Madness and Civilisation by Michel Faucault

We had better read "Madness and Civilisation" by Michel Faucault. It explains how the modern "society" has started discriminating those who are seen handicapped and mentally challenging. Faucault sometimes romanticises the past way too much and overestimate communism as a solution. However, he provided a productive scepticism about unconditionally accepting development and modernisation without questioning and he criticised not only capitalism but also socialism both of which discourage liberty of individuals and their free self-expression.

Mad and handicapped individuals used to be more accepted in the past as just different. They were even sometimes treated as useful because they have a unique ability of challenging something beyond capacity or being able to perceive something not perceivable. They are integrated into their community with the rest majority, and they found their own virtue of being parts of humans' activities. There was not any specific definition of distinguishing individuals between normal and abnormal/disabled/mad, and they naturally accepted the difference of characteristics.

But, the modern "society" started labeling them as "non-conforming" as a product like a cogwheel. Faucault successfully pointed out that individuality is rather forfeited in this modern world although it often puts emphasis on individuality. Individuals are allowed to enjoy benefits from the modernity as long as they are approved as conforming as the "products" contributing to functioning the apparatus called the modernity. By contrast, those who are labelled as nonconforming are treated as useless and/or inferior.

Human individuals nowadays live in a more materially better off but more complex world. The modernisation has brought a lot of benefits and developed human-individuals' intelligence by inventing a big and complex function of modern society. On the other hand, the big complex nature of this society requires an intensive conformity straining individuals to adjust themselves and contribute to its function as the cogwheel mobilising this apparatus of modern society. After having achieved a development of modernity, it has come to the point where individuals had better learn from the inclusive characteristics of pre-modernity to compensate for the stressful strain of modern society while maintaining the benefits of modernity.

Brief Introduction of an economic policy of Kakuei Tanaka 田中角栄

On 04/05/1918, Mr. Kakuei Tanaka 田中角栄, who has dedicated his life for Japanese political development and advocated the base ideology of Japanese Liberal-Naitonalism, descended to the earth. With welcoming his birth day, this document is dedicated to show respect for Kakuei Tanaka and reminds his achievements. His great talent as the Japanese prime minister contributed to enable Japan to be diplomatically independent as a true sovereign state. Moreover, his project called "the Plan to Remodel the Japanese archipelago 日本列島改造計画" stimulated Japanese rapid economic growth thanks to his rare innate talent not only as a politician but also as a capitalist/entrepreneur. I am firmly proud of the part of Japanese history in which Mr. Kakuei Tanaka existed.

Mr Tanaka is the charismatic figure for majority of Keynesian economists (the group of economists supporting to preserve market economy (capitalist system) while putting emphasis on controlling the business cycle with the positive interventions by government as a mediator of the market into economic activity. In the contemporary period the prime minister Tanaka and his policy were inevitably required for Japanese economic growth which was quite immature for the foundation of economic growth so then needed to form the sophisticated relation between government and market.

Mr. Tanaka was a revolutionary figure in Japanese politics who challenged against the traditional incompetent characteristics of "politicians" as authoritarian figures. He was successful because he combined his talent as an entrepreneur and as an politician together. Entrepreneurs (Capitalists) are good at planning for capital development and optimising resource usage while being trained in various business competitions and acquiring trusts from individuals. By contrast, politicians can only secure their job security by means of relying on extracting taxation which is collected from individuals with their authoritarian enforcement. Following this fact entrepreneurs seem to be much productive and better at self-management. But if politicians are always under the pressure to accomplish their job and are obliged to obtain trusts from individuals without an authoritarian collective force, they may become responsible to contribute and compete under the pressure as similar to entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile entrepreneurs naturally get involved in competition and enforced to accomplish their duties, politicians can be spoiled and make the environment less competitive in the occupation secured by their esteem. They collect their profits from a political theft called taxation, and it is not necessary to gain respects from individuals because these individual citizens have to pay tax involuntarily regardless of these tax contributors' satisfaction rate. Therefore, unlike entrepreneurs who always need to make an effort of attracting their customers by providing them with satisfying goods and services in order to gain profits. Especially in the immature democratic system like in Japan tends to remain such a fact. Amazingly, despite this tendency the former prime minister Kakuei Tanaka conducted his business pursuit established by Mr Tanaka himself to lead both private business and government body help each other so then laid the basis of Japanese economic growth.