Fallout!
No, not the radioactive one.
Today we’re going to have a look at the fallout the magnificent statement of El Guapo, pardon, Obummer, pardon, President Obama on gay marriage caused in Japan. Oh yes, we’re going there.
Beat Takeshi, (in)famous movie maker and, from my experience, chauvinist pig extraordinaire, came out with a statement about Obama’s statement. He has been on TBS’s current affairs show “Joho 7 Days, Newscaster” and has been quoted by Japan Zone with saying “If you support same-sex marriage, then eventually you would support a marriage to an animal.”
Of course that quickly drew the ire of the usual suspects who desperately need lessons on free speech. Ishikawa Taiga, Tokyo assembly member and Japan’s first openly gay politician came out with saying “He is a world famous film director. It is disappointing that such an influential figure made that kind of negative comment. As a movie director, he must be a person with a great sense of imagination. I wish he had been able to put himself in the position of gay and lesbian people in society.”
That’s all nice and cute.
But the biggest issue here is not whether one supports gay marriage or opposes to it. The big issue is free speech. Beat Takeshi can have his opinion on things and he has the right to voice it. Simple as that. Of course there is the pseudo-argument that free speech doesn’t give you the right to offend someone, but that is, as I said, ridiculous. Being offended always takes two. One sender, one receiver, and some people today are offended by everything.
Debito Arudo, who is pretty much to me what the red rag is to a bull, came out on the Japan Times with a similar whine where he ranted and raved about “microaggressions” and how horrible it is to be complimented on how well he speaks Japanese by Japanese people who don’t know him. Of course, he, too, took offense from things like that, just like the whiner that he is. No, I have no respect for him and his, as he claims, “big fights” against “racism”.
Free speech. Beat Takeshi’s statement may be offending to some, yes, but as I said he has the right to say it. That’s what free speech is all about and it’s really sad to see that Japan is now slowly falling into the same Newspeak fascism as Europe and the US.
I find it also funny that El Guapo’s, I mean Obama’s statement, was celebrated in Japan. It is funny because his statement is 100% irrelevant. Yes. It is absolutely unimportant and means absolutely nothing. Obama can support gay marriage all he wants, that changes nothing. He is president, he is not congress and senate and can thus not write and pass laws (even though, taking his performance as president into account, he probably believes he is.) Obama has the right to voice his opinion in favor or gay marriage, just like Beat Takeshi has the right to voice his against it.
This is free speech.
And knowing Beat Takeshi, it is very unlikely that he will row back on it. He is, as I said, a chauvinist pig. Some of the comments he made about women in the past are hardly what I would call classy. But the thing is, even then he can say it. It’s free speech.
But we live in a time where free speech has become acceptable only when it follows the mainstream or when the modern Thought Police, aka the media and “activists”, approve of the voiced opinion. The moment it strays from this it becomes “hate speech” (no matter how well voiced or backed up by facts) and people, like Geert Wilders and Susanne Winter, are actually put on trial for saying their opinion.
Fascism is back. It has shed the looks of black and brown shirts marching through the streets under lit torches. It has taken up the looks of “sensitivity”, political correctness and the retarded idea of “if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.”
Ignazio Silone, writer and Socialist, had the right idea. He said: “The new fascism won’t say ‘I am fascism.’ It will say ‘I am anti-fascism’.” (though, there is some discussion whether Silone ever said it or not, there is also discussion on Churchill stating something similar, yet there is no evidence for it, so it might just be a variation of what Huey Long, 1930’s politician from Louisiana, said “When Fascism comes to America, it will (be in the name of/come under the guise of/be called) anti-Fascism!”)
Personally, I hope he doesn’t row back. Not because I support his opinion, no, but simply because I support his right to say his opinion.
Though, here it shall be noted that a search for Kitano’s statement on the net doesn’t reveal anything other than “Outrage Beyond”, his latest movie, which is also acknowledged by Japan Zone.
PS: Gay marriage is not the issue at hand. Seriously, it’s not. El Guapo is just trying to distract everyone again. I mean, Obama is… ah, I really need to pay more attention to this, really. Anyway. It’s not an issue. You know what’s an issue? 16 trillion debt and counting. Record unemployment. No proper budget for three years. But the media and the “activists”, again, bury the real issues under something they’ve hyped up. The media continues to play Obummer’s Dog & Pony Show.
World's Only Rational Man 
Thanks for posting, edo. Beat doesn’t mince around with his words.
