A fringe Japanese religion built a pro-Trump social media empire | Hacker News Reader

A fringe Japanese religion built a pro-Trump social media empire

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The popular stereotype of Japan is one of a multireligious society that has combined Buddhism and indigenous belief (Shintoism), without most of the population being particularly dogmatic. But Japan has some quirky minority religions[0] that one might only come across by being in the right subculture.

I used to dabble in Esperanto, and Japanese Esperantists are often followers of the religion Oomoto, which regards Esperanto’s creator as a saint. On one hand, I’m grateful to the opportunity to learn more about Japan. On the other hand, when you meet Japanese people through Esperanto, you have to remember you are meeting a rather non-representative fringe. (Something similar happens with Brazilian Esperantists, who are often involved in the Spiritism quasi-religion founded by Allan Kardec.)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_new_religions

Fringe and "new" religions are everywhere. I'd be surprised to find a country where they didn't exist.

Not sure what conclusions could be drawn from Japan having them too. Having them doesn't make Japan special or unique in any way.

See I thought this was gonna be about the Church of the Walls from Attack on Titan.

https://attackontitan.fandom.com/wiki/Church_of_the_Walls

Paul Skallas puts more elegantly, 1KYAE. America exports its culture without even trying. Echos of BLM and MAGA can be found in many corners of the world.

If you find it strange.. its not!

I get the BLM, people everywhere want equality. But why MAGA? What feeling/emotion drives support for that outside the US?

Rejection of BLM and SJW ideals. Desire for equality of opportunity over equality of outcome. Much of the world is much less left leaning than the united states. Not that all of the united states is left leaning overall, but a lot of very important institutions, such as universities, education, and traditional media are.

"Much of the world is much less left leaning than the united states."

And much of the world is more left-leaning than the US.

For example: Many parts of Europe and South America, China, India... all places where socialism is not a dirty word, and where they actually have viable communist/marxist parties even.

Unfortunately, being economically on the left hasn't prevented some of these places from being susceptible to the cancers of xenophobia, nationalism, and racism, adherents of which would find Trump quite appealing.

the left wing in the US is markedly different from traditional left wing politics. Traditional left politics are about class and capitalism (being fundamentally derived from Marx), the mainstream US left seems almost entirely derived from intersectional feminism and critical theory. I'm aware that the US does also have traditional left-wingers like Bernie Sanders, but most of the attention goes to the intersectional form.

Indeed. Western European leftism of recent decades has largely been the legacy of May 1968 (and its failure). What is noteworthy about the ideological debates of May 1968 is what they were not about: no interest in trans rights – even gay liberation and a new wave of feminism were only dawning at the time – and racial conflicts were not understood in the same way as they currently are in the USA. Thus not only does American leftwing politics have a distinctive set of concerns, but it is even imported into Europe as a new kind of leftwing politics different from the old. (And it is a bit surreal to see the occasional suggestion that people dedicated to the May 1968 ideals are "fascist", when that whole movement saw itself as a battle against fascism.)

Why would Japan "reject BLM," a political movement concerned with American police brutality against African Americans?

For that matter, why would a collectivist country with deep ideals of social conformity and politeness (to the point that it's baked into their language) reject "SJW" ideals? What would "SJW" even mean in Japan?

BLM as an organization (as opposed to the more nebulous BLM popular movement as a general desire to end police violence) has been vocal about trans rights, for instance. People in other countries who oppose trans rights might therefore see BLM as an ideological opponent. I can’t speak about Japan, but BLM is certainly discussed as a bearer of inimical ideas among some Europeans.

Because it's just a vehicle. It uses hyperbole to try to sell a pre-existing social and economic agenda.

> Much of the world is much less left leaning than the united states.

The US ain't "left-leaning" though. The left in the US is almost right elsewhere.

The phrase "MAGA" became a marker of Trump affiliation. That in turn made it odious to people on the other side of the polarized political spectrum (few Americans have a problem with the literal idea of improving the USA, of course, but in human language signifiers can become associated with signifieds beyond their supposed literal meaning).

Then, when some people sympathetic to Trump internationally saw that MAGA hats were 1) a marker of the "Trump tribe", and 2) annoying to their perceived ideological opponents, they too took them up. Thus things like QAnon and MAGA spread memetically to some of the protests seen in the last few years in Europe.

I would guess the anti-globalist sentiment of MAGA is shared by people throughout the world who prefer local control.

The CCP has been on a "make China great again" campaign since the 1990s which is were Trump got it from.

I would say net migration increases of unskilled and uneducated populations into developed nations is a common thread whether it affects a country directly/indirectly.

This sounds like the usual Western "Oh Japan, you're so wacky (sigh)" story.

>"Taking a page out of the playbook of the Chinese pro-Trump religious group Falun Gong..."

>"Falun Gong was, until recently, most known (and mocked) in the United States as the cult responsible for the bombastic traveling dance troupe Shen Yun, a vehicle for anti-CCP propaganda."

The article doesn't even begin to attempt understanding the subject. No empathy is extended. Instead, it starts from a predictable partisan premise and works from there. A fair look at this group probably wouldn't start this way.

extra surprising given how Falun Gong have been treated in China, including being killed en-masse and having their organs harvested (sounds like a conspiracy theory; it isn't - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_harvesting_from_Falun_Go...).

Exactly. I've always understood Falun Gong as an oppressed religious movement. Apparently the "deplorable" political parallels are more interesting to the author. Hard to take the article seriously. It reads as a political screed.

You can be a crazy cult and have your member's organs harvested at the same time.

>David Ownby similarly wrote that "the entire issue of the supposed cultic nature of Falun Gong was a red herring from the beginning, cleverly exploited by the Chinese state...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong#:~:text=the%20entir...

Agreed. No empathy in this article at all... extremely slanted and I only got halfway through it. Also, there is a pretty major cult in the US that has been forming around one Dr. Fauci as well that has plenty of weird dancing and TikTok singing. Oh, but that one is the REAL "Happy Science" that promises doomsday for those that don't put a mask on for it or follow the rituals.

>Also, there is a pretty major cult in the US that has been forming around one Dr. Fauci as well that has plenty of weird dancing and TikTok singing.

Said cult began very early: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/31/fauci-fan-t...

Soon apparel and votive candles (!): https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/20/politics/anthony-fauci-poll-f...

Don't forget DC declaring Christmas Eve "Dr. Anthony Fauci Day"! https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/dr-fauci-day-dc...

True, the cult seems modelled after Scientology. It's like if a group of Scientologists supported Trump and then the whole religion is then associated with Trump.

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