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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 6h

Oh, what a great coincidence! @scriptingjapan.bsky.social justice put out a relevant video!

youtu.be/TElWjeFmtl4?...

X the Ancient Japanese Art of Y: The Mobilization of Linguistic Fantasies in Self-Help Books

YouTube video by Scripting Japan

youtu.be

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 6h

Even older.

On a related note, it can be argued that “camp” as concept, albeit ambiguously defined, originated in England’s elite secondary schools like Eton. So next time you hear a Brit say something nasty about drag, remind them their upper crust invented it in high school.

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Gretchen Felker-Martin 🍉 @scumbelievable.bsky.social · 7h

I don't like him personally, but David Simon on AI is the final word on the subject.

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 6h

Was that… Ben Shapiro he was talking to?

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 7h

Stealing Amazon packages is just gatcha for losers.

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 8h

No, because it seems like you’ve done some basic research about that party. I was talking about people who say stuff like “all Japanese people think this,” not “this group that makes their stances public shares my views.” Because you have a reason to believe that share your views.

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 9h

Huh?

What does that have to do with Orientalism?

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 9h

This goes along with what I was saying earlier about Orientalism. If you treat a country and its people as a canvas onto which you can project your own fantasies… that isn’t respect, that isn’t just “liking.” That’s using a place as a medium for fantasy and that is exotification.

Zack Davisson @zackdavisson.com · 9h

So many people say they are "interested" in Japan yet they actually know little about Japan. The Anime fantasy version of Japan is no more real than Disneyland.

If you can't give me a 30-minute extemporaneous talk on what the Edo period is, your Japan knowledge is lacking.

unhinged eldritch abomination @rhymeswithk.bsky.social · 11h

Friends, #weebwednesday is upon us once again! You know the drill - quote-post with your weebiest hot takes, nothing racist, nothing intentionally inflammatory, have fun with it ♥

Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 9h

Care to elaborate?

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 18h

Or, as is becoming increasingly common, treating Asia like a canvas to project your own ideals on and insist the country is that way, a mirror of your own brain and not a real country with its own people who have their own varies opinions, is ALSO Orientalism.

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Anton Hur @antonhur.com · 19h

I was so incredibly disappointed by how racist the literary translation community was when Han Kang won the Booker in 2016 and during Korea's early entry into COVID that I was amazed that I had further capacity to be disappointed in literary translators after Oct 7 during the genocide in Gaza

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 1d

Insisting that Japan is either a utopia with no problems, or a country and culture that just happens to share all of your personal opinions and ideals is a form of Orientalism.

Japan Media Review @japan-media-review.bsky.social · 1d

Bizarre thing about “Japan-lovers” as observed by a Japan content creator

Full post on Patreon for unpaid members
www.patreon.com/posts/140679...

As a content creator who focuses on showcasing how the Japanese media criticizes problems in Japan, I have noticed a bizarre trend among a subset of my viewers. This subset of viewers simply cannot comprehend the idea that it’s possible for Japanese people to criticize Japan. They are so trapped by the “Japan vs foreigner” paradigm that they just cannot accept that criticism of Japan can stem from Japanese sources. They completely dismiss the Japanese sources I cite since they have no way of interacting with Japanese sources that are critical of Japan. In their worldview, all criticism of Japan must stem from foreigner perspectives that misrepresent Japanese culture; you cannot have a meaningful discussion with them about Japanese criticism of Japan since their mind simply cannot bend that way.

While I can just dismiss these viewers as delusional weebs, I see these viewers as representative of some deeper problems in how Japan is perceived in Western circles.

1) “Don’t judge Japan with Western standards”

Some Westerners think Japan cannot be judged by Western standards and assume that all attempts to measure Japan in Western standards are foreigners misunderstanding Japan. While I understand that Westerners want to be open-minded to other cultures and refrain from judging other cultures with Western standards, this mentality itself is a Western bias. If you watch enough Japanese media, you’d notice that the Japanese media uses Western standards to judge Japan all the time. In fact, Japan in general judges itself with Western standards all the time. You can see an example of this in my video “Japanese Women Speak Out About Their Reality”, which is about the Japanese media criticizing Japan for lagging behind in global gender equality metrics. Many viewers were outraged by this video since it uses a Western standard of gender equality to judge Japan. However, what they neglect is that this is literally Japan using a Western standard to judge itself, so it’s actually an authentic Japanese perspective.

If your interpretation of Japan is free of any Western standard, then your interpretation of Japan would just completely differ from Japan’s interpretation of Japan. Your interpretation would only make sense to other Westerners who share your Western mentality of “I must not impose Western standards on other cultures.”

