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Zenkyoto : A Brief Overview on the History of Leftism in Japan and its influence on Otaku Culture

Honestly, the idea of lifelong employment - having an employer that looks out for you and treats you like a valued part of the company and not as some replaceable cog in the machine that can be fired at a whim - is something I'm partially sympathetic to in the abstract. But Japan and the anime industry makes it look bad.

In fact, Asian countries haven't really taken to neoliberalism all that well, have they? I don't think so.

Oh, right, I should say something about how this applies to anime. Um...

Perhaps the reason why so many anime have salarymen go on isekai adventures as much as shut-ins has something to do with this? I mean, I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level has the main character die due to being overworked.

This is, I think representative of the cycle of modernity (FYI, modernity is reactionary-speak for "late capitalism", for those of you Marxian types). As one person put it, modernity is all about the false fight between a right-wing made up of brain-dead market-worshipers who think corporations can do no wrong and a left-wing made up of nihilistic consumerists who LARP as revolutionaries. The corporatists work us to the bone, leaving us too tired to do anything but consume mindless products that they've created. This is the logical conclusion of Keynes-Fisher Macroeconomics, which tells us that we need to inflate the money supply to deal with capitalist depressions. Spend, spend, spend, buy, buy, buy. I don't believe it's a coincidence that Japan has, for the last few decades, been doing Keynesian economics.
 
I must admit that seeing a poster outright admit that they are far-right is quite something.
 
Suzu said:
I must admit that seeing a poster outright admit that they are far-right is quite something.
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They seem to be doing the smart thing and merely sticking to saying anti-capitalist things socialists already would broadly agree with while doing their best to not actual say whatever crazy beliefs they have lead to them calling themselves a reactionary.
 
tankdrop24 said:
They seem to be doing the smart thing and merely sticking to saying anti-capitalist things socialists already would broadly agree with while doing their best to not actual say whatever crazy beliefs they have lead to them calling themselves a reactionary.
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I mean, unless there is some strain of unhateful far-right politics, I'm not sure that matters very much.
 
Suzu said:
I must admit that seeing a poster outright admit that they are far-right is quite something.
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I see no shame in hiding what I am. I'm always available to talk to, if you're curious.

tankdrop24 said:
They seem to be doing the smart thing and merely sticking to saying anti-capitalist things socialists already would broadly agree with while doing their best to not actual say whatever crazy beliefs they have lead to them calling themselves a reactionary.
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That's because I'm sticking to the topic, which is about anime and left-wing politics. I do wish to support Japan in resisting globalism, the only Japanese person I know that has reactionary views is Rei Murasame, and while it's interesting to listen to how she reconciles socialist third-worldism with wanting to commit a soft genocide on Black Africans, she's not a pleasant person to talk to, to say the least.

Suzu said:
I mean, unless there is some strain of unhateful far-right politics, I'm not sure that matters very much.
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You can find hateful people in all groups. It's more of a personality thing. By and large, we're not motivated by hate, at least any more than other political movements.
 
Suzu said:
I must admit that seeing a poster outright admit that they are far-right is quite something.
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tankdrop24 said:
They seem to be doing the smart thing and merely sticking to saying anti-capitalist things socialists already would broadly agree with while doing their best to not actual say whatever crazy beliefs they have lead to them calling themselves a reactionary.
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Suzu said:
I mean, unless there is some strain of unhateful far-right politics, I'm not sure that matters very much.
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From a purely sociological and politological standpoint I am staying silent for now and observing so I do not miss the moment when the SV Alt!Right completely mutates into outright Strasserism.
 
Suzu said:
It's not when the hatefulness is a defining feature, which happens to be the case for the far-right politics.
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Broken Base said:
The claim that far-right policies, which includes supporting discrimination and pushing down against basically anybody that is perceived as The Other, is not motivated by hate is honestly a pretty hot take.
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What you experience when you gaze upon a far right movement is something utterly alien to your values. You look upon it with revulsion because it disagrees with you on a fundamental level. It's not something you can argue with, only reject with prejudice.

Am I getting that right?
 
Well, I can't speak for them, but a movement that refuses to acknowledge their right to exist seems like it would have some pretty fundamental disagreements with them, yes.
 
The Name of Love said:
What you experience when you gaze upon a far right movement is something utterly alien to your values. You look upon it with revulsion because it disagrees with you on a fundamental level. It's not something you can argue with, only reject with prejudice.

