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Originally Posted by GoNative
I doubt very much if any of you criticising Debito have ever truly read much of his writings. He is not as petty as you try and make out and although some of those posting on his site certainly are he doesn't just side with them on every little issue they raise.
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Look into the 2ch fiasco. Check into the Japanese side and the lawsuits he has been involved in, and check into the leaked court documents regarding his divorce. Sorry, but taking your young kids around and pushing them into situations to bring attention to racism does NOT sit well with me and never will.
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Like it or not, like every other country on the planet, there is a segment of Japanese society that is very racist. It's not just poor misguided gaijin who can't understand the language and culture misinterpreting things.
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I don`t recall saying that things were perfect or that there was nothing to criticize. I will say, continue to say, and say loudly that the majority of stuff that people take on in activism is A) NOT the stuff they should be taking on, and B) Taken on in the wrong way. 90% of the people who are complaining about racism, discrimination, etc in Japan have not personally experienced it or have taken offense at something that was indeed misguided. This is why there were stupid groups protesting things like people asking them about if they liked Japanese food at the event I went to that had a very valid aim (juuminhyou listing). You cannot expect to have people take you seriously when you`re taking a poor tactic to begin with, and that is flooded with petty stuff.
Not to mention I have to say I`m stunned that after years and years of activism, events, etc to bring attention to the issue of foreigners not being listed on juuminhyou - when the government finally took notice of the issue and brought out a plan to overhaul the entire juuminhyou system, getting rid of the "foreigner" registration system and putting everyone into the exact same database with the exact same records allowing foreigners to indeed be listed on the "new" juuminhyou....
Guess who is the biggest protester? Debito. Because apparently, even though foreigners should be treated the same as Japanese, we should be given special permission not to carry the same juuminhyou replacement cards as Japanese citizens because they have a chip in them. Thanks to him and the countless groups he rallied up (most of which were through his mailing list, telling everyone that the card was a way to keep track of foreigners...), I`m STILL not on the juminhyou even though it was scheduled to happen this year.
You can`t have it both ways. Either you want to be treated the same, or you want special treatment. Positive discrimination is STILL discrimination. I don`t want to be treated "the same but with bonuses" - it should be "the same" with good and bad.