Governor Saito reappears on the board, but this time he is accused of violating the Public Offices Election Law.
Shibuya speech by a group of volunteers
There is no end to the buzz about the Hyogo Prefecture gubernatorial election.
Immediately after his reelection, there were daily reports alleging that Governor Motohiko Saito (47) may have commissioned a social networking strategy from a PR firm , and there were even rumors that some of his supporters may have been “cherry-picking.
One factor that has attracted attention as a cause of Saito’s victory is the presence of YouTuber Takashi Tachibana, 57, leader of the political group “Party to Protect Citizens from NHK. Tachibana ran for governor himself to support Saito and posted 100 YouTube videos. During the campaign, they were viewed approximately 15 million times. In the videos, Mr. Tachibana said,
TV and major newspapers are reporting rumors about the governor’s power harassment without any evidence. The prefectural assembly staff member who reported the power harassment hid the diary of the affair in his computer.
The newspaper claimed, “The prefectural assembly official who accused the governor of power harassment hid the diary of the affair in his computer. The video went viral, and before long, Governor Saito, who was unanimously voted down by the assembly, became a “tragic hero” who was framed by the media and the masterminds of prefectural politics.
One more thing: Governor Saito may have been supported by the former Fudosan. –On November 4, a volunteer group of the former Unification Church held a street speech in Shibuya to “protect the freedom and human rights of believers .” They said, “The media reports and bashing of Saito were lies,” and “Saito is a hero. Saito is not evil, but Saito was right. ” “The major mass media is a lie,” they claimed.
The daily newspaper Sekai Nippo, which has close ties to the former Unification Church, wrote in its November 14 edition
If Saito returns to prefectural office, it will be called a historical election in which the Internet media conveyed facts that were hidden by the old media and changed voters’ voting behavior.
He argued.
Suzuki Eight warns against mind control
Similar to mind control methods
The former Unification Church supported Mr. Saito ? says Eight Suzuki, a journalist who has covered the former Unification Church for 30 years. Eight Suzuki, a journalist who has covered the former Unification Church for 30 years, says.
“The church denies supporting him as an organization, but they mentioned Motohiko Saito as a case where an old senior believer was victimized by biased media reports during a street appeal activity.
It is apparent that they believe that “they have something in common.” Media bias is a common thread between the two, since the Unification Church claims to have been vilified by the press and to have been victimized by the press.
However, as to whether the support of the former Unification Church helped Saito to win back his seat, he shook his head, saying, “The number of votes that the former Unification Church has is not that large.
There are Diet members in the N-Kokuto Party who are heavily favored by the Unification Church, and it is certain that they are defending the cult, including Mr. Tachibana , but …… as to who was involved in posting and spreading support for Mr. Saito on SNS (whether the former Unification Church was involved), I am sure that will be verified in the future. (by Eight Suzuki).
Many have pointed out the similarities between the Hyogo gubernatorial election and the U.S. presidential election, such as the fervor of supporters and the proliferation of information of unknown authenticity.
It is well known that President-elect Donald Trump is supported by “Q Anon” and “Sanctuary,” but demagogues (politicians who incite the public by spreading false rumors) tend to cozy up to cults and “they both share the same mind control techniques,” says Eight Suzuki.
“Behind the belief in falsehoods is ‘cessation of thinking,’ just as in cults. The person believes that it is ‘the truth obtained by thinking by himself,’ etc., but in fact, it is cleverly imprinted. There are some similarities between the mind control methods used by cults and .
It is often said that “the will of the people” has been reflected, but if the will of the people includes a hoax , then democracy has been distorted. I think the role and importance of the media is increasing, including fact-checking in the process of spreading a hoax and how to detect and point out the seeds of a hoax as soon as possible.
The former Unification Church’s website had the following information about the Hyogo Prefectural Gubernatorial Election:
In relation to the Hyogo Prefectural Gubernatorial Election (announced on October 31 and open for voting on November 17), there has been false information circulating on some social networking sites that the Unification Church is supporting Mr. Motohiko Saito (former governor of Hyogo Prefecture) . However, there is absolutely no fact that our organization is supporting Mr. Saito .
A video of a member of our church mentioning the gubernatorial election in a street speech has been posted on some social networking sites . This video was posted in order to point out the problems with the mass media’s reporting stance . This video is not a statement of support for Mr. Saito, who is running for the office of governor .
As Eight Suzuki pointed out , there were some voters who claimed that they decided to vote for Mr. Saito based on “the truth obtained from their own thinking (through SNS, not the media).
People choose the lies told by people they like over the truth told by people they don’t like.”
This is a quote by Hannah Arendt, a philosopher who studied the Nazis. Perhaps it is time to rethink the meaning of these words.
Interview and text： Yuria Fukatsuki PHOTO： Kei Kato
