The linked article ends with this: “Why the Japanese media has refused to identify the ‘religious group’ that formed the motive for the killing must remain as speculation at this juncture, though it reflects very poorly on Japan’s status as a democratic nation.” It’s important to note that the Japanese media is not monolithic. It’s true that the major newspapers (Asahi, Yomiuri, Mainichi, Nikkei, etc.) and the broadc…
If you are interested in the media in Japan and how it chooses to report or not report news I recommend the book "Exposure: Inside the Olympus Scandal". It tells the story of loss hiding at Olympus. Especially interesting are the chapters about how difficult it was to get any news coverage of some extremely suspicious things.
The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe
151–160 of 494 posts
Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe
#152TL;DR Shinzo Abe was associated with a religious group 'Church of Unification'... that motivated Tetsuya Yamagami to target and kill Shinzo Abe. Yamagami told investigators that he blamed a “religious group” (i.e. the Unification Church) for inducing his mother to donate so much money that it bankrupted the family. He initially prepared to kill a church leader, but gave up after deciding it was too difficult. Yamagam…
Abe was not supposed to be here, his speech was planned to happen in another city but instead it was decided to go to Nara the evening before. The killer couldn't have planned to kill Abe.
Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe
#153Are they affiliated with communism? North Korea? American progressive movements? None of the above?
Do we know that this isn't two cults bickering?
Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn’t it controversial whether or not he did have a connection? There is a value of free speech in Japan but it’s not exactly like America’s, and I think the Japanese media would mostly avoid stirring the pot immediately prior to an election, and especially for a claim that may be unfounded. I won’t argue whether their approach is the right one or not and this is just my opinion, but that seems like that would be why…
Strange. I don't see how it could be more controversial than his well known links to Nippon Kaigi. I mean, the cult connection is only important for the fact that someone killed him for it. And I am going to guess that it tells you something about the deranged mind of the killer, and probably not much interesting about Abe. Edit: I mean, come on, "newsflash: prominent politician involved in dubious business or accoun…
So if he had connections to a Korean sect, and knowing what sects do, the next logical step would be to assume that he was controlled by or at least open to Korean interests, which is the opposite of what people elected him for, and would be a major, major scandal for him and his party.
Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s absolutely insane to me that people are criticizing the Japanese media over this. Why should we be amplifying a murder’s message? Don’t reward a man for shooting someone in the back. After every mass shooting in the US I see widespread criticism of the media for sensationalism and turning mass murders into stars. Yet when another country follows this very advice, they’re criticized for a lack of free speech?
Knowledge and transparency is oxygen to a democracy. Without an informed populace you can not have an effective democracy.
Democracy can wait a week or two when a man is murdered that way
Freedom means also that you have to earn it, if people can't wait to speculate online about things that are still being investigated, they probably don't deserve it.
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What if they waited a bit more before putting Lee Harvey Oswald on the front page of every newspaper? Maybe he would still be alive and we knew a lot more about what really happened.
What if Kennedy assassination happened today, with social media and the "pornography of violence"?
Think about it.
Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's swept under the rug because the US pardoned many of the the perpetrators (such as Shiro Ishii) in exchange for data about their experiments, which were then continued under the US biological weapons program, and projects like MKULTRA.
I was aware of the crimes of Unit 731 and how the U.S. granted immunity to the worst perpetrators in exchange for data, but never read about the details. I did that just now; what a horrifying rabbit hole that was. One disgusting bit: > Although the Soviet authorities wished the prosecutions to take place, the United States objected after the reports of the investigating US microbiologists. Among these was Edwin Hill…
Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe
#157It might just be a convenient cover story for any "State Actors" behind the assassination. Shinzo Abe had been a real thorn in the side of China and North Korea by pushing a hard-line approach towards them. He had tremendous worldwide political/economic clout and was instrumental in establishing the "Pacific Quad" as a real challenge to China and North Korea. Even after stepping down he had been active in drumming up support for his assertive stance against them which obviously wasn't to their liking.
It will be interesting to see what the investigators uncover over time.
Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
The claim was that there are some secrets, not all secrets which is the claim you countered.
Ok. There are no secrets “you cannot publish” in the USA. Prove it otherwise. Either by citing law, or even better by citing precedent.
The indictment also charges Assange for his posting of a narrow subset of classified documents on WikiLeaks that allegedly identified the names of human sources—including local Afghans and Iraqis who were assisting U.S. forces in theater, and those of journalists, religious leaders, human rights advocates, and political dissidents living in repressive regimes. Assange thereby is alleged to have created grave and imminent risk to their lives and liberty.
(Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1165636/downl... )
That would appear to be a specific example of secrets that cannot be published?
Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe
#159Japanese people I know are adamant that Abe had no ties or did ever voice support for the Moon sect, ever. I am now wondering if Abe had kept it secret and the shooter somehow found out.
Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
Naming a cult on media is a taboo in Japan, for fear of retaliations and verbal abuses than as common courtesy. There even used to be a P2P app called Perfect Dark, known in a... different... name early on, so as to make it 'immune to police prosecution'. Eventually the name changed to what it is, and stories of police working on it did start appearing. That was 2010s.
What was the previous name of Perfect Dark?