Comment on Cool Japan đ¸
Janx@piefed.social â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠agoDiscrimination due toâŚ? Youâre almost there!
Racism is the belief that one or more âracesâ is superior to the others, or the opposite; that one or more âracesâ is inferior.
Racial discrimination can be for many different reasons. Iâm not saying racism isnt the reason in this case, but without more context we canât know for sure.
Bud, I love Japan. You know theyâre the only axis power that still openly celebrates their WWII generals, yeah? Itâs racism, Japan is a racist country. Like, definitionally.
This is like going to Jim Crow America, seeing a âWhites Onlyâ water fountain sign and arguing that we need more context to know if itâs racist. You donât, it is.
You know theyâre the only axis power that still openly celebrates their WWII generals, yeah?
Okay so this one is ultra cultural. They still openly âcelebrateâ generals who tried to overthrow the imperial family then cursed the capital after their death to be hit by a plague, natural disasters, and famine, over a thousand years ago. With people from the imperial family dying from it. Thereâs several people like that who literally have an active cult today, to alleviate their anger. Itâs not about being happy with what they did, itâs about appeasing everyone who wielded power and caused fear even after their death, because they have a culture of vengeful ghosts and Chinese Buddhism gave them the idea that people with power in the âreal worldâ court still maintained the same power in the court of the underworld and could cause natural disasters and plagues. That said, I donât know how many of those cults are still observed by the Prime Minister.
That is too narrow a definition of racism. Merriam Webster defines it as a belief that race is determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of one race over another. Racism is also defined as actions that reflect or foster that belief. It can also be systemic oppression of people based on race.
Based on that, you could maybe argue that language is cultural and not racial, therefore this is cultural discrimination more than racial discrimination, but in a place with an incredibly low ethnic and language diversity for the size of its population thatâs just a distinction without a difference.
What this sign indicates is that they only want Japanese reading people, and in Japan thatâs going to be almost exclusively native Japanese people, so itâs not a stretch to say that they do not want non-Japanese reading and therefore non-Japanese people. A policy like that is reflective of a belief that non-Japanese people do not belong in that business, and that is racist.
I fear your curse still lingers⌠You need to watch the video!
Thatâs kind of how Iâm looking at it. Idk why people are trying to claim it so hard to being racism. What if the person passing by is Japanese American and they actually canât read Japanese? Like what do you call it then? Japan has been known to actually be racist (e.g. against Naomi Osaka) but this example, on a matter of technicality, I cannot confidently say (without bias) that this is outright racism. (even though it could be)
Legit donât get why people are downvoting. Discrimination is literally a word. WTF people. FFS
Not the same person, but ability to speak the language. A lot of the places donât care what your background is so long as you speak the language. This should not be confused with me agreeing with this policy, which I do not.
Iâm curious why speaking the language is so important as to take these kinds of measures.
SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
Language barriers
RickyRigatoni@piefed.zip â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
I thought blahaj was supposed to be better than this.
SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
:(
bold_omi@lemmy.today â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
Nope. The language is used as a shibboleth because of racism.
SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
I donât disagree with you. I just donât have the energy or care to deeply discuss the nuances of this specific topic. Everybody knows Japan is super messed up and super racist. Iâm deleting my above comment because just thinking about discussing Japanâs racism and other really messed up societal issues gives me a headache. And then all of the people here who donât understand nuance, sarcasm, or are looking for a target to be mad at, this specific subject-bundle just isnât worth it to me - bro that just ainât me right now, sorry. Iâm out. Have fun. đ¤
Poxlox@lemmy.world â¨2⊠â¨weeks⊠ago
Nice paragraph