aesthetic change

the first sign of a changing aesthetic is a wide-spread self-consciousness (a political identity) of societal norms and convention. the "beauty" of (the aesthetic of) 諦め in japan is threatened by the pragmatist values of economically dominating America, which devalues the sheer acceptance of a difficult or antagonistic situation as cowardice -- precisely because it can now be identified. take the unspoken (now too often spoken) understanding between members of a japanese baseball game, that in the case of a batter up and one man on first base that a person is expected to bunt (even position themselves up for the bunt); were this spectacle observed in the States, the beauty of self-sacrifice would not even be an occurring thought, but would be returned with pure (very well expressed) hostility against the player. hence why the notion is up for review in this country, to the point that it becomes an object of obsessive intercultural critique, or one to be justified by (or to itself justify) identity. ("because it's japanese" -- not to be confused with a statement like "because WE'RE japanese," which would limit the extent to which the identified aesthetic could be given distance to allow for change.)