Obama’s “coming out” was pretty amazing. I never bought the claim that after Joltin’ Joe Biden came out for gay marriage, Obama had to. Not with the media in his pocket. So, it was really puzzling. Then we hear that one in six of his campaign bundlers is gay. Ah-ha! It’s about money, as usual.
Oh, and I don’t agree that Obama has free speech the same way a private citizen does. He is (supposedly) the head federal law enforcer. So when he comes out “personally” for gay marriage, he must immediately decry the Defense of Marriage Act and request that the Supreme Court examine it ASAP. Should it be found constitutional, a President of conscience would step down.
There’s any number of inconvienent laws he ignores, of course.
I don’t really see him as a “law enforcer” per se. I mean, there’s the SCOTUS, and the Hill. And… ok, at this point I wonder why the president is even needed. No seriously. As CiC, that can be the highest ranking military officer, supervised by a congressional team. As anything else… If congress would pass a law with a certain ratio, why need him to sign the bill. Really wonder why even need a president, though, there is no perfect solution, as usual.
The whole enlightened monarchy idea suddenly doesn’t sound so bad.
Takeshi’s comment or the (one?) reaction haven’t really obtained any traction–I didn’t know about either till Edo reported and haven’t seen or read anything about it. (My only caveat would be that Ishikawa’s comment was also just a comment, and doesn’t rise to the level of the Western speech Nazis.)
Takeshi himself has done a lot for healthy speech. With all of the discussion/debate format shows he created (which are genuinely lively and interesting) he single-handedly raised the level of Japanese tv, which, outside news, documentaries, and the occassional good drama, is crammed with stupid variety, gossip, and game show crap, as well as very softball commentary panels. (Though I don’t like Takeshi’s movies–I thought Battle Royale was hideous and stopped it about 30 minutes in.) Takeshi is probably the one person in Japan who could (and probably will) actually create an honest debate on the issue. Overall, Takeshi’s probably had more positive impact on media in Japan than anyone I can think of.
A lot could be said on this topic, but basically, I’m getting to the point where Mark Shea is on gay marriage; gay marriage isn’t about gay marriage; it’s about criminalizing disapproval. As Shea keeps paraphrasing (accurately, I think): “Tolerance is not enough. You. MUST. Approve.” The trajectory is the same as the HHS Mandate. It’s basically so many steps toward criminalizing religious conscience, and specifically Christianity. It’s perfectly clear that a few more steps down the road pastors will be outside the law for not being willing to perform same sex marriages. Here’s a sample of what’s to come. Though I’m entirely in favor of leaving gay people alone, with all the respect and dignity and compassion due to all us poor sinners on the planet, I think opposition to gay marriage is justified just on this basis: the inevitable encroachment on religious freedom, which will come very soon.
Another solution I’ve read about is to decouple (if you’ll pardon the expression) marriage from the state–dissolve the legal status of marriage. Then it would be up to each individual, couple, faith community to decide what marriage is. There is something to be said for anarchy in this case, but I haven’t thought it all the way through. But it raises the question, what makes the state competent or trustworthy to define what “marriage” is? To put it another way, I want to leave gay people alone, but I want the state to leave people of faith alone.
On a lighter note, this dramatization demonstrates that the Fall never would have happened if Eve had had a sassy gay friend:
Exactly, that’s the thing. What gives the government the power and right to decide whether two consenting adults can be married or not? It could just as easily work with marriage being really nothing but a private contract between two consenting parties (which, ultimately, it already is, just with powerful organizations weighing in all the time and adding their blablabla that is primarily based on dogma rather than experience or logic thinking.)
Media, “activists” and self-important politicians have turned this all into one huge mess. The ones getting shafted are those homosexuals, who just want to live their lives, and I would say, once again, it’s the majority of a group that gets punched in the face by the screaming minority (which always manages to present itself as the majority.)
But yes, you’re right. Ishikawa’s comment can be seen as a comment, but, at least for me, it tends to carry somewhat of the typical “Omg! Why is he so mean!” whine.
And if a pastor doesn’t want to do it, then he’s perfectly within his rights. But of course, as you said, tolerance isn’t enough. You must approve. Or else.
We can also take the approach a friend of mine took last year: “Gay rights… Pfft! It amazes me how a bunch of people are fighting to be part of a ritual that makes millions of people miserable every year, ends in divorce, and losing half your sh*t”