LDP politician Muto Takaya
A young LDP politician called Muto Takaya found one of his tweets going rapidly viral today.
Muto tweeted that he thought people who didn’t want to go to war were selfish, a tweet that was sent as a response to the protests of anti-war student group, SEALDs (Students’ Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy). SEALDs, like many other citizen groups, are vehemently opposed to Abe Shinzo’s new security bill, which was pushed through a Diet vote a few weeks ago.
But far from Muto’s bold statement being supported by the online right wing, the comment columns of Yahoo! Japan were filled with further criticisms of Muto, with many saying that he should take the initiative and go to a war zone himself.
From Yahoo! Japan:
“Not Wanting To Go To War Is Selfish”: LDP Politician Muto Takaya’s Tweet Goes Viral
It was understood on August 3 that LDP politician Muto Takaya (Shiga 4-ku), had posted on his personal Twitter account regarding student protests against Abe’s new security bill that: “The thought of not wanting to go to war is an extremely selfish thought”. This is a statement that could be perceived as Muto wanting people to go to war voluntarily, and there has been a lot of opposition to his tweet online, as well as criticism from the opposition parties.
On July 30, Muto commented on Twitter that the claim of SEALDs, a student group who have pledged opposition to the security bill, “was self-centred, an extremely selfish thought, because they think ‘Oh, but I don’t want to go to war'”. Muto’s tweet concluded that postwar education had made selfish individualism rampant among the younger generations.
There have been plenty of criticisms to Muto’s statement online, with one commenter saying, “The answers in the Diet that ‘it didn’t necessarily mean that the Self-Defense Forces would be sent to war-zones’ were also inconsistent”, and on the same day, Edano Yukio, chief secretary of the opposing Democratic Party Japan (DPJ) criticised Muto, stating that “the LDP’s authoritarian attitude runs throughout its ranks, from its president to its most junior members”. Edano indicated that he would continue to question this attitude. On his own Facebook page, Muto said that “The fact that these days it is only Japan which continues to take the selfish attitude that it won’t get involved when every country in the world wants peace and makes efforts toward peace is an abdication of our responsibility as a nation”.
Comments from Yahoo! Japan:
asi*****:
Of course no one wants to go to war.
It’s the job of our politicians to make sure that no one has to go to war.
Have I misunderstood something here?
aob*****:
Umm, even if you criticize people as “selfish” when you yourself live in a safe place and have never been to war, I don’t suppose you’ll be particularly persuasive.
hat*****:
You go to a war zone first, Muto (´・ω・｀)
ace*****:
Isn’t it only right that we don’t want to go to war?
kin*****:
Please only make these kinds of comments when you’ve come back from the front line, without a bodyguard or anything.
zzz:
I don’t think that people who have to say that they don’t want to go to war are going to like this very much.
aki*****:
Low level stuff…
*******:
Look, people who think “I want to go war” before a war has even started are just belligerent idiots.
Most people feel, once a war has broken out, that “the other side have done us great harm”, and so they feel angry, and think what the other side have done is “unforgivable”, and that’s when people start to appear who think “I’ll participate in this war too”. Even at that stage, there would definitely be way more people who think “I don’t want to go to war”. Even during the Asia-Pacific War, that’s how it was. There wouldn’t have been that many people who went to war thinking, “I really want to go to war”.
pap*****:
I really feel like after this bill something is going to happen. And as I think that there must be something behind all these terrible, inarticulate answers being given in the Diet, all I see are question marks.
hun*****:
Muto, take the intiative and going to a war zone first. Then you’ll really make a bang.
int*****:
Yeah, take the initiative and go yourself, Muto.
We have very high hopes for you (笑).
iqz*****:
Doesn’t matter how much people try to criticize.
I do not want to go to war.
そう思わない上等:
“”The thought of not wanting to go to war is an extremely selfish thought”
↑
This short sentence is so loaded.
And it sums up completely the concept that the LDP have in mind.
leg*****:
The fact that this kind of remark has been made means that it is no mistake to call this a war bill.
haw*****:
So you want to go to war, eh, Muto? How truly splendid you are, sir.
ryo*****:
When I think that the level of Japan’s politicians has fallen this low, I just want to cry.
que*****:
Great job, Representative Muto.
Time to hand in your resignation as a Diet member.
Tebasaki:
Muto, you’re 36! You’re still young!
Why not join the Self-Defense Forces? Saying stuff like “oh the electorate” and “I want to contribute as a Diet member” is just for your own personal glory. You should first of all be selfless! Act now.
So, first off, set an example. And you might as well register your kids in the army too.
You’ll definitely do it, won’t you. Because you’re a selfless, splendid politician, sir, you are.
Ah, so splendid, so splendid.
