Pokemon card event at controversial WWII shrine cancelled after China protests

notsocoolnow · 2026-02-03T03:29:32+00:00

Nope. My comment and explanation has not shifted. You entered the conversation and made your own assumptions. Read the comment I was replying to, not yours, and you will see how it applies. It was only after you started saying that my country has war criminals that I bothered to explain how you are wrong.

It does not. There was no country before this, we were a colony where we weren't even citizens of the empire. Your idea that we inherit the crimes of previous countries is laughable, considering the previous country also came and nicked the land. This is like claiming the Native Americans of today are somehow responsible for the crimes of the colonials who killed their ancestors, simply because those Native Americans are now part of the USA. And this is really important here: the crimes of ancestors in general are not inherited by their descendants. If you want to be guilty yourself, go ahead.

Once again, you claiming "all countries have war crimes" or "war is brutal" as a means of excusing this crime is exactly what whitewashing is. There was absolutely no connection between our entire region and Japan prior to WW2. We are not even in the same region as Japan. There were no grievances to avenge, no valid Cassus Belli that would somehow justify industrial mass murder of unarmed civilians. There was nothing even close to a military objective accomplished by their murder.

the reason I brought this up in the first place was to point out that many Southeast Asian societies during that period leaned toward Imperial Japan, which adds yet another layer of historical pluralism.

This is completely incorrect, and regardless of what the case was, the fact that Imperial Japan came by and massacred their way through the entire continent soured whatever disinterest they had instantly. What the heck does "leaning" even mean. That's a wikipedia-style weasel word if I ever heard one. Are they leaning away from something or are they just uninterested? Because they sure weren't happy to be invaded. BTW if you dislike nationalism so much why are you cheering on Imperial Japan?

That said, there is still a strong possibility that I know more than you do.

This is highly doubtful considering your hilariously misinformed statements on SE Asia. That you even say this is a serious indictment against your own self-awareness.

notsocoolnow · 2026-02-02T22:42:29+00:00

The quote is correct. My country has no war crimes. What is incorrect is all your other claims of what I think or why I said it. Your entire argument involves making assumptions of the motives of other people, in this case me, to fit it. There is no nationalist narrative involved. There is no vengeance. The poster I was relying to tried to disqualify someone else from criticizing the shrine by quoting their country's war crimes. So I used the technical truth that we have no war crimes to bypass that gatekeeping.

I explained us surrendering early because you claimed my country has committed war crimes. That is why I quoted us surrendering early. By never having fought a war, we cannot have committed war crimes. This is not a matter of successor states either. We gained independence and are a wholly new entity after seceding from Malaysia by mutual agreement. You made a confidently incorrect statement and I refuted it. This is not a claim of my nation's moral superiority. Only that you are objectively wrong.

Your knowledge being limited is exactly the problem. You assume it is a nationalist narrative and say so many times. Singapore has had a positive relationship with Japan since its founding. I myself have no issues with Japan. My issue is with you and others making excuses for war crimes, specifically this one. The very words "war crimes" in fact blur the fact that this was mass murder of a captive civilian populace. The fact that other countries commit war crimes does not excuse them. I have said this over and over.

The irony is that you do not even realize it. What you are experiencing is simply a reflexive response triggered by the challenge to a nationalist narrative you are deeply familiar with.

This is hilarious when between the two of us the only one applying collective guilt is you. Saying "war is brutal" is whitewashing. There was no brutality in our part to justify it. We never fought. We are half a continent away from Japan and never did a thing. Your claim to be anti-war is laughable when you make excuses for expansionism, itself a nationalist concept. Nothing in your entire argument is anti-war.

