Cancel Culture in Japan?

[HighlyVolatile]

I'm not really good at asking Qs on here. Some people think I get too pissed off as a Japanese by "cancel culture" saying it doesn't affect me here, but I think they underestimate Western influence here in Japan.

So I wanted to share this story:
https://kotaku.com/tekken-esports-pro-gamer-japan-osaka-stream-red-bull-al-1848553238

>> In a February 15 stream, Tanukana said, “Men who are under 170 cm (5 ft 6.9 in) don’t have human rights.” She added they should look into getting bone-lengthening surgery. (According to Healthline, the average height for men in Japan is 170.8 cm or 5 ft 7.2 in.) As of writing, Kotaku wasn’t able to confirm the content of the entire stream. However, in this clip, Tanukana also said people with A-cup sized breasts also didn’t have human rights.

This is Japanese humor! I don't think most people understand. Japanese don't take offense to these things. It's funny for us, especially in a live stream context where people are rapidly firing responses. Japanese culture is rooted in Buddhism and Shinto which seek minimal offense to external events. Anyone who can understand the slightest bit of nuance and body language knows Tanukana was just joking.

So she is getting canceled as I see it because she offended the smallest minority of people who can't take a joke. And maybe it is a bad joke. Let's lose the entire point of everything by trying to debate what makes a good or bad joke, and who should be entitled to even attempt to try to make a joke which might be bad to some ears.

Or maybe we're turning into a culture of babies. How about that for an alternative idea? Or did I offend too many people with that thought? Maybe I should be canceled too?

Updates

+1 y

The Japanese way is not to deny the truth. We have a chubby friend and we call him/her chubby and they laugh and don't mind. We have a short friend and we call them short and same. We have a dumb friend and we call them (with affection) stupid and it's the same. Our culture way isn't about holding back this way. The idea is that the people get used to what they are so that they aren't ashamed of it. And if we joke extremely like in the above, it's a joke.

Updates

+1 y

We don't have fat-positivity, short-positivity, dumb-positivity, illiterate-positivity, jobless-positivity, high school dropout-positivity, whatever other positivity that exists in the West. We accept things the way they are. Positivity doesn't come from denial here. Anyway, sorry for venting but I have a big problem with this. If there is a better way don't cancel us, teach us. Maybe we are too thick-skinned and forgot what it is like to be offended over little things.

[Lliam]

I love this MyTake, HighlyVolatile. It's very clear and well written. I agree with your point. It's also interesting to hear Japanese attitudes on the subject.

It's one thing for individuals to get offended by this or that. There's always going to be some self-righteous, small-minded, thin-skinned, pearl-clutching, humorless, virtue signaler somewhere. And those kind of people tend to be very loud. But society has no obligation to agree with them.

"Woke", PC attitudes have become much more militant and divisive over the past decades. It's when those attitudes become institutionalized that things get dangerous. People can lose their jobs, have their careers and reputations destroyed, and even be physically threatened.

It's one thing to be deliberately malicious and hurtful. But humor can actually be beneficial by shining a light on racism, bigotry, sexism, and any number of things that are either taken for granted by society or are too sensitive to discuss.

Some of the best comedy is shocking. Think of Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and George Carlin. The movie Blazing Saddles, and the over the top misogyny of Andrew Dice Clay are examples of saying things that are so shockingly wrong that you choke on your drink. But, instead of being endorsements of bad attitudes and behavior, they satirize those things and show people how ignorant and wrong they are.

So which is more effective, satire or militancy.

On a social level, it's healthy to be able to razz friends and acquaintances as long as it's good natured. I like the examples you gave. It lets people know that they are accepted for who they are. It helps us to not take ourselves too serious when we can laugh at ourselves.

[Lliam]

Thank you for the MHO, sir. :-)

[HighlyVolatile]

Cheers! I tried to post a follow-up here since I couldn't fit it:
Thoughts on Cancel Culture ↗

[DonkeyDan]

I definitely agree, cancel culture is so prominent in those with no sense of humour and the lack of understanding of humour. Humour is one of the traits that sets us apart from other species, sadly I feel the human race is gradually losing its ability to accept humour.
Also your point on the everything positivity movements, they are just a a way of ignoring reality and smoothing over negativity, it's exceptionally unhealthy and just adds to peoples growing denial of reality and how life actually is.
If people can't accept reality and humour together, then they are going to spend a life if of being offended and getting butthurt, what a waste of a life.

[Lliam]

🎯 Nailed it.

