The more I learn about the Japanese government during World War II, it is clear that Hirohito did not unilaterally control Japan, nor its military or political strategy. While he is clearly on the Privy Council, he is not a voting member. I am not defending him or his rhetoric, merely saying that is not in the same position as a Hitler or Stalin at the time. I doubt he presided over much.
What Hirohito said or didn't say was rendered irrelevant by the photograph that MacArthur insisted be taken with him standing next to Hirohito. Released to the public, it shattered the belief that Hirohito was a living god. Hirohito's appearance and his position to MacArthur's left made clear that he was subservient to MacArthur, who was taller and clearly in command. Ironically this dissipated much of the Emperor's remaining political influence, which had been crucial to the decision to surrender and thereby avoid further loss of life.
Be curious your take on John Meirsheimer's work on this. While politicians lie to their people all the time, they almost never lie to other countries leaders.
What are some examples of non-hierarchical Libertarian-ordered societies that are contemporaneous with medieval Japan?
You really get worked up over "They ruled in luxury over an impoverished population for millennia" which is, of course true, but . . . as opposed to what?
Would be great if we had at least one counterexample: a state with a comparable level of technology, population and resources that ways run in some other fashion than way all human societies had been run since the dawn of agriculture. This would be helpful -- it would provide a baseline to which we could compare and evaluate other historical entities and rate them on how well they "got it right."
Can't really condemn the Hirohito lie while in the same breath condoning the atomic lie. Japan surrendered over the Soviet's entering the Pacific front, this has been well documented and confirmed once the all the relevant players WW2 archives were finally declassified.
That said he was spot on on the sovereignty / self determination front. You forget how the West robbed Japan of it's legitimate spoils between 1890 and 1920 and then the crippling sanctions after that.
That said, odd speech to get all worked up on, curious the driver. I mean the Emancipation Proclamation was full of more lies and offenses that this speech; likewise nearly every State of the Union address in my living memory. Likewise nearly every White House, Congress, State, or Municipal press release. Hirohito's pretty low on the offense scale in 2024.
There is an interesting podcast of a conversation between Dwarkesh and Sarah Paine that suggests that indeed, had Hirohito taken a firmer stance against the war earlier, he would have been either murdered or declared “deranged” by the generals and replaced with a more pliable figurehead.
There are a lot of horrific things about imperial Japan that deserve condemnation but the focus on this speech is bizarre. Your complaint is basically that Hirohito in his broadcast failed to sound like Bryan Caplan in a blog post. Speech, especially formal public speech, serves ritual functions which require obvious lies that everyone recognizes and accepts. If you speak at a wedding, you are going to thank and praise people more than you would if you were only concerned with stating facts and opinions truthfully.
I just finished the Aidoble version of our man in Tokyo. It paints a somewhat different picture of Hirohito. A man
Trapped in a maze. A powerful
man, but a man trapped regardless of how power. Japanese state or the era was very dysfunctional. Assassinaton was the military’s favorite hobby. Cold Hirohito have stopped
There seems to be elementary mistakes around Japanese history. The emperor seized power for the first time in centuries in 1868 and between 1890 and 1937 Japan was a liberal democracy with universal male sufferage (unlike America) admittedly with weak civilian control of the army and navy.
betonit.ai is no longer a functional domain. "networks solutions" lists it as under construction. Thus, all your links to pages with that domain are broken.
I find it a bit odd that you previously said the Japanese occupation in China was superior to both the Nationalists & Communists there.
I think Hirohito's speech was excellent. Perfectly appropriate. Bryan seems to have a religious attachment to truth. This surprises me, since he's no fan of altruism or traditional religion. Truth when it comes to the subject of motivation and opinion is bullshit. All that counts here is what the Japanese people think. Thought.
The language spoken by the denizens of regimes disconnected from their host populations reliably and inevitably diverges from the language spoken and understood by the members of said populations. And I mean the LANGUAGE - vocabulary, grammar, intonation - EVERY attribute of language.
Watch for it - it's common - and an unmistakable indicator of the pernicious disconnect. Hear it from any despot near you - or far.
1. Hirohito should have hung from a noose. I get McArthur's pragmatism in rebuilding the country quickly and creating a bulwark against Communism, but I feel the trade-off leaned too much on one side (also for horrendous war crimes and criminals that got scot-free, like unit 731).
2. Blatant lying gets too little social censure. If I got my way, everybody who lies would get a fine, and we should create powerful and beneficent social incentives for people who agree to never lie (with some provisos excusing them from having to answer questions most of the time). At the very least, it should be possible to fine politicians who have been shown to willfully distort truths they could not have unknown.
The more I learn about the Japanese government during World War II, it is clear that Hirohito did not unilaterally control Japan, nor its military or political strategy. While he is clearly on the Privy Council, he is not a voting member. I am not defending him or his rhetoric, merely saying that is not in the same position as a Hitler or Stalin at the time. I doubt he presided over much.