2) “It’s a feature, not a bug”

Since my content discusses many problems in Japan as discussed in the Japanese media, I always get comments from Japan-lovers who try to rationalize the problems as beautiful unique features of Japanese culture. Even as real Japanese people criticize these problems as problems, Japan-lovers insist on seeing them as beautiful unique features that don’t need to be criticized. Some of these Japan-lovers would even accuse those who criticize the problems as “not understanding Japanese culture,” despite the fact that I’m literally citing Japanese sources that criticize the problems. To these Japan-lovers, any criticism of Japan necessarily stems from an imperfect understanding of Japanese culture, even if the criticism is literally made by real Japanese people. This makes you wonder, why can’t real Japanese people just love Japan as much as these Japan-lovers? Why do real Japanese people keep complaining about these beautiful unique features of Japanese culture? Maybe Japan-lovers should open classes to teach real Japanese people about how to achieve an accurate understanding of Japanese culture.

The most notorious examples of this can be found in the comment section of my video “Dark Reality of Life in Rural Japan”. The video is about Japanese people complaining about how suffocating and xenophobic rural communities in Japan can be. Despite seeing real Japanese people complaining about this problem, many Japan-lovers kindly pointed out that these are simply misunderstandings of Japanese culture; if these real Japanese people understood Japanese culture as well as these Japan-lovers, they would not have these problems in rural Japan.

Obviously, seeing real Japanese people complaining about a problem in Japan and immediately rushing to the conclusion that the criticism is due to not understanding Japanese culture doesn't make any sense. What this reflects is that many Japan-loving Westerners genuinely cannot comprehend the idea that criticism of Japan can stem from authentic Japanese perspectives and voices. They just don't know how to interpret the information my channel outputs, so they end up reacting in a way that makes no sense. This obviously reflects many deeper problems in Western representations and understanding of Japan, and I look forward to your explanations =)

P.S. My Patreon has all my writings AND many more videos than my YouTube channel! You can join fore free!
https://www.patreon.com/JapanMediaReview

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 1d

What did you think of Prey?

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 4d

This is what authoritarians do - use the powers of the state to humiliate and degrade their opponents in public so that others will not challenge them

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 4d

“The source told CBS News that [Kash Patel and Dan Bongino] asked for "large, beefy" agents to conduct an arrest of Comey "in full kit," including Kevlar vests and exterior wear emblazoned with the FBI logo.” The leadership of the FBI is now in the hands of infantile psychopaths.

The FBI is weighing an arrest and perp walk for Comey — and suspended an agent for refusing to help, sources say

The FBI is considering carrying out a "showy" arrest and perp walk of the agency's now-indicted ex-Director James Comey, sources tell CBS News.

www.cbsnews.com

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 4d

Us trying to buy a washing machine in Germany and the sales person giving a monologue into Google Translate.

Buddy Waters @buddywaters.bsky.social · 4d

Interpreting.jpg

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 4d

I need to know what this is supposed to mean.

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 7d

I wish there was someone between his age and AOC/Mamdani who could run for president in three years.

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 7d

I wish he was 20-25 years younger.

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 7d

Probably if it’s connecting neighborhoods that aren’t mostly white or the construction workers aren’t mostly white.

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Reposted by Matthias Hirsh

Milk'n Cookies @milkncookies.bsky.social · 8d

I don’t think ppl understand the whole “who cares if nobody likes it! make content for yourself” is extremely dismissive
Bc we ARE making the content for ourselves but it feels /bad/ when people don’t engage or show interest. You can care about both at the same time

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Zack Davisson @zackdavisson.com · 8d

A personal remembrance of Matt Haasch.

www.tcj.com/remembering-...

Remembering Star Fruit Books publisher Matt Haasch, 1990-2025 - The Comics Journal

Zack Davisson pays homage to the late Haasch, who died of cancer on Sept. 6.

www.tcj.com

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 8d

This is exactly it.

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Jessica Cogswell 🌸 @awildjessichu.bsky.social · 8d

I’ll repeat myself again!! I asked Ryukishi07 point-blank if Silent Hill f was meant to be a feminist game a few months back and he said yes lmao. These losers can suck it.

kate bush’s husband @airbagged.bsky.social · 8d

I'm not even gonna post who this is, but this fucking moron DID NOT play the game. He has NO idea what in the FUCK he's talking about. And he's clearly making up his "localizer friend." We need to shame these losers every single chance we get.

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Matthias Hirsh @mattievvv.bsky.social · 8d

Florida Woman is so much more pleasant to hear about than Florida Man.

Craig Pittman @craigtimes.bsky.social · 9d

#Florida woman wins Mortal Kombat tournament playing with newborn baby in arms. You know, like you do. www.dexerto.com/mortal-komba...

Florida woman wins Mortal Kombat tournament playing with newborn baby in arms - Dexerto

A mother is going viral after winning a Mortal Kombat tournament while holding her five-day-old daughter in her arms.

www.dexerto.com

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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 8d

oh it's time to post the Tetris story again. (short version: reporter goes to cover early e-sports, discovers that his wife is, unknowingly, the greatest Tetris player in the world)

archive.boston.com/news/globe/m...

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