Happy and Sad News

oh happy day!
i booked travel to japan today!!
im flying into tokyo two days early, i figure ill go wander around for a day then travel to kyoto in time for orientation (for those who stumble uppon this blog i will be at Kyoto Sango University taking a one month intensive japanese cource, the equivalent of japanese 1,2&3 and living with a host family, this is all through UC Riverside)

i will return thru japan august 1st (a sunday) giving me two weeks after the program is done to wander around japan nad cause trouble ^_~
this is all through Brazil airlines which is in its off-season since its winter in the southern hemisphere and is going to be about $450 after taxes, much cheaper than i thought ^_^
both my sister and my best friend are considering coming out to meet me for the final week and i encourage them highly ^_^

the 2 week train pass is $390 tho(~$225 for 1 week), but still very worth it (i was told it was about $100/wk ^^; but just the train from tokyo to kyoto is $130 so its VERY worth it)

i cant wait ^_^


but now the bad news,

politics is not something ive discussed in the short life of this blogg but it is a fair topic, in this case im not talking about the politics as much as what i believe is a bit of a revelation i had about society in general and why the western and muslim world cant seem to get along

many of you have seen and prob just about all of you have heard of both the iraqui prisoner abuse and the new story of the american jewish citizen being beheaded as supposed "revenge" for such abuse

everyone who HAS seen the video (i have not, i can get it rather easily but im not sure i want it) is apaled at its contents. most are also appaled at the pictures of the iraqui prisoner abuse, however at least in the western world i dont think nearly as much as the new beheading video (i do believe a certain ammount of the noise about the prisoner abuse is political.)

however i do know that to many in the muslim world, the sexual abuse is worse than the killing
while this seems idiotic to some, sexual abuse is something one has to live with while the dead dont agonize (at least i sure hope not)

so i came to this revelation
ive always believed a good portion of societies foundation is to control men, because at our base were rather barbaric (hey im a guy and im no faminist, but this is true)
there are basically only two ways to control testosterone: 1.sex and 2. violence

throught time society has switched between the two, but the only effect is a rise in the other
(the victorian era was extreemly sexually repressed and also very bloody, with duels and such being common)
obviously, neither unleashed is a good thing, however at least at this time western culture is more about sex than violence
however, the muslim world is exactally opposite, and this is why we just cant get along

how this will flush out i have no idea
historically, its by the 2 opposing factors battling until thru attrition some middle ground is found
however religions rarely change, and while it is causing the western world to be come more militarily violent, were not out in the streets blowing up mosques or even dueling eachother

so where this will all end, i dont know, i just hope ive given people some (correct, assuming im right) perspective on part of the roots of the issue.