Am I getting that right?
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You are, in fact, not.

I am rejecting a movement that wants see me silenced, oppressed or dead because I don't want to be either of those things. It's as simple as that.
 
tankdrop24 said:
They seem to be doing the smart thing and merely sticking to saying anti-capitalist things socialists already would broadly agree with while doing their best to not actual say whatever crazy beliefs they have lead to them calling themselves a reactionary.
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You'd be surprised.
 
tankdrop24 said:
Well, I can't speak for them, but a movement that refuses to acknowledge their right to exist seems like it would have some pretty fundamental disagreements with them, yes.
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Suzu said:
You are, in fact, not.

I am rejecting a movement that wants see me silenced, oppressed or dead because I don't want to be either of those things. It's as simple as that.
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I suppose I can't talk to you. You've already made up your minds about me.
 
Well, it's hard to talk to someone who refuses to elaborate on their beliefs beyond 'reactionary' and 'not hateful', and explain how somehow those two aren't contradictory.
 
The Name of Love said:
I suppose I can't talk to you. You've already made up your minds about me.
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Buddy, unless you practice some esoteric form of far-right politics, in which case you should actually clarify, I'm going to assume you're following typical far-right politics since I went ahead and said that you follow them.

This conversation is about as meaningful as:

"I believe in X."
"So you believe in X."
"We can't talk. You've already made up your mind about me."
 
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The Name of Love said:
What you experience when you gaze upon a far right movement is something utterly alien to your values. You look upon it with revulsion because it disagrees with you on a fundamental level. It's not something you can argue with, only reject with prejudice.
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The Name of Love said:
That said, this is coming from the perspective of a far right American with neoreactionary sympathies.
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In your opinion, what does having "neoreactionary sympathies" entail?
 
I think this is getting off topic. If anyone would want to continue this conversation, DM me or something. I've come to this thread to talk about the politics of anime, not my personal politics in particular.

I'm not even sure what I'm being accused of or what you think the far right even is. I think of the far right as just people outside of the mainstream that aren't leftists.
 
The Name of Love said:
I suppose I can't talk to you. You've already made up your minds about me.
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I mean, unless you've recently changed your mind, I know what you think about black people, women, and democracy, so...
tankdrop24 said:
Well, it's hard to talk to someone who refuses to elaborate on their beliefs beyond 'reactionary' and 'not hateful', and explain how somehow those two aren't contradictory.
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He doesn't think it's hateful because he thinks "facts" can't be hateful. Those are air-quotes because it's all a bunch of bullshit
ChineseDrone said:
Fortunately, he has!
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Buddy, that's the tip of the iceberg.
 
The Name of Love said:
I think this is getting off topic. If anyone would want to continue this conversation, DM me or something. I've come to this thread to talk about the politics of anime, not my personal politics in particular.

I'm not even sure what I'm being accused of or what you think the far right even is. I think of the far right as just people outside of the mainstream that aren't leftists.
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You introduced yourself as far right, why don't you explain in detail what that means to you rather than snake dancing around it?
 
The Name of Love said:
I think this is getting off topic. If anyone would want to continue this conversation, DM me or something. I've come to this thread to talk about the politics of anime, not my personal politics in particular.
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Very well. I honestly have quite a few things to say about this topic, so I'll make a thread in N&P, where it would surely be more appropriate. If you don't wish to partake in the discussion there, then I guess we can just accept that you find merely defining what you believe in and discussing the implications thereof to be incredibly awkward, which honestly would speak for itself in many ways.
 
This is a solid primer for anyone interested in how anime has trended over the years, and provides insight to things like Miyazaki's infamous railing against the industry. It also adds colour to things like Mobile Suit Gundam and its themes; to say it has an anti war message isn't entirely wrong but also doesn't get the entire point, especially when you consider the endings to parts of the series like Char's Counterattack and the various elements of Victory Gundam. That's just one frame of analysis.

Very well done.
 
Broken Base said:
Very well. I honestly have quite a few things to say about this topic, so I'll make a thread in N&P, where it would surely be more appropriate. If you don't wish to partake in the discussion there, then I guess we can just accept that you find merely defining what you believe in and discussing the implications thereof to be incredibly awkward, which honestly would speak for itself in many ways.
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As far as I'm aware, he copped a forum ban years ago that's still active.
 
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