Forum - View topicNEWS: Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Passes Away at 67
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
chudmaru
Posts: 55 |
|
|||||||||||
Facism has become a sensationalist buzzword that has lost all meaning and people just use it to describe anything they don't like. Facism is clearly defined as a centralized form of autocratic government that gets to make all the rules and surpresses any voices of opposition. A good way of knowing if you live in a facist country is if you're allowed to actually call it a facist state. People who criticize the government in a facist state generally get arrested or killed, like what happens to a lot of of Putin's or Xi's critics. I'm not surprised some people are celebrating this news. Disappointed, but not surprised. Regardless of what foreigners think about Abe he was undeniably popular and had much influence to Japanese citizens. So many Japanese netizens are at a loss of words and shaked up dearly by this news. At least most foreign politicians and knowledgable people I've seen commenting are treating his passing with respect. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
ximpalullaorg
Posts: 396 |
|
|||||||||||
Monster? Sure, his ideas and beliefs were questionable most of the time, but this is a hyperbole I don't agree with. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Hellsoldier
 Posts: 754 Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol |
|
|||||||||||
I have my own complaints regarding moderation here at ANN, but I don't remember seeing transphobia being tolerated. Not in recent years, at least.
Not wanting to be that guy, but the Constitutional Reforms he and his party tried to pass were dubious on a Civil Rights angle (I'm not talking about his attempted revision of Article 9). Not Fascist per se, but had all the potential for a Democratic Backsliding. Also, he was a member of the Nippon Kaigi. If you read their mission statements, you know they are a Far-Right Organization. And it's not like he lacked critics, particularly among younger, more urban people. He seemed more pragmatic than most of his peers at the Nippon Kaigi, though, allowing for increased immigration to help with labor shortages, and not actively starting anti-LGBT campaign, unlike his party companion Mio Sugita, for example. Also, since one of his grandparents is one of the implicated people in the World War II War Atrocities, he may simply not have wanted to believe in his involvement in such acts. But that's me playing Pop Psychologist. I am Leftist, and I am Progressive, and my worldview stands in stark contrast to his worldview. With all that said, his death remains tragic, and might've even emboldened the Nationalists in Japan, who now have a Martyr to rally around. Dangerous times, indeed. Democracy must thrive with Civil participation and elections, not gunshots. So, my condolences go to his wife, Akie, and his relatives and friends. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
Gaian
Posts: 2 |
|
|||||||||||
|
Wow, it's been a crazy week, with the news of the creator of Yugioh passing yesterday, and Abe today. The fact that the killer went as far as making his own gun to carry out this murder is truly insane. I also believe the title should be changed to assassinated rather than passes away, as it currently can imply he passed away due to more natural causes.
On a side note, some of the reactions I am seeing to his death, on Chinese and Korean social media, I have seen people celebrating his death. Although this isn't too surprising given Abe's stance on WW2 and trying to whitewash history. Which some people have claimed is due to the fact he is the grandson of a WW2 war criminal. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
sailorstarsun
 Posts: 170 Location: Japan |
|
|||||||||||
|
Well, I used to feel safe living here.
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
revolutionotaku
Posts: 888 |
|
|||||||||||
|
I am beyond sadness right now.
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
BadNewsBlues
Posts: 5931 |
|
|||||||||||
If you look at the definition of “passed away” it fits in this specific case. Regardless of phrasing it’s a moot point. An individual was brazenly gunned down and succumbed to his injuries I think that’s the more important fact. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
vashfanatic
 Posts: 3489 Location: Back stateside |
|
|||||||||||
I don't want this to get derailed into semantic discussions, but you just defined totalitarianism, not fascism. Fascism is an extreme form of nationalism obsessed with the idea that a nation needs to be redeemed from a nefarious plot by conspiratorial forces (usually associated with communists, Freemasons, Jews, and other ethnic minorities) to undermine its greatness. I agree that Abe isn't a true fascist, but you can actually be a democracy and still be led by fascists, as Japan was in early on in its fascist kick in the 30s and 40s. Fascist movements prefer totalitarian governments, but not all totalitarians are fascists and fascism can thrive in a non-totalitarian setting. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
saboteur
Posts: 5 |
|
|||||||||||
|
RIP PM and Yugioh mangaka. Their contributions to the world will never ever be forgotten.
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
ZiharkXVI
Posts: 358 |
|
|||||||||||
I tend to agree. I'm not saying that the phrase was intentional, but he was murdered. Never thought I'd see something like this happen in Japan. I didn't always agree with his politics, but very tragic news. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
penguintruth
 Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
|
|||||||||||
|
I'm not going to shed any tears over an ultra right winger and war crime denier, but assassination has a tendency to destabilize things, so this was probably not a good thing.
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
AiddonValentine
Posts: 2207 |
|
|||||||||||
|
This is pretty shocking, but let's not try to whitewash the guy. His stump speeches recently were him lamenting that he didn't achieve his goals during his time as PM, which included wanting to amend Japan's stance of pacifism in the constitution and repealing the 1993 apology by the Japanese government of its war crimes. He was a war crimes denialist, a historical revisionist, cozied up to ultranationalists, deteriorated Japan's relationship with South Korea, and smeared the press and minorities.
He was a bad person. He did not deserve to be murdered, but his legacy deserves to be scrutinized. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
Philmister978
Posts: 306 |
|
|||||||||||
Part of me wonders if destabilization was what the assassin wanted to do. Even if Abe wasn't PM anymore, he was still a very important figure, and the government certainly would want things to change drastically, even if it means a divide. This also begs the question about any copycat killers that could pop up. Meaning that this could very much become a global issue and not just a Japanese one. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
Egan Loo
Posts: 1319 |
|
|||||||||||
He had much influence among Japanese citizens and was undoubtedly popular during the first year of his 2012-2020 administration. However, his approval rating dipped below 50% after year 1 and stayed below 50% for the remaining years, except for brief periods. https://cdn.mainichi.jp/vol1/2020/05/23/20200523k0000m010231000p/9.jpg https://mainichi.jp/articles/20200523/k00/00m/010/233000c As to how he remained prime minister despite this, please see the other posts about the disproportionate Japanese electoral system for one of the main reasons. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
GasterTheGreat
 Posts: 41 |
|
|||||||||||
The LDP has held a majority in Japan for decades and are already the most popular and prominent party in Japan. I can't see how this would destablize anything so I think the goal was more petty hatred by a crazy guy. The LDP was slated to gain a number of seats in this weekend's election already. I wonder how much of an impact this will have on that. Martydoms can lead to a wave of sympathy votes, especially from people who usually don't vote. The candidate Abe was endorsing might see a surge of support after this thus foiling any sort of plan the assassin was hoping to achieve by doing this. Ironically, one of Abe's critics was Kazuki Takahshi and I have to admit when I heard about this shortly after Takahashi's death I briefly wondered if it was some crazed Yu-Gi-Oh fan who did it in Takahashi's name following his death given he got in trouble for critizing Abe a few years ago by calling him a traitor to Japan. Certainly a silly idea, but the timing was very unfortunate. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group