[DonkeyDan]

Thanks for the MHO 👍🏻

[HighlyVolatile]

High-five! I wanted to post an update but it wouldn't let me so I put a whole take as a follow-up here:
Thoughts on Cancel Culture ↗

[DizzyDesii]

No ones cancelled for long. On social media yes but in general they still have many supporters. I still like bill cosby shows and rkelly songs despite what others think

[HighlyVolatile]

@DizzyDesii I think with those big dogs, they will be fine in some form as far as just being able to live. Even if they can never work again in their field, they've accumulated so much in their field that they can probably retire and live a life of luxury. It's mostly the small-timers I'm concerned about most.
https://youtu.be/7CJVB3uoez4

[MCheetah]

As a short man myself (although not 5'7"/170 cm), I can see how that would piss off some of us. But in the West, when women say that, they 100% mean it with every word. In Japan, as you say it, this is humor and just a joke.

Regardless whether she had manlet hate (let's be honest; most women are disgusted/turned off by men who are short) or not, she definitely shouldn't have been "Canceled" for it. However, I find the story to be weird. Cancel Culture almost never affects women (unless they're conservative) and the mainstream media never gives a sh*t about defending men, much less men who are considered conventionally unattractive like short men are. The whole deal seems strange.

In case you didn't know, almost ALL attempts of Cancel Culture are campaigned by the rich and powerful in secret, to get rid of people they don't like. (Do you really think anyone gives a sh*t what a bunch of r*tards on Twitter thinks?) Cancel Culture, among the general public, isn't real. It's all orchestrated by those at the top, and maybe only like 5-10% of the Twitter trash are genuinely upset by it. The powerful figures just manipulate the media in this way.

In other words, this whole ordeal seems orchestrated as f*ck because women (especially attractive and young women) aren't usually targets of Cancel Culture. And mainstream society doesn't give a f*ck about offending men who aren't gay or trans. And mainstream society ALSO doesn't give a f*ck about sh*tting on us short men. Meaning, she very LIKELY shouldn't have gotten Canceled over this.

The whole thing seems fake, like someone trying to find an excuse to fire her, and this is the most controversial bait they could come up with. Either way, she's an attractive Japanese woman. I doubt she'll really be "canceled."

[HighlyVolatile]

The problem in her case is that she's a worldwide gamer competing against some of the best with fans from across the world. I only discovered she was canceled in response to a Q just earlier about why nerdy culture like gaming culture (in the West) is so male-dominated, and I wanted to use her as a counter-example of how it's not here only to realize she got canceled.

She probably won't be thrown to the streets but as a streamer type, much of her livelihood comes from this.

[HighlyVolatile]

I tried a follow-up here: Thoughts on Cancel Culture ↗

[RolandCuthbert]

Yawn. . . dude you don't know anything about American Culture except for ranting trolls on the internet.

I wouldn't want to be Japanese, but I would be so silly as to critique a culture that I know little about. I am quite certain Japanese love their culture, just like I love mine. And while I do avoid making negative assessments of cultural groupings, I have no issues when it comes to individuals. Folks at GaG can give testimony to that. And I am like this in my everyday life.

But truthfully, I just think you are another in a long line of disingenuous trolls. Who misrepresent, pretend to be other people, etc. . . to argue your political views.

[HighlyVolatile]

I also think the same way about you so we seem to be in the same boat.

[HighlyVolatile]

... except, of course, that I suspect you are skewed towards the narcissistic end of the spectrum like an Onision or Jesse Schumliette as well as being a compulsive liar.

[HighlyVolatile]

The only time you ever challenged my thoughts are your writings about helping homeless people. But I can't tell, dealing with narcissistic types who can never admit to being wrong in any way, if that was just something you made up to feel good, actually did but to show off, or if I completely misjudged you.

[NathanDavis]

@highlyvolatile nope, you didn't misjudge... lol

quite accurate, in fact

[RolandCuthbert]

Oh no, we are not. I don't have a Japanese member in my discussion group. But I will try to reach out to an organization in a bit. I don't troll on the net son. You can join my discussion group if you want. But trolls usually aren't into proving these claims they make at GaG.

But I don't have anything to hide. You do.

[HighlyVolatile]

Apologies, we've had disagreements in the past you might have forgotten where, with every attempt I've made to build bridges, it felt like you wanted to burn them down. It was still in very poor taste on my part to counter-attack like so.

[DizzyDesii]

Im not even into cancel culture and i still dont see where any of that was funny. I find it unnecessary and offensive (and i dont even have A cup tits lmao). I mean Its better she got canceled than her ass beat. But like you said, if the way over there is to be very honest, we may as well be honest in return

[DizzyDesii]

My sense of humor does not involve picking at peoples flaws

[HighlyVolatile]

Apologies, I got so irritable over this and a bit drunk. :-D There's a bit more going on that was sort of obvious to me with my Japanese background looking into what she said that I failed to explain (I'll try to post an update).