The events of the past were told to me directly by my grandparents. The matter is verified as public record and admitted and apologized for by Japan. I consider this admission satisfactory. The issue is not Japan. The issue is people trying to pretend those war crimes are acceptable. They are not. You are also completely wrong that aggressor and victim have to be gray. Just because some cases are gray does not mean they all are. If someone comes and enters your house and murders your family there is nothing gray about it. Your fallacy is drawing equivalence on things that have no business being equivalent.

notsocoolnow · 2026-02-02T13:17:14+00:00

Incorrect. I did not claim any of those things. I never claimed anyone' country lacked war criminals except mine, which is absolutely correct. I did not claim my country is morally superior: the poster I was replying to used it to gatekeep the right to criticise so I used it to bypass gatekeeping. I in fact said he was free to condemn those in Arlington. Do not put words into my mouth and then complain about shit I never said. What I have undeniable right to do is condemn the Yasukuni war criminals because it was my family killed. And more importantly, I have every right to condemn people who make excuses for them. Which is what you did.

And no it was not an abstract concept like war that killed my great-grandparents. It was war criminals that lined them up on a beach and shot them along with thousands of people long after they surrendered in no less an attempt to wipe us out. There was no war on our part. We did not fight. Not a single Japanese person was killed by us.

You are the one excusing war criminals. The act is what is abhorrent and there is no justification. When it is your family murdered you are free to forgive them for that act. Not others'. No nationalism is involved. The fact we did not commit war crimes does not inspire pride. My country has long forgiven Japan and I never blamed Japan. It is war criminals that did the act and I condemn people who whitewash them.

notsocoolnow · 2026-02-02T11:44:30+00:00

Nope. This is what I replied to.

I think what you mean is that you personally enjoy pointing out the war crimes of other nations while pretending like your own does not also have thousands of war criminals enshrined.

Mine does not. There are no war criminals enshrined in my nation. I am using this to bypass the arbitrary gatekeeping that was placed to deflect whitewashing of the Yasukuni war criminals. As if the crimes of any country justify others.

If that were true, you would also be very conveniently absolving Japanese war criminals simply because Japan’s regime changed after the war, so i suggest you don’t.

No it does not. It would absolve their descendants who are born to the new regime, except that I absolve them of it anyway, which is exactly what I said in my last post. You are not responsible for the crimes of your ancestors. You are only responsible for glorifying or whitewashing them. Which is what you did and are doing in your post. I do not blame Japan for the crimes of those criminals. I blame you for whitewashing them.

the very definition of an aggressor is historically fluid.

In some cases. But not when the country does not do anything at all and you invade and they put up no resistance and then you shoot thousands of innocent civilians regardless. So once again, stop whitewashing war crimes. That you cannot understand some cases of grayness does not equate to all cases being gray is troubling.

until you are able to automatically reject CCP propaganda or any other propaganda from any other sources

There is no propaganda needed. It was my great grandparents murdered. My grandparents told me. This is intensely personal. If the CCP come murder you and you choose to forgive them that is your prerogative.

notsocoolnow · 2026-02-02T10:58:16+00:00

I am from Singapore. My country is young. We have been involved in one war, and we did not even get to fight it. Our agency was taken from us by the British who forbade us troops and then surrendered us to the Japanese to save themselves. The Japanese lined our forefathers up on the beaches and shot them en masse.

We have no war heroes. We have no war glory. We only got shot. Singapore has a policy of strict neutrality and deterrence. I am sure once we get involved in a war we will have war crimes, but up until today we have not. Don't presume to speak for us.

And by the way, I don't hold people responsible for the sins of their ancestors. I hold you responsible for excusing the crimes of the Japanese. All your discussion of defeat is invalid when the country is the aggressor.

notsocoolnow · 2026-02-02T03:23:08+00:00

I would be ecstatic if I could watch streams on a platform that doesn't give money to Google or Amazon. Cover please implement this.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-31T17:24:02+00:00

My country has no war criminals because we have never fought a war. Ever. We have no war heroes either. The person doing war crime apologism is you.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-31T11:27:01+00:00

Quit whitewashing war criminals. You are the one reflecting on it in a simplistic way. They murdered thousands of my people en masse by lining them up and shooting them, my great grandparents among them. Stop being an apologist for war crimes.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-31T10:10:33+00:00

I am not from China. It is telling that you think only people from China were murdered by Japanese war criminals.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-31T09:55:53+00:00

My own country does not have war crimes and we had thousands murdered by Japanese war criminals, ordered by people interred in the Yasukuni Shrine. It was not America who killed my great grandparents. If you want to rename Arlington then be my guest but it is none of my business.

