If you live in Japan, you must
read this for yourself. In short, none of the news told the truth, because everybody in 'Japan Inc.' is involved in a 'circle-jerk'. If you want, read
my posts on Fukushima. Thank god for the Internet for news, even if you have to sift out the crazies.
I wanna be offended and upset but this is exactly how I expected it was all going. I worry that most didn't expect it. How much mislabeled food has been served to children across Japan from areas with questionably high readings? In years we will know and it will be more than most will wanna believe.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely an issue for concern. The other end of the spectrum, though, were the foreign media predicting the end of Japan and nuclear fallout blowing over to the States.
ReplyDeleteMy mother was concerned about me staying in Japan at the time because of what she was hearing/reading, yet I was in Kansai, fairly far away from what was going on...
I wouldn't doubt that the tv news would lie to that extent. You just don't get anybody on the viewers side anymore. I'm screwed every time I watch the news because I have to wonder what type of agenda is in play. And not many without an political science education can understand what the hell is going on.
ReplyDeleteThe circle jerks were a killer band, btw.
Yeah I don't think many people believed what they were being told.
ReplyDeleteJapanese in East Japan have shown themselves to be quite savvy on this one. From the get go, there were people criticizing the news media and government agencies for a clear lack of information. You see the protests in the media and a government that seems to fail to even realize how fucking pissed people are right now, and have been. I don't expect much to change, but to say Japan hasn't become a much more cynical nation in the wake of all this is to underestimate them entirely.
ReplyDeleteThe problems in Japan are structural more than cultural, although each bleeds into the other. Yes, too many Japanese say 'shoganai' too often; however, it is true that people with influence here march in lockstep and to change much you need to bring the whole damn thing down. Should also be noted that we 'Westerners' talk shit too much about how we'd change the world for the better, but also do fuck-all to achieve it. Conclusion: almost everyone's a piece of shit: culture just makes it come out in different flavours.
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