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The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe

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Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe

#341

Post by cmrdporcupine »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #326
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a disturbing trend and indicative of failing health / vibrancy of political systems. Same with running Hilary Clinton. Half of the entire point of the democratic turn in western states after the enlightenment and the French revolution was to attempt take power away from powerful families and abolish heritable power. I found it very alarming when Trudeau Jr was plucked out of relative obscurity and turned into a…

I disagree regarding Hillary Clinton, I think it's a disservice to her academic and professional accomplishments. She has an impressive academic record at Yale while getting her JD, was a very popular senator in NY, and was widely respected SoS. She is far more qualified than most presidential candidates and probably more qualified than her husband. I know she is divisive and I'm going to be downvoted, but all those…

I agree Clinton actually has a fairly impressive record. But so did plenty of other people.

My point remains regardless: it is corrosive to democracy to let power consolidate in family power centres. Many kings and emperors of antiquity were very competent. And successful powerful families cultivated competency at ruling through elite education and patronage etc. But it was still a terrible form of government. Not the least because it becomes self-serving over time, but also because of its injustice: all the very competent people passed over because they did not have the right name or connections.

Having a healthy democracy (literally: "people's rule") requires us to explicitly counteract concentration of power in lineage systems, party bureaucracies, and corporate dominance. Of these family lineage is one of the easiest to spot.

Yes, we've always had this. No, it's not a good thing. And we need to actively counteract it, even if it means passing up very competent individuals.

I liked Herbert's books, I don't want to live in the Dune universe :-)

Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe

#342

Post by twelfnight »

tkgally wrote: post #5

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…

Seems to me to be good policy not to discuss anything about assassins' motives, names or show photos to avoid accidentally glorifying the act or encouraging others who want to get attention. Why is the silence assumed to be a cover up instead of proper media etiquette?

Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe

#343

Post by xdennis »

xadhominemx wrote: post #56
mellosouls wrote: post #48

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 is quite striking in the UK and US how mainstream media will be remarkably coy about identifying the cultural background of some criminals while straight off the bat into condemnatory opinion…

That’s because the ethnicity of a criminal is usually not a relevant detail. It is not similar to the Japanese media hiding the motive of the assassination.

> That’s because the ethnicity of a criminal is usually not a relevant detail.

Come on, don't be coy. There are many things which aren't relevant like where the criminal is from or how old he is.

The reason they hide the ethnicity is because it helps racists to profile.

The problem is that they go too far the other way, like labeling Kyle Rittenhouse, not just white, but a white supremacist without any evidence.

Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe

#344

Post by cmrdporcupine »

freeopinion wrote: post #329
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a disturbing trend and indicative of failing health / vibrancy of political systems. Same with running Hilary Clinton. Half of the entire point of the democratic turn in western states after the enlightenment and the French revolution was to attempt take power away from powerful families and abolish heritable power. I found it very alarming when Trudeau Jr was plucked out of relative obscurity and turned into a…

> It's a disturbing trend and indicative of failing health / vibrancy of political systems. If this is an indicator, how long has the U.S. political system been failing? John Adams was the second President starting in 1797. His son became the sixth President in 1825.

It surely goes in cycles in the US.

Also arguably the US's republican model has had some of the weakest "democratic" aspects. Its popular veneration of the President as a martial pseudo-king "Command in Chief" (very weird to watch from up here in Canada, BTW, esp during the Bush post-9/11 years), its blatant blurring of church & state, its obsession with its military, its overt and obsequious patriotism and national chauvinism, its expanding federal powers, its imperial ambitions (both internal to the Americas and then even further abroad after WWII), its history with slavery and racial discrimination, etc.

It's a contradictory country. On one hand having some of the most radical and egalitarian motive forces, and being earlier to the democratic impulse than most of the west. On the other hand having ossified authoritarian impulses built deep into its system.

I think you'll find more healthy democracies in western Europe and Canada, though they don't have the same radical liberal (small, classical l) ideological underpinnings.

Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe

#345

Post by throwaway5752 »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #341
throwaway5752 wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree regarding Hillary Clinton, I think it's a disservice to her academic and professional accomplishments. She has an impressive academic record at Yale while getting her JD, was a very popular senator in NY, and was widely respected SoS. She is far more qualified than most presidential candidates and probably more qualified than her husband. I know she is divisive and I'm going to be downvoted, but all those…

I agree Clinton actually has a fairly impressive record. But so did plenty of other people. My point remains regardless: it is corrosive to democracy to let power consolidate in family power centres. Many kings and emperors of antiquity were very competent. And successful powerful families cultivated competency at ruling through elite education and patronage etc. But it was still a terrible form of government. Not th…

I agree with you on just about everything you said :)

I would probably have a slightly different nuance to my interpretation of the nature of power centers. I think that term limits counteract this pretty well for individual families and politicians. I'm more concerned about influence organizations and the individuals and families that fund them, like Heritage. They have enormous influence, don't disclose funding, and are completely unelected.

Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe

#346

Post by tomc1985 »

Mandelmus wrote: post #61
asveikau wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Your thinly veiled accusation of racism notwithstanding, I don’t think there’s anything morally deplorable in thinking the media should help the public build a more statistically representative model of the world we live in, regardless of the cultural background of criminals. As an example, I don’t think the demographic of young white guys fare too well in the mass shooter statistic, but omitting this reality isn’t o…

How is any of this relevant when they will usually publish a photo of the accused?

Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe

#347

Post by bink »

SoftTalker wrote: post #334
maire wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moonies used to be a big deal at college campuses in California. When my husband and I went to Berkeley in the 1970s, the Moonies were everywhere. They did many questionable things before fading away. My husband is 4 years older than me - so he was not as aware of their recruitment practices. He said he was invited to dinner by a very attractive young woman who kept flirting with him all through dinner. She then invi…

Yep I remember the "Moonie" cult in the news from the 1970s. They seemed to fade out after a while, like most fads do. I had no idea they were still operating.

They still own and publish the Washington Times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Times

Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe

#348

Post by cmrdporcupine »

atwood22 wrote: post #335
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly right now it feels like the Liberal Party is completely asleep at the wheel and there's a total absence of leadership at the moment and lots of ministerial files seem completely unmanaged or poorly managed. They were able to ride out the pandemic with some overall reasonable policies, and most of the stuff that annoyed people fell on the provinces. But they're clearly having a hard time transitioning now, an…

I can tell you're very passionate about these issues. I think you're falling into a trap, however, that has basically consumed the U.S. and all but ensured its fall from grace. I live in the U.S., but spend a large amount of time in Canada (3 months of the year). Canada is a great country compared to the U.S. Income inequality is much lower than in the U.S., you have decent health care, a sizable "blue collar" indust…

I don't want Canada to be mediocre; but it is. It has amazing potential as the multicultural, less dysfunctional, more socially compassionate alternative North American state.

But we have -- since before our confederation -- been dominated by insular and mediocre monopoly interests. From the Northwest and Hudson's Bay Company to Rogers and Bell. From the Family Compact to the insular board rooms of Calgary's oil sector or Bay Street. A set of local self-connected classes that circle around the same elite private schools and family parties.

Yes, our health care system has advantages over the US. But it's a system heavily rationed and under crisis because of waves of abuse and a lack of will to reform. I've been waiting since February for an MRI for a knee injury I got skiing, and I only haven't ducked south to Buffalo to get it done in the US because I didn't have money coming in until recently.

That's a minor inconvenience though compared to the state of our emergency rooms right now.

I'm passionate about these issues because I think Canada can be way better, especially if the point of comparison is not the US as a whole; but individual states or various western European countries (esp Scandinavia)

Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe

#349

Post by kragen »

atwood22 wrote: post #331
kragen wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What were the words of the assassin?

> “My family joined that religion and our life became harder after donating money to the organization,” Tetsuya Yamagami, who is unemployed, was quoted by the sources as telling police. “I had wanted to target the top official of the organization, but it was difficult. So, I took aim at Abe since I believed that he was tied (to the organization). I wanted to kill him.” https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14665352

Thank you! But, that seems to not say which religion it is?

Re: The Crime That Killed Shinzo Abe

#350

Post by cmrdporcupine »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #345
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree Clinton actually has a fairly impressive record. But so did plenty of other people. My point remains regardless: it is corrosive to democracy to let power consolidate in family power centres. Many kings and emperors of antiquity were very competent. And successful powerful families cultivated competency at ruling through elite education and patronage etc. But it was still a terrible form of government. Not th…

I agree with you on just about everything you said :) I would probably have a slightly different nuance to my interpretation of the nature of power centers. I think that term limits counteract this pretty well for individual families and politicians. I'm more concerned about influence organizations and the individuals and families that fund them, like Heritage. They have enormous influence, don't disclose funding, an…

Re: term limits. if we're permitting family name marketing and dominance, that's irrelevant. Interests will simply rule through the next person in line in the family.

Also, in the last two centuries of the western Roman Empire there was a new emperor every decade or less. Short terms did nothing to stop the authoritarian and tyrannical (and dysfunctional) nature of that rule.

Sufficiently powerful individuals will make term limits disappear anyways. (See Putin, etc.)

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