Matt the Jap is dead

The Chessplayer · 30-11-2007 12:27PM

Was there anything in the papers about Matt the Jap's passing?

Also, can anyone confirm whether or not it is bollocks that he invented a new branch of maths?

I understand he was a linguist.

Time Magazine · 30-11-2007 12:30PM

The Chessplayer wrote: »

Also, can anyone confirm whether or not it is bollocks that he invented a new branch of maths?

Algebra, I believe it was.

Boston · 30-11-2007 12:57PM

Yes, he invented algebra.

The Chessplayer · 30-11-2007 04:34PM

Japanese algebra perhaps.

Lucas10101 · 30-11-2007 07:40PM

So how did he die? Natural causes, past caught up with him LOL, what exactly?

DrIndy · 30-11-2007 09:31PM

I had known matteo for 9 years and had a lot of time for him - always bought him sandwiches and gave him the odd twenty here and there after I started work. He was an eccentric but a true gentleman all the same who was just frustrated that people ignored him and treated him badly because he couldn't speak.

He spoke at least 13 languages fluently and I would often have hour long conversations with him in Norwegian through writing - it took a lot of patience to get to know him, but once you did - he was a true gentleman.

He also held a DSc in french literature which equates him to being better academically qualified than most of the academic staff in the college. I also remember the usually biannual features of his story in Trinity news over the year and the fascinating information I got to know about him after asking him about the article.

There are people in college who don't understand him and don't have time for him. He was eccentric and his deafness meant it was difficult for him to communicate with others. His frailty and stature meant he was very often jostled around by students who didn't know him or want to understand him. If I was in his shoes, alone, incredibly gifted and banned from the library as he is not a student - I too would treasure my favourite seat in the arts block that I had sat in for the last 10 years.

Rest In Peace

notjim · 30-11-2007 10:45PM

There are well-worn and well-established conventions regarding the discourse over the recently dead, these seem to serve the dead but are really followed out of respect for those who have suffered a loss and wish to mourn. First, because the history of the recently dead is no longer quick, anecdotes are told and second, only positive judgments are made. Again, it is normal not to speak ill of the recently dead, not out of foolishness, but because we know there is plenty of time in the infinite future of them being dead to judge them ill and so, if we wish to judge harshly, we withhold that harshness while those who will miss them mourn. I think Digby you should follow these conventions.

Further, whether through his own fault or failings or through ill fortune this man clearly spent the last part of his life isolated, frail and uncomfortable, : even the name he was known by was racist. If we are unable to admire him, we should at least be compassionate.

ronivek · 01-12-2007 12:32AM

Somewhat disgusted to read such comments from some people within this thread. It seems to me if this were about the death of a student regardless of how that student was generally perceived; such comments and the people who make them would be dealt with pretty harshly.

In the case of someones death I don't really think it's neccesary nor appropriate to make such negative comments about the person who has passed; if you can't say something reasonably positive then try shutting the **** up and saying nothing at all.

I very much hope he has no relatives or friends who see this thread.

ApeXaviour · 01-12-2007 03:01AM

Agreed, Degsy was warned. Banned for a week and posts deleted.

Lockstep · 01-12-2007 12:55PM

notjim wrote: »

even the name he was known by was racist. .

You make a lotta good points, but be careful with playing the racist card. The Japanese aren't a race.

Matt made front page of the Irish times today.
His legend lives on

Marshy · 01-12-2007 02:12PM

Yeah here it is.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/frontpage/2007/1201/1196375108237.html

DrIndy · 01-12-2007 02:46PM

Matteo's legend will always live on.

I always had a lot of time for the man and a great deal of respect for him.

Boston · 01-12-2007 03:11PM

When you get right down to it, matthejap was a great man, much like Charles j haughey.

Karl Hungus · 01-12-2007 03:23PM

notjim wrote: »

even the name he was known by was racist.

I don't think that "Jap" would be any more racist than "Brit" or other such abbrevations.

Boston · 01-12-2007 03:25PM

*puts on his racist hat*

fuk off back to Ireland you paddy bastard!!!!!!

notjim · 01-12-2007 03:47PM

from Wikipedia:

"The term Jap is used in English as an abbreviation of the word "Japanese." Today it is usually used as an ethnic slur, though English speaking countries differ in the degree they consider the term offensive. Most people of Japanese descent in these countries consider it offensive."

Boston · 01-12-2007 03:58PM

1) I don't see the word racist mentioned in what you quoted
2) Wiki is not a definitive text on anything. Its written by plebs for plebs.

notjim · 01-12-2007 04:24PM

"Jap" is an ethnic slur, that is a fact and while Wikipedia is not definitive, the Wikipedia article reflects this truth. Any Japanese person living in the west will recognize "Jap" as a term of abuse; you can check. It is unfortunate that that name was used for Mr Matubara. Of course, it is unlikely the use of an offensive term was intentional, it was almost certainly a mistake and a symptom of the ignorance of the issues and sensitivities regarding race, ethnicity and national identity in this country twenty years ago. In short, the fact he had an offensive nickname doesn't necessarily show he suffered intentional racist abuse but it does show that when he arrived we did not in this country have experience in living in a ethnically and nationally mixed society and the name is a symptom of the sort of isolation he may of felt.

Boston · 01-12-2007 04:28PM

notjim wrote: »

"Jap" is an ethnic slur, that is a fact and while Wikipedia is not definitive, the Wikipedia article reflects this truth. Any Japanese person living in the west will recognize "Jap" as a term of abuse; you can check.