The Japanese Prime Minister said basically the same thing, and now you can watch it in perfect English cadence, thanks to AI: https://youtu.be/VknyDke6Byw?si=h1nJv_gWVof1rzOM
Makes a huge difference in how relatable it is.
What Hirohito said or didn't say was rendered irrelevant by the photograph that MacArthur insisted be taken with him standing next to Hirohito. Released to the public, it shattered the belief that Hirohito was a living god. Hirohito's appearance and his position to MacArthur's left made clear that he was subservient to MacArthur, who was taller and clearly in command. Ironically this dissipated much of the Emperor's remaining political influence, which had been crucial to the decision to surrender and thereby avoid further loss of life.
Be curious your take on John Meirsheimer's work on this. While politicians lie to their people all the time, they almost never lie to other countries leaders.
What are some examples of non-hierarchical Libertarian-ordered societies that are contemporaneous with medieval Japan?
You really get worked up over "They ruled in luxury over an impoverished population for millennia" which is, of course true, but . . . as opposed to what?
Would be great if we had at least one counterexample: a state with a comparable level of technology, population and resources that ways run in some other fashion than way all human societies had been run since the dawn of agriculture. This would be helpful -- it would provide a baseline to which we could compare and evaluate other historical entities and rate them on how well they "got it right."
Can't really condemn the Hirohito lie while in the same breath condoning the atomic lie. Japan surrendered over the Soviet's entering the Pacific front, this has been well documented and confirmed once the all the relevant players WW2 archives were finally declassified.
That said he was spot on on the sovereignty / self determination front. You forget how the West robbed Japan of it's legitimate spoils between 1890 and 1920 and then the crippling sanctions after that.
That said, odd speech to get all worked up on, curious the driver. I mean the Emancipation Proclamation was full of more lies and offenses that this speech; likewise nearly every State of the Union address in my living memory. Likewise nearly every White House, Congress, State, or Municipal press release. Hirohito's pretty low on the offense scale in 2024.
There is an interesting podcast of a conversation between Dwarkesh and Sarah Paine that suggests that indeed, had Hirohito taken a firmer stance against the war earlier, he would have been either murdered or declared “deranged” by the generals and replaced with a more pliable figurehead.
https://youtu.be/YcVSgYz5SJ8?si=oNYry5uXy57oXZnX
Here's my very different take: the Emperor's speech was a brilliant way to cool the mark.
https://davidrhenderson.substack.com/p/was-hirohitos-surrender-speech-egregious?
There are a lot of horrific things about imperial Japan that deserve condemnation but the focus on this speech is bizarre. Your complaint is basically that Hirohito in his broadcast failed to sound like Bryan Caplan in a blog post. Speech, especially formal public speech, serves ritual functions which require obvious lies that everyone recognizes and accepts. If you speak at a wedding, you are going to thank and praise people more than you would if you were only concerned with stating facts and opinions truthfully.
I just finished the Aidoble version of our man in Tokyo. It paints a somewhat different picture of Hirohito. A man
Trapped in a maze. A powerful
man, but a man trapped regardless of how power. Japanese state or the era was very dysfunctional. Assassinaton was the military’s favorite hobby. Cold Hirohito have stopped
WW2? Perhaps.
In many ways the circumstances remind me of
Today via a vos China.
There seems to be elementary mistakes around Japanese history. The emperor seized power for the first time in centuries in 1868 and between 1890 and 1937 Japan was a liberal democracy with universal male sufferage (unlike America) admittedly with weak civilian control of the army and navy.
betonit.ai is no longer a functional domain. "networks solutions" lists it as under construction. Thus, all your links to pages with that domain are broken.
I find it a bit odd that you previously said the Japanese occupation in China was superior to both the Nationalists & Communists there.
I think Hirohito's speech was excellent. Perfectly appropriate. Bryan seems to have a religious attachment to truth. This surprises me, since he's no fan of altruism or traditional religion. Truth when it comes to the subject of motivation and opinion is bullshit. All that counts here is what the Japanese people think. Thought.
Links appear to be broken in this particular article.
The language spoken by the denizens of regimes disconnected from their host populations reliably and inevitably diverges from the language spoken and understood by the members of said populations. And I mean the LANGUAGE - vocabulary, grammar, intonation - EVERY attribute of language.
Watch for it - it's common - and an unmistakable indicator of the pernicious disconnect. Hear it from any despot near you - or far.
Two things:
1. Hirohito should have hung from a noose. I get McArthur's pragmatism in rebuilding the country quickly and creating a bulwark against Communism, but I feel the trade-off leaned too much on one side (also for horrendous war crimes and criminals that got scot-free, like unit 731).
2. Blatant lying gets too little social censure. If I got my way, everybody who lies would get a fine, and we should create powerful and beneficent social incentives for people who agree to never lie (with some provisos excusing them from having to answer questions most of the time). At the very least, it should be possible to fine politicians who have been shown to willfully distort truths they could not have unknown.