For a start, all the allegations beyond her remarks about short people and women with small breasts appear not only to be made up but by someone outside of Japan yet spreading like a wildfire without anyone fact-checking. For example, take the allegation that she claimed LGBT are mentally ill. Beyond lacking a single source anyone can pull up, is just not the type of thing that Japanese tend to think. We don't have that sort of religious background or sociopolitical climate to be thinking or talking about homosexual and trans people in this way. That's something I constantly see people in the West talking about.

So I think the cancel mob is spreading completely false information about her but it's spreading so quickly among those so readily outraged that it seems impossible to clear her name. She's no longer just an idiot with a foul mouth but through all this gossiping, considered a racist, homophobe, and a transphobe inciting hate speech.

[HighlyVolatile]

A second aspect is a "lost in translation" sort of issue. People are translating her words in a very literal sense (to English or other languages). What she said is quite rude but her use of 人権 is gamer slang that translates more to something like "power" in English, not "human rights".

And then finally there's the context. She made these remarks because a short Uber Eats delivery man at her door didn't just stop at giving her food, but tried to ask her out on a date. So it was part of a rant where she was annoyed by this delivery man and also worried about it having had to turn down a guy who knows her address. So I think that context matters quite a lot even if she's going to be shunned by the public eye and lose her livelihood, but it seems like almost all the people doing the shunning aren't even aware of the context.

Finally, my grief has less to do with her specifically. She just seems to be one more target of this cancel culture trend among so many and growing: Jimmy Carr, Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, J. K. Rowling, Johnny Depp, Ellen Degeneres, Marylin Manson, Justin Timberlake, Sia, etc (those are just some of the big names: the small ones seem far more numerous).

[DizzyDesii]

I dated some dudes from Japan who agreed that homosexuality and trans stuff is apart of a mental illness. I agree. But im in the west so i guess thats expected. But i dont need to go around shouting to the rooftops what i think about them. I can multitask and be around them cordially and still tell them how i feel about the matter if asked. But other than that, its not much reason to talk about it. Like i feel people can make an opinion about someones flaws without joking about it and well that girl seemed to just be disrespectful

[HighlyVolatile]

I tried to post a follow-up here and also tried to clarify some points. I don't approve of her actions but maybe what I'm worried about is the lack of a path to redemption:
Thoughts on Cancel Culture ↗

[Sparks32]

In the west we have imported a lot of bad cultures that become a threat when offended. Our civilization is coming to an end here. Diversity, Multiculturalism is all a poisonous ideology and some of these westerners would throw their own mother under the bus to virtue signal to our invaders that they are siding with them. Save yourselves and Don't let your leaders sell you out by inviting low IQ races to live in Japan.

[xJayleenx]

I mean I get it Dominicans are pretty open mouthed too and I’ve heard that Asians sag things like “oh you’re gaining weight” as a way of caring for you. This generation has become to sensitive we can’t even get good movies like white chicks anymore

[HighlyVolatile]

I have to check out White Chicks. That movie looks so silly to me but maybe it'd be really fun. I tried a more methodical take to this. I wanted to post the link in an update but I can't unless I wait an entire week:
Thoughts on Cancel Culture ↗

[jshm2]

You're confused. She is getting cancelled for being a tasteless bitch. Not her silly humor.

[HighlyVolatile]

She's still pretty good at those fighting video games, no? How would Mozart or Elvis Presley fare if we judged them on their tastes outside their career?

[HighlyVolatile]

... or Klaus Kinski (horrible man). I can go into many examples. Is the quality of their work so dependent on who they are?

[HighlyVolatile]

Bill Clinton -- perhaps the first "canceled" president in our mutual lifetime. Was he such a bad president? He's the only one who managed to tighten government spending for over two decades following.

[boggboss]

As with anything people heat somthing that'd said and apply it to themself unfortunately

[boggboss]

Its this whole new crazy idea that we must all have the same collective thoughts and people should be punished for not thinking the same

[HighlyVolatile]

That collective idea upsets me a lot. I also don't see a path to learning and growing if one mistake is enough to destroy our entire career. Apologies for spamming this link but I tried a follow-up on this here: Thoughts on Cancel Culture ↗

[annabananna]

It’s not my sense of humor but she shouldn’t lose her job over it.

[HighlyVolatile]

I think that's one of the things upsetting me about it. I tried a more thorough and sober follow-up here:
Thoughts on Cancel Culture ↗