Ironical Absorption?

The Japanese are still wondering why the leader of modern democracy in the world has elected a man who ignored a fundamental principle of the people born equal or freedom of move beyond border. If it were a voting for popularity, Donald Trump would not have been raised for next President of the United States. One Japanese scholar on social science, Masachi Osawa, elaborated the phenomenon as “ironical absorption” on a page of Mainichi Shimbun.

Osawa resembled the movement of voting for Trump without firm support on the personality of the candidate collective crime of a cult group called Aum Shinrikyo in 1995. The members of Aum ridiculed their leader, Shoko Asahara, of his belief for Armageddon or creation of another world. However, they followed Asahara’s orders for chemical terrorism, while realizing it as fictitious conviction. That was somewhat close to the hidden supporters for Trump, believing themselves not as stupid as Trump or dismissing discriminative assertion of him.

In the interpretation of Osawa, ironical absorption is unconscious belief on a big shot, whom the followers deride in their mind. They are absorbed in someone without distinguishing joke from truth. Knowing discrimination to be politically incorrect, American people were tired of political correctness without preferable achievements. Eccentric speech of eccentric person should be working as a kind of catalysis for them.

Osawa sees frustration of the people with current economic system based on capitalism. “Inequality in capitalism is the most severe in all kinds of inequalities. For the people who lost job, whose income stays low, who are not needed or who are exploited, Trump looks like someone who can change the worst situation and does something abnormal,” argues Osawa.

Osawa does not expect any positive achievement in Trump’s policy like restriction of Islamic immigrant or denial of free trade. But, the choice of Trump is a road U.S. had to go through in the long run. Osawa predicts that U.S. will get back to the leftist side and a leader like Bernie Sanders will appear again. That movement can affect Japan, which is heavily depending on U.S. version of capitalism.

So, discussion over post-capitalism is inevitable in terms of ironical absorption. Osawa requires active discussion on how to build society after Trump phenomenon. As long as frustration with social gap remains among the people, demand for change will not be eliminated. This might be the beginning of a revolution.