If you think you like democracy, freedom, and equality, listen up. This chapter is for you.
1. Freedom (自由) was used in Japan to mean “selfishness, egotism” until the American occupation, where the nuance changed to “human rights.” But it still only relates to the “promotion of selfishness” (身勝手の助長). “Thanks to this spectre called ‘freedom,’ Japan’s old morals and traditional forms cultivated by the Japanese for many years have been damaged.”
Fujiwara argues, humans do not have any freedom to begin with: there are legal, moral, ethical, and organizational limits on behavior. The only important freedom is the freedom to criticize power. All other freedoms can be curtailed. “I don’t have the freedom to take a whizz on the side of the road.” Freedom is nothing more than “fiction” created by the West. The ultimate freedom is the natural rights of Hobbes. Locke’s idea of “freedom as long as you do not infringe on other people’s freedom or rights” would excuse enjo kosai (schoolgirl prostitution). (He ends that section with this thought and no further explanation.)
2. On Calvin’s Predestination, “We (Japanese) could never understand the idea that people who are already saved — even the most heinous and inhuman people — will be saved. Because the Buddhist idea that those who do good and pray to the Buddha will be saved is a much easier-to-understand cause-and-effect rule.” Then Fujiwara goes into a discussion of Weber’s idea of Calvinism impacting capitalism.
3. Upon hearing the “Declaration of Independence,” Fujiwara can only think, “Thomas Jefferson — the 32 year-old Virginia State representative — probably would think that, right?” Also get this: Jefferson, for all his talk about freedom and equality, had slaves. Recently they did a DNA test and found that he fathered a child with one of his slaves — proven by leading science journals.
4. “Locke’s freedom and equality are nothing more than Puritan ideas that deny Divine Right, and to me, it is mostly arbitrary. There is nothing that can be called a logical base. That’s why Jefferson has to invoke God. Freedom and equality are concepts that cannot be explained properly without God.” Also, “‘Human dignity,’ ‘humanism,’ and ‘human rights’ are words that sound sweet to the ear, but if you go back to the source, they are nothing more than Calvinist beliefs.”
5. “Is democracy that great?” The big premise to “the sovereignty of the people” is that “the populace can make mature decisions.” If this was true, democracy would be the best. But in WWI, all the nations got hot and bothered and went to war. Same with WWII — democracy gave birth to Hitler. Rather than going off and doing things by himself, Hitler was able to successfully agitate the public, and used his support to pursue his plans.
Japan was also a democracy — only seven years after the UK. WWII was “actually a war of democratic countries vs. democratic countries.”
6. The press have the most power in a democracy, because they determine public opinion.
7. Right now, there is a worldwide epidimic of political correctness. “That’s why we had judicial decisions where OJ Simpson and Michael Jackson are innocent and everybody cocks their head.” PC’s punishment of the strong is also the reason why the Tokyo courts ruled in favor of the engineer who invented the blue LED when he sued Nichia for inadequate compensation.
8. But the people will never be mature… “The people — all around the world — will always be immature.” and therefore the central supposition of democracy will never be fulfilled.
9. “We need a true elite.” Democracy will just lead to war, so in order to stop that we need an elite. “These people will control/restrain the democracy that is fundamentally filled with danger of wrecklessness.” There are two conditions for this elite: They must be trained in literature, philosophy, history, arts, and science. Second is they will happily throw away their lives to serve the state and the people. This kind of elite does not currently exist in Japan, but they used to.
The bureaucrats are not the true elite. The current Todai-trained bureaucrats are “(standard) deviation elites” (a reference to entrance testing), and their skills do not benefit the nation.
France and England are developing a true elite. Many of whom serve in the UK government, which is why you never see corruption or bribes. “They do not do anything to deceive the country.” A third of Americans in WWII wanted to enslave the Japanese, but the government elites rightfully ignored this.
10. Equality is fiction. But the media will never tell you this. “I was never popular with girls in elementary school.” I was good at study, but bad at art and soccer and would lose to my wife in a fight. Therefore, “There is no equality in people’s talents.”
A terrible murderer’s life is not worth the same as a baby. Is a consumption tax on everyone or a progressive tax more “equal”?
11. “Equality” (平等) used to mean “flat, even, level” (平坦). Buddha’s compassion was equal to all living things — there was nothing conflict-related about the word. In Japan, difference does not correspond to an axis for conflict, but compassion (惻隠) — consideration for the weaker, the defeated, and the picked on. That’s the bushido way. If you have enough compassion, difference between people will go away and you will not need the fiction of equality.
In the “equal” America, CEO’s make 300 times the salary of the average worker. Black baseballer Barry Bonds got four dead balls twelve times when he tried to beat white man Mark McGwire’s record.
12. Freedom and equality cannot coexist. “God does not commit the crime of contradiction. Saying that God gave us freedom and equality is a big red lie.” Equality and freedom clash, different people’s freedoms clash. If you set equal conditions for competition, the strong devour the meek, income disparity occurs, and you have inequality. People argue about the equality of result and the equality of opportunity, but it’s a big joke. Proof being that Tokyo University students have the most wealthy parents.
The world is drunk on democracy, freedom, and equality. And I believe this is a cause of the troubles facing the current world.
1. Free discussion!