(December 31, 2013 at 5:25 am)là bạn điên Wrote: Buddhism is growing very rapidly in China due the rapid explosion of the middle class. I have no idea what this Japanese offshoot of Buddhism is. The Japanese are Orthodox Mahayanists. The only national variant I can think of is the Vajrayana of Tibet.
I'm being imprecise in language but don't agree. Han Chinese Nationalism is much more the dominant 'religion' than Buddhism imho. 80% of Japanese prefer no religion and if they do its likely closely related to Shinto Buddhism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_in_Japan -- whose war shrines are deeply offensive to the Chinese. The latest tensions with China illustrate this. As anyone will tell you who visits Japan -- their culture definitely still has nationalistic tendencies -- and is extremely anti-immigrant and would not be considered tolerant of multiple cultures operating in its sphere.
Neither of them is promoting any kind of universal ideology that is welcoming to non-genetically / non-ethnically linked people. I'm happy to argue that point in great detail if forced to.
Quote:Where in the world is consumerism NOT a dominant ideology?
Consumerism is dominant BECAUSE of the West but it is not a truly robust ideology in the end alone. It does not challenge ethnic-geopolitical-religious loyalties of the people who practice consumerism. It is not equivalent to Islam for example.
Anglo derived Humanism is the equivalent of Islam -- but it lacks contour at the moment with the descent of Christianity.
