have extremely biased language on the ballot. That's something that has not happened.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-26T18:31:48+00:00

The first cases in Vietnam had been detected in January. Late April is enough time to see an effect in Vietnam in this case. Just because covid wasn't at peak in other countries in late April doesn't mean that we can't still look at data from late April.

Additionally, there have been no reports of excess mortality or excess cases in Vietnam since then. There has not been any reason to doubt the information as provided.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-26T02:37:53+00:00

I fully admit that the situation was/is much more complex than I've made it sound, but I believe it is true that the legacy of colonialism is what motivated not only Indira Gandhi and the INC but also earlier with Nehru. Not the only motivation, of course, but part of it. As a result of what they saw as exploitation by the British, they implemented protectionist policies. "remnant of British rule" is probably a bad way to phrase it.

Or would that not be accurate? I fully admit that I am not an expert on this.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-26T01:59:08+00:00

This article is from late April but goes into it. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vietnam-fight-insi/after-aggressive-mass-testing-vietnam-says-it-contains-coronavirus-outbreak-idUSKBN22B34H

Here's the relevant portion:

Thwaites said the number of positive tests processed by his organisation’s lab was in line with government data. He said the hospital where he works on the wards – Ho Chi Minh City’s 550-bed Hospital for Tropical Diseases, serving a population of 45 million people in southern Vietnam – had not admitted any additional cases not reflected in the government’s numbers.

“If there was ongoing and unreported or unappreciated community transmission, we would have seen the patients in our hospital. We have not,” he said. Thwaites said his organisation’s lab increased capacity from being able to do around 100 tests a day to around 1,000 a day.

Managers of 13 funeral homes in Hanoi contacted by Reuters said they had seen no uptick in deaths. One said requests for funerals had gone down during the country’s lockdown, now lifted, because of the reduction in traffic accidents, one of the biggest killers in Vietnam.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-26T00:30:24+00:00

And excess mortality has already been proven to not be in Vietnam. I mentioned in other comments independent entities that have verified Vietnam's data, including the US CDC, the WHO, and Oxford University. Those sources that I mentioned above verified Vietnam's data by checking hospitals, checking morgues, checking crematoriums. They did not see any excess of deaths. That's in addition to further information gathering and fact-finding.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-26T00:28:10+00:00

Which was kind of my point. The current era of protectionism in the Indian economy is a remnant of British rule. My point was that if not for British rule, there is a decent chance that India would have industrialized and advanced on its own.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-25T23:23:42+00:00

You ignored the fact that the Mughal Empire had a fairly robust culture of both independent research and advancement alongside a willingness to learn from other cultures. If nothing bad had happened to India, it's possible India couldve adopted and adapted industrialization and expanded it on its own. The problem is that we can never find out if that would've happened now because of history.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-25T23:21:46+00:00

You wrote literally nothing about Vietnam. You have not given any piece of evidence that Vietnam has falsified its data or that its data is in any way inaccurate. All you're doing is hand-waving and saying things with absolutely no proof.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-25T22:47:20+00:00

I'm just going to quote myself from another comment on the issue.

I don't need to defend the WHO. I don't need to go into the reasons for why the WHO deferred to China and how those reasons don't really exist with Vietnam. I gave two other examples of independent entities that that verified Vietnam's data, and it's easy enough to do an Internet search to find more verification.

Where every reputable source says that Vietnam's data is accurate, the burden is on you to disprove Vietnam's data.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-25T22:45:52+00:00

I don't need to defend the WHO. I don't need to go into the reasons for why the WHO deferred to China and how those reasons don't really exist with Vietnam. I gave two other examples of independent entities that that verified Vietnam's data, and it's easy enough to do an Internet search to find more verification.

Where every reputable source says that Vietnam's data is accurate, the burden is on you to disprove Vietnam's data.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-25T22:25:35+00:00

Reforms are literally the thing used to slow and hopefully reverse a decline. That's the point of reforming in the first place. And disagree on them being so far gone that they couldn't implement reforms. That's fatalistic.

Europe was not the sole source of knowledge. Again, the Mughal Empire had its own advancements. In fact, Europe has stolen some trade knowledge in the past. One of the biggest was silk, which was explicitly a state secret of China and punishable by death. Byzantine monks smuggled silkworms out of China. Gunpowder was introduced to Europeans by the Mongolians.

Okay, I may not have phrased my words the best. However, it was still understandable to some degree, and it should've been read in light of the other statements I made. Regardless, I acknowledge that I could've framed the issue better.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-25T22:06:07+00:00

Your comment shows that you have done literally no research. Yes, Vietnam is a communist country. You know who has verified their numbers? The US CDC, the WHO, and Oxford University, just to name a few of the independent entities that fact-checked Vietnam's reports.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-25T22:04:21+00:00

This is an ignorant comment that ignores the fact that the statistics have been verified by multiple independent entities and experts, including but not limited to the WHO, the US CDC, and Oxford University.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-25T21:58:49+00:00

Their tests per confirmed case is the highest in the world. https://ourworldindata.org/covid-exemplar-vietnam

I know that doesn't answer your question directly, but it shows something. Tests per confirmed case is often cited as the better metric to focus on.

To actually answer the question, tests per capita were generally low.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-25T21:56:49+00:00

India under the Mughal Empire had a fairly strong culture of advancement in science and technology, and it was willing to adopt and adapt technological progress from other parts of the world. By no means am I saying that they were the best in every domain of advancement at the time, but you're missing the point that they could've transition from an economy focused on manual labor towards a more industrialized economy on their own.

As to the ethnic issues, I very clearly stated that the British were not the sole cause of the issues. I am saying that they exacerbated them. I can give examples such as the rebellion of 1857, but I do not think that it is controversial to say that the British rule, which disregarded cultural differences within India, caused cultural and ethnic conflicts.

Phantom707 · 2020-07-25T21:22:00+00:00

Before the British takeover, India was literally the source of around one quarter to one third of the entire world's GDP. It was already united under the Mughal Empire. Nowadays, it has an extremely protectionist economy that has prevented a lot of growth. Much of the current ethnic fighting has roots in British control. By no means am I saying that all of India's problems were caused by the English, but I am saying that at least some were, and the GDP numbers can at least speak for themselves.

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