Japanese grace vs. American looting

The absence of looting following Japan's recent devastating earthquake is certainly a testimony to the discipline and respect for order that characterize that culture. The question naturally arises: Can we Americans learn from their example to reject short-term opportunism?

But perhaps that"'s the wrong question. Maybe we should be asking why Americans engage in looting in the first place.

There's no excuse for looting, of course, but perhaps it can at least be understood. The people who do it are overwhelmingly have-nots who understand that the American dream is, for many, just that— a dream. Upward mobility seems much harder to achieve than it used to be, and with the current trends toward cutting funds for public education, the future looks even more dismal.

Class stratification exists here, even if it isn't as codified as in Great Britain or India. Americans are taught that material wealth is achievable by all; hence the scorn heaped on those in the underclass who will be hardest hit by the proposed budget cuts.

Poor Americans learn to define success in terms of possessions they can't afford. A steady diet of consumer propaganda reinforces the notion. Yet experience teaches them that the consumer goodies everybody else seems to take for granted will remain out of reach for them. For such outsiders at the party, it's easy to internally justify the unjustifiable when the opportunity arises.

So what makes the Japanese different? Unlike Americans, they don't celebrate the individual. When the good of the whole would be negatively impacted, Japanese culture upholds restraint and self-sacrifice as models. In America, everybody talks about sacrifice, too— but only for other people.

To be sure, part of Japan's post-quake problem with its nuclear plants was the result of fraud and corruption in the inspection process. In dollar amounts, the consequences of looting pale in comparison.♦


For another viewpoint by Benjamin B. Olshin, click here.