Welcome to our brave new world, where academics openly and unapologetically argue for old folks to kill themselves because they are nothing but burdens on society.
The only solution?
Does he mean a FINAL solution?
This professor of economics at Yale would probably be fired for misgendering someone, but apparently it's okay that he's arguing for genocide.
And The New York Times, our country's most prominent paper, is elevating his voice.
In interviews and public appearances, Yusuke Narita, an assistant professor of economics at Yale, has taken on the question of how to deal with the burdens of Japan's rapidly aging society.
"I feel like the only solution is pretty clear," he said during one online news program in late 2021. "In the end, isn't it mass suicide and mass ‘seppuku' of the elderly?" Seppuku is an act of ritual disembowelment that was a code among dishonored samurai in the 19th century.
I guess old people should feel such great shame in becoming old and, presumably, burdensome, so they should probably all kill themselves.
Sure, this is a proposal today, but how long before it's a government mandate?
After all, we should just trust the experts!
At other times, he has broached the topic of euthanasia. "The possibility of making it mandatory in the future," he said in one interview, will "come up in discussion."
Dr. Narita, 37, said that his statements had been "taken out of context," and that he was mainly addressing a growing effort to push the most senior people out of leadership positions in business and politics — to make room for younger generations. Nevertheless, with his comments on euthanasia and social security, he has pushed the hottest button in Japan.
Dude, he's literally just copying from Hitler's notebook at this point.
Why is The New York Times doing a feature on this guy? This is unashamedly platforming genocide.
While he is virtually unknown even in academic circles in the United States, his extreme positions have helped him gain hundreds of thousands of followers on social media in Japan among frustrated youths who believe their economic progress has been held back by a gerontocratic society.
Appearing frequently on Japanese online shows in T-shirts, hoodies or casual jackets, and wearing signature eyeglasses with one round and one square lens, Dr. Narita leans into his Ivy League pedigree as he fosters a nerdy shock jock impression. He is among a few Japanese provocateurs who have found an eager audience by gleefully breaching social taboos. His Twitter bio: "The things you're told you're not allowed to say are usually true."
This dude is evil, and the idea that he's got a huge following in Japan is frightening.
This genocidal thought experiment is the inevitable result of godlessness and the population decline in Japan.
