[Bukhmanizer]

I’m glad the article mostly restrains itself from the “wacky Japan” angle, and states pretty flat out that a “rental sister” is pretty analogous to the role of a social worker.

It’s weird that people marvel over “host” and “hostess” clubs in Japan, when I know of many restaurants in the US and Canada, where the main draw is that a pretty girl/guy will be nice to you for your time there. Is it the exact same thing? No. But it’s clearly serving the same niche.

The difference seems to be that in Japan, the exchange of social services (in the broadest sense) are pretty direct and straightforward. In the west, there’s a taboo about paying for social benefits, so people have to pretend they actually want to spend $20 on a crappy burger that happens to be served by an attractive woman.

[Bukhmanizer]

Cont.

My theory is that we go through this little dance because we can’t stand to admit that there’s anything structurally wrong with our society. If people feel lonely, or unsupported by their community, then well, it just means they’re broken, and should go through years of expensive and intensive therapy. Otherwise, just deal with it and get back to work.

I’m not saying we all need to join communes or anything, but explicit recognition of the problem at hand would go a long way I think.

[Bukhmanizer]

PS. I’m pretty sure the reason I’m thinking about this is because I watched the WeWork documentary yesterday. It seems like Neumann capitalized on using rhetoric about this very issue. He talks a lot about how people seem disconnected and disinterested in their surrounding community. A lot of people probably felt that message resonate pretty strongly with them. The problem was that he was trying to solve it with... new office divisions. Which is pretty fucking irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. But my feeling is that a lot of people bought in because they liked that message.

[hi5eyes]

>In the west, there’s a taboo about paying for social benefits

western internet culture may be changing this taboo, mainly thinking of twitch, onlyfans etc. the internet "simp" phenomenon. its still degenerate but not quite "taboo"

[tibbydudeza]

Hooters.

"Hooters lists their waitresses as models. By those means, they are permitted to hire and fire based on looks and gender."