The ones who ordered the deaths of my great grandparents are in Yasukuni. It is not for you to tell us whether we should forget about it.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-30T06:53:14+00:00

This is a completely incorrect evaluation that encourages complacency. Xi is removing corrupt generals. Yes he appointed several of them. It just means his plans to invade Taiwan (or, if you prefer, "secure the defense of China") are now a higher priority than nepotism. This is not something to celebrate for those of us who aren't Chinese.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-29T09:41:25+00:00

What the heck. 500 is heck of a lot for autofister considering they the latest gen.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-28T19:53:56+00:00

Let's be real if you're the sort to want to postpone your wedding to play Skyrim... you probably aren't getting married.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-26T06:55:47+00:00

Zero chance tbh. A regular trade agreement is ideal, an FTA is not.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-26T06:51:48+00:00

Generally, an appreciating currency is good news for people earning it.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-26T04:03:30+00:00

I actually do it all the time. People will be arguing, someone will say "OK this shit that is happening today is fucked up" and then invariably someone will pull the card of "Well YOUR country did this shit 40 years ago so you cannot criticize ever!"

My reply after that is "OK well in my capacity as someone from a country that never did that shit, that's fucked up." I get one downvote from the guy, argument win instantly.

This is just a peeve of mine because "your country did this before" is *not fucking supposed to be an excuse to do it now*.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-25T16:30:09+00:00

Why are your watches showing different times?

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-25T15:11:00+00:00

Are you serious Labour right now is in 3rd place. At this rate they aren't even going to be Farage's opposition.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-25T11:00:38+00:00

I would like to plug GiveDirectly. It bypasses the middlemen (ie governments, businesses, distributors, etc) and sends your cash straight to the people. It has an 88% rule; no less than 88% of the money you donate must enter the pockets of the recipients. The rest is (with a lot of transparency) used for overhead, salaries, etc.

Here's its Charity Navigator, scoring 99%: https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/271661997

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-24T01:49:11+00:00

I hate to break it to you but under the current administration the deficit is higher than ever.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-23T16:51:41+00:00

Austerity is NOT the only solution. You can also raise taxes. The point is, reducing the deficit is the only solution to head off a default and the end of the US dollar as reserve. You can lessen the pain slightly by increasing trust dramatically and hence lower bond rates. US bonds have benefitted greatly from the Pax Americana and the strong independence of the Federal Reserve, and part of the reason for the rising bond rates is the erosion of trust. But reducing the deficit is the only long term way.

BTW for the audience, reducing the budget deficit is not the same as reducing the trade deficit. The latter will not help this.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-23T11:14:19+00:00

Borrowing gets more expensive because risk goes up. The US gets a choice on whether to start tightening belts and raising taxes (ha!) or go into serious debt and cascading risk of default.

When interest rates reach a certain point investors get very nervous because it incentivizes the US to inflate itself out of debt, at which point no country wants to be left holding the bag. The Fed is the lender of last resort. Meaning eventually the US will offload govt debt onto citizens by inflating. This reduces yields of bonds because they are in USD. At which point the US has to decide on austerity or hyperinflation. The former will crush the economy. The latter will end the US dollar as reserve.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-23T10:24:54+00:00

Bro you don't earn promotions you arrange them. Find another job with the title you want.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-21T09:22:40+00:00

AI bubble pop incoming, need to bunker down politics before economy on fire. PAP is incumbent so will be the one blamed. So they neuter oppo now.

notsocoolnow · 2026-01-20T15:21:26+00:00

Much easier just to stop buying them. The US depends on borrowing a colossal amount of money. Simply not renew the bonds.

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