[extropy-chat] Anarchy + Transparent Society + Bushido = Survival

[Jef Allbright]

On 4/24/07, The Avantguardian <avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> No. Indeed it need not be everybody in society. In
> Japan it was a specialized warrior-caste. But I do not
> see why it would necessarily have to apply just to
> some socio-economic elite. So why not everybody?

I have a great admiration for the code of honor and discipline at the
heart of bushido.  In particular, bushido demands that one treat those
below oneself (in the class system) with the same strict respect for
honor  (appropriate to their class) as those in the higher classes.

This system worked very well in terms of enforcing social order,
especially during the two and a half centuries of the Tokugawa era,
but this stability was due to the severely enforced hierarchical power
structure, ranked from emperor, shogun, daimyou, *four* classes of
samurai, followed by peasants, artisans, and merchants at the bottom.
Even within the samurai classes, totaling some 7-10% of the
population, stratification was such that only the "high samurai" were
allowed to ride horses, but all samurai were allowed to wear two
swords.

As I've said, I admire the honor at the core of bushido and I think it
had great strengths compared to other feudal systems, but by its very
nature, extremely demanding and rigid, it is impractical for any but
an elite, and unsustainable without rigid stratification of power.

- Jef