Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne • Hacker News Board

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#121

Post by ptaipale » Mon, Aug 08, 2016, 12:08 PM UTC

gonvaled wrote: post #119

ptaipale wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the pope can actually make decisions with consequences, but as Stalin put it, "The Pope? How many divisions has he got?" Well, he doesn't have any, the power comes through his symbolic position.

Stalin was probably undervaluing religious zealotry.

Yes, though zealotry is perhaps the wrong word here - zealots were a Judean movement that rebelled against the Roman Empire and sought to expel it by force of arms; zealots are associated with violence.

Pope's influence has over the recent centuries come over non-violent conviction of followers.

Daesh has lots of zealotry, Catholics less so.

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#122

Post by jboynyc » Mon, Aug 08, 2016, 12:09 PM UTC

Houshalter wrote: post #96

jboynyc wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Add to that that the current U.S. Senate has only 20 women members (i.e., 20 percent), which is the highest proportion in the history of the Senate . In the House of Representatives the proportion of women members is below 20 percent (19.4, to be exact), and that, too, is the highest proportion ever .

That doesn't seem bad at all. That may be roughly the same as the relative percentage of women that are interested in going into politics.

Nope, it's terrible. Just look at the international comparison: http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm

Unless you think "At least the U.S. is doing better than Kyrgyzstan" is the appropriate response. In that case there's really no convincing you.

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#123

Post by robin_reala » Mon, Aug 08, 2016, 12:43 PM UTC

ptaipale wrote: post #89

ajuc wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pope can actually make decisions with consequences.

Yes, the pope can actually make decisions with consequences, but as Stalin put it, "The Pope? How many divisions has he got?" Well, he doesn't have any, the power comes through his symbolic position.

He’s got one army: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Guard#Pontifical_Swiss_G...

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#124

Post by ptaipale » Mon, Aug 08, 2016, 12:50 PM UTC

robin_reala wrote: post #123

ptaipale wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the pope can actually make decisions with consequences, but as Stalin put it, "The Pope? How many divisions has he got?" Well, he doesn't have any, the power comes through his symbolic position.

He’s got one army: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Guard#Pontifical_Swiss_G...

Yes, I know, though I wonder if there will be a day when the halberds are taken away for "health and security" reasons.

(Yes, I know they also have actual handguns hidden somewhere.)

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#125

Post by daemin » Mon, Aug 08, 2016, 12:51 PM UTC

sverige wrote: post #117

daemin wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would only occur if Prince Charles was dead.

Not true. He divorced and remarried which makes him ineligible for the crown.

I thought Henry VIII did a thing to make divorce permissible for kings and prices? Is there an official place where the succession is listed and laws detailed?

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#126

Post by HemanHeartYou » Mon, Aug 08, 2016, 12:52 PM UTC

ptaipale wrote: post #121

gonvaled wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stalin was probably undervaluing religious zealotry.

Yes, though zealotry is perhaps the wrong word here - zealots were a Judean movement that rebelled against the Roman Empire and sought to expel it by force of arms; zealots are associated with violence. Pope's influence has over the recent centuries come over non-violent conviction of followers. Daesh has lots of zealotry, Catholics less so.

>though zealotry is perhaps the wrong word here - zealots were a Judean movement that rebelled

historically you'd be right, by definition you are wrong, zealotry is fanaticism

violence may have played a role in the past but times change

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#127

Post by HemanHeartYou » Mon, Aug 08, 2016, 12:53 PM UTC

moogly wrote: post #4

I propose a deal: Let the man rest in exchange for the abolishment of the constitutional monarchy. Symbolic or not, it's outmoded and incongruent with modern egalitarian society. The list of constitutional monarchies is rather embarrassingly long (37 countries).

>I propose a deal: Let's destroy their culture.

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#128

Post by Navarr » Mon, Aug 08, 2016, 1:03 PM UTC

justusw wrote: post #49

lovart wrote: post #3

Does anyone know how much of the 2,700 year 'official genealogy' is credible?

Even better: There is even some Korean ancestry mixed into the genetic stew ( https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/28/japan.worlddis... ) Luckily, the state-worship of the emperor as a descendant of Amaterasu and Jimmu has been abolished after Hirohito declined being divine after WWII. Maybe now is a good time to take this one step further and to abolish the monarchy once and for all?

While doable, it's worth stopping to consider whether the Emperor is considered a part of the Japanese national identity.

Tradition and such can be very important for cultural identity, and should not be overlooked in any discussion about whether or not it should be abolished.

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#129

Post by cheiVia0 » Mon, Aug 08, 2016, 1:16 PM UTC

cgriswald wrote: post #118

timje1 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quick FYI - factoid: a false fact that is repeated often enough to become accepted as true.

Your little factoid is an example of the definition of factoid you're describing. But there are other definitions of factoid and I suspect the most common one is along the lines "small tidbit of information".

Actually, that's the factoid.

According to Wikipedia [1]:

> The term was coined originally in 1973 as a neologism by American writer Norman Mailer to mean a "piece of information that becomes accepted as a fact even though it’s not actually true, or an invented fact believed to be true because it appears in print." Since its creation in 1973 the term has evolved from its original meaning, in common usage, and has assumed other meanings, particularly being used to describe a brief or trivial item of news or information. So it is a factoid that "factoid" means something that is true.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factoid

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#130

Post by OtterCoder » Mon, Aug 08, 2016, 1:25 PM UTC

afandian wrote: post #120

ajuc wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's a CEO of an organization with more than 400 000 people in middle management (priests) alone (and they have to listen to his orders or lose their status or even be sued before a special court). He can make state decisions (small state, but still). Not comparable to strictly ceremonial function of Japan's emperor.

Things like state decisions are direct but limited. But decisions like the Roman Catholic Church's policy on contraception has only devastated as many lives as it has because those people choose to believe in the symbol.

But, all power is, at its root, symbolic. Stalin only slaughtered as many as he did because people believed in the symbolic power of the state and in him as having some right to lead such an abstract entity with total authority.