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I know I’m rather late in saying what I’m saying now, but I feel I have to say it. I If you don’t enjoy it, please stay tuned for our AX coverage.
The Excerpt is below:
Up next, “The View from the AT Field.” Brought to you by the totally honest and truthful folks at: www.believewhatyouhear.org , where everything you hear on the internet is 100% pure, unadulterated, and unedited truth. Let’s keep it real.
Today’s take: Let’s forgive the murderer, shall we? Nah, not a chance in jigoku (that means hell in Japanese).
I know I’m about a month late, but after reading many thoughts and comments from many people, I feel I just have to say something in an audio column.
For those of you who thought forgiveness was in order, well, you couldn’t be more wrong even if you had tried. Why? Because there are many people like him…inside every one of us.
Oh don’t tell me you’ve never, ever had the urge to hack someone with a knife. But obviously you didn’t do it, otherwise I very much doubt you would be listening to this audio column without nursing that sore asshole from last night courtesy of your cell mate.
You see, sometimes some people, some things, or even this world, piss us off greatly, and yeah, I’ll be the first to confess, when I get annoyed, when I get down, when I feel wronged, my first reaction usually isn’t thinking about forgiving and forgetting – it’s thinking about hacking, slashing, and killing.
Hence I always pick up my trusty PS2 controller – I’m rather poor at the moment thanks to these Taiwanese assholes and I can’t put a PS3 in my budget – and I play Dynasty/ Samurai Warrior. Maybe some of you prefer Halo, and others Quake, Doom, or Half-Life clones.
However, none of us prefers actually stabbing a living person with a knife, chopping him or her with an axe, or shooting a group of people with a gun…Right?
Or yeah, frankly and honestly, sometimes we want to very badly.
I confess. I’ve got 3 axes sold by Cold Steel, which is a knife/sword advertising/manufacturing company, a Han dynasty replica sword with a live edge and battle-ready capabilities, and I got some nasty looking knives that could potentially cause death, if I so wish.
But I DON’T.
Tomohiro Kato was, and probably still is, angry. He’s pissed off at his job, his society, his country and his condition. Frankly, so do a lot of us. Let’s be really honest, folks, but today’s world sucks. There are many shitty things happening everywhere to you and me. Some other shitty things indirectly affect us and we can’t do a damned thing about them. Let’s face it; a lot of times, we can’t even do anything about some things that are directly happening to us. I guess most of us aren’t even rich and a lot of us hate our governments. I suppose if you live in Dubai you don’t hate your government – these people did something right and now their citizens are rich and maybe happier than a lot of us, not that money directly makes people happy.
But we’re not killing any people. We’re here watching anime, sports, Star Trek, playing Doom, Dynasty Warriors, Metal Gear and even a pick up game of basketball/football/hockey. Some of us paint, others listen to music, still more others attempted suicide/self-deliverance.
Some of us became Hideki Anno and made a lot of money off their depression, others became literally starving artists in Japan for the sake of anime, still more others became Otaku and spend all day and all their riches on girl figures and doujinshi in Akiba.
Some were hurt in a relationship or for the lack there of, others were persecuted because of their sexual orientation/choice, still others were beaten up and bullied in schools or treated unfairly by their bosses.
But all of us does something about it, instead of killing people and become stained with blood guilt!
Kato could’ve joined us and be accepted. If you know you’re truly an Otaku, and you go to Akiba, you will feel the vibe. You know what I’m talking about. It’s something that makes me hate these people who don’t belong there with a passion, because they carry this I’m-so-fulfilled-happy-satisfied-perfect-and way-better-than-you-and-I’m-here-to-see-freaks-attitude. But the good people in Akiba? They give off the vibe of true harmony. There’s no aggression but a sense of acceptance.
If you are one of us, we understand you’re awkward, because we’re too. And language difference doesn’t matter in this case, because people at Akiba accepted me at least.
Before this becomes sickening and sappy, let me just say this. He could’ve joined us.
Instead, he picked the road to hell.
And thus he belongs there. Let Jigoku Shojo (Hell Girl) send him on his way, and leave the rest of us in our Akihabaraly peace.
That concludes today’s View from the AT Field. Thanks for listening
This segment was brought to you by the totally honest and truthful folks at: www.believewhatyouhear.org , where everything you hear on the internet is 100% pure, unadulterated, and unedited truth. Let’s keep it real.
I don’t quite agree with your point of view. In my opinion, people have different thresholds for tolerating anger. I think some people are biologically predisposed to releasing more hormones that make them angry, or are more sensitive to such hormones. While the environment does play a major role in moderating this threshold, I still think it’s necessary to take biology into consideration. Tomohiro Kato may already be predisposed to crossing the “line” that divides non-murderers and murderers, and his environment may regrettably have given it the final push.
Furthermore, it’s easy to say that Tomohiro Kato could have escaped into anime/music/sports, but what if he were already in a severe stage of depression where nothing interested him anymore (and said state does not change for months or years)? We’ve all felt like sh!t for a couple of days at a time, but imagine being in its severest state for months. Would you be able to handle that? The problem becomes aggravated with Japan’s counseling system (and the cultural stigma of getting mental help), where people who need counseling do not go to receive help. As such, we cannot pin all of the blame on the individual who committed the murder. Society shares the blame.
I, by no means, condone what he had done. Many lives were changed because of the incident, and this fact saddens me intensely. However, I wanted to at least provide a different perspective. Instead of pointing fingers at his weakness of mind or choosing the wrong road, perhaps we can try to understand his situation, and then focus on creating a supportive system that prevents others from choosing the same path. That, I think, would be more productive.
@ Asuka – I completely agree about creating a supportive system, especially in Japan. I lived there for some times and I could see that people there could really use one.
However, as for being depressed – I’ve been depressed and sometimes severely for many years and I’ve had the urge, but I’ve never acted on it. I think no matter how bad one feels, one must have or at least try controlling that anger, and even if one can’t do it, it’s much better to try different things than simply give in. I’m not saying he could’ve completely control himself, I’m merely suggesting that he should’ve tried something different if he were tired of the things that he may have tried before.
Yes, the society, especially the Japanese society, really shares the blame, particularly in this case.
Finally, thank you for sharing your thoughts. 😀 I definitely appreciate the discussion. 🙂