I know people of japo decent that don't mind, even like it. Besides, afaik Mattthejap wasn't Japanese,

Unshelved · 01-12-2007 05:30PM

Agreed, Degsy was warned. Banned for a week and posts deleted.

How unbelievably self-righteous. Hope the view from up there on your high horse is nice.

ApeXaviour · 01-12-2007 09:17PM

It was appropriate action. Crash had asked that this not be a place to badmouth the man. That and the posts were reported numerous times as inappropriate. Right here, right now, I agree that they were.

DrIndy · 01-12-2007 09:34PM

Unshelved wrote: »

How unbelievably self-righteous. Hope the view from up there on your high horse is nice.

Ape is right.

Moderators decisions may not be popular all the time, he is completely correct.

Anyone who badmouths Matteo doesn't actually know the man - if they did then they wouldn't.

Boston · 01-12-2007 09:41PM

DrIndy wrote: »

Ape is right.

Moderators decisions may not be popular all the time, he is completely correct.

Anyone who badmouths Matteo doesn't actually know the man - if they did then they wouldn't.

I agree that the banning is fine ( Apex is simply enforcing a warning given by another mod) but it doesn't sit right with me that people should be given a platform to make comments like you have about those that hold him in disdain, while at the same time restricting opportunity to counter those same comments. Not that it would do much good, you knew the man and you knew what he was about, you seem happy to make excuses and allowances for that based on disability and no opinion expressed here will change that.

AlanSparrowhawk · 01-12-2007 10:55PM

notjim wrote: »

There are well-worn and well-established conventions regarding the discourse over the recently dead, these seem to serve the dead but are really followed out of respect for those who have suffered a loss and wish to mourn. First, because the history of the recently dead is no longer quick, anecdotes are told and second, only positive judgments are made. Again, it is normal not to speak ill of the recently dead, not out of foolishness, but because we know there is plenty of time in the infinite future of them being dead to judge them ill and so, if we wish to judge harshly, we withhold that harshness while those who will miss them mourn. I think Digby you should follow these conventions.

Further, whether through his own fault or failings or through ill fortune this man clearly spent the last part of his life isolated, frail and uncomfortable, : even the name he was known by was racist. If we are unable to admire him, we should at least be compassionate.

Very, very, well said.

shay_562 · 02-12-2007 11:14PM

Hmm.

I'm really stuck on this one. Empathy for him in a general sense (living alone in a council flat with no family and few close friends is a sad way to go) and for people who are genuinely mourning him aside, I find the mass outpouring of grief (less so here, more so in 'real' college) at the loss of college legend a bit much to take. Personally, I can't say that I'll miss having him around; I severely doubt I'm the only one who can say that, or that the vast majority of college students weren't relatively unaware of him in their day-to-day lives. Yet people who never spoke to him are mourning his loss; people who last week would have bitched about him are eulogising him. It smacks of hypocrisy - of everyone mourning him, how many actually talked to him, tried to connect with or understand him or in any way help him? - and more than a little dishonesty.

I'm not trying to stir it, and I understand the need for people to respect the social conventions notjim outlined, but it'd be nice to see people's reactions (and again, I'm not referring to anyone here, but to the college as a whole) tempered with a little more honesty and sincerity.

dan719 · 03-12-2007 12:50AM

R.i.p

The Chessplayer · 03-12-2007 11:08AM

ApeXaviour wrote: »

It was appropriate action. Crash had asked that this not be a place to badmouth the man. That and the posts were reported numerous times as inappropriate. Right here, right now, I agree that they were.

Most people didn't actually like the man, so can't see why you'd want to censor that. I was personally assaulted by the little chap a couple of times, and he also had the habit of sitting beside me and studying my features intensely while I ate my lunch (I worked in TCD 2 summers in a row and me and matt the jap were often the only 2 people in the arts block canteen). Still, I thought he was a bit of a legend - I wonder if he ever mentioned me in his letter-writing to European royals.

Pet · 03-12-2007 02:48PM

I think that people [in 3-D college] are mourning the loss of Matt as a character and not as a person, and that strikes me as stingingly insincere. Many people were familiar with his form as he shuffled around college, but very few have actually ever attempted to communicate with him, and even fewer can say that they really knew him. Shay has already summed it up, actually.

Matt was a character, and a very interesting one at that, but he obviously had flaws -- I, for one, would dispute his supposedly benevolent nature. But his flaws and qualities have all been discussed in the other thread, and at length. Thus, in the spirit of notjim's post, I agree that this is not the place for negative comments, and, though I hate the phrase and dispute the concept with a fiery, burning passion, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."

Boston · 03-12-2007 03:09PM

Pet wrote: »

"If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."

The ironing is delicious!!

Tricity Bendix · 03-12-2007 04:31PM

Pet wrote: »

I think that people [in 3-D college] are mourning the loss of Matt as a character and not as a person, and that strikes me as stingingly insincere. Many people were familiar with his form as he shuffled around college, but very few have actually ever attempted to communicate with him, and even fewer can say that they really knew him. Shay has already summed it up, actually.

What is insencere about people mourning the loss of a character? Yes, most people did not communicate with him, but he was a sort of college celebrity. People knew him to see and enjoyed hearing and telling outrageous stories about his past. Stories that future students will be deprived of. That is what is being mourned. Very few people knew him as a person, but he was still a part of college life.

How many people who mourned Princess Diana knew her in real life?

Matt the Jap is dead

Comments