Neto-Uyo or the right-wingers on social media of Japan
A shocking fact that your family member has been a Neto-Uyo
It’s been recently heard about and similar episodes were covered on the newspaper or magazine: you are shocked to know that your old parent has become a Neto-Uyo(ネトウヨ) when you visit the parent’s home after a long absence. He or she has been posting harmful messages to someone or spreading conspiracy theories, fake information, etc. on social media.
What happened to him? Why did that happen? What should you do about that?
Definition and various right-wing groups in Japan
Neto-Uyo is the short version of a Japanese word of the Internet right-wingers(インターネット右翼), which means someone who expresses right-wing opinion on the Internet platforms like Facebook, X, etc.. Neto-Uyo don’t use the term for labeling themselves. Other people use it with disapproval or just to separate them from traditional right-wingers.
There are traditional right-wing activist groups who have slightly varied ideologies or styles of activity with each other: some focus on the ethnicity, culture and religion of the Japanese people, others the political system like the Emperor reigning. Some insist that the military power of Japan should be on display more in international relations, others say that perfect independence from the US should be done by owning nuclear-weapons. Some go in the street and demonstrate their opinions. Others devotedly write for publishing, appear on TV or Internet video streaming services, give a lecture at a conference in order to spread their ideologies.
There are also several political parties whose policies are right-wing and gain a few seats in the central parliament. (I would like to say that most of them are historical revisionists or denials, admiring the Empire of Japan in 1894-1945.)
What happened and why?
Most of the Neto-Uyo are ordinary people. They have been retired and have now more free time than ever. While they were working as employees, they didn’t have any hobbies or personal networks outside of the workplace. They have had few opportunities to develop enough their own political literacy. They have had very few chances of recurrent education after graduation from their final school. They sometimes confuse real histories and stories in historical novels.
After retirement, they find themselves disconnected and isolated from society. Then they meet on social media and they feel connected to society again. They just upload information that they gained from other people without question. The information is sometimes historically and politically wrong.
The topics that make them excited are troublesome. Those are: Conspiracy theories about anti vaccine, anti anticancer agents, Covid-19 China lab leak, Trump the fighter against the Deep State, etc.. Defamation of China and Korea and hate speech to the people from those countries. Exclusive and discriminative expression against the people with different ethnicity, culture or religion but the US people are not included. They also dislike topics of women’s rights and LGBTQ’s rights.
That phenomena is caused by the fact that such right-wing or anti-liberal content on social media can get more viewers, and more easily go viral than other kinds of topics. As a result, people reach such content more than other kinds of topics. The contributors and platformers can make a profit with such content. To make more money, they may choose more extreme right-wing or anti-liberal content than ever.
Neto-Uyo’s messages that are posted on social media tend to be more aggressive due to echo chamber effect and anonymity. The more likes they get, the more they feel that they are doing the right thing. Sometimes they feel other people who have different opinions are like enemies. Such narrow-mindedness and aggression sometimes can be the last straw: they are repeatedly posting slander to a certain account. That is reported, suspended or banned by the platform.
What should you do about that?
I don’t know a specific remedy for that but there is something you can do about that. Talk to them and let them know the following:
Defamation, slander or hate speech on the Internet could be a crime.
The platformer must disclose an alleged person’s account information when a victim requests and the courts approve it.
There are internet video distributors who just want to gain profits from the huge number of impressions or views by spreading baseless content that lure viewers.
When you feel negative emotions, you should hold on before posting on social media.
Write a diary or essay about what you think and feel, and read it after an interval of time. Have communication in the real world.
You have to be critical when you encounter something new. You should go to the original text or collect its base information.
If there is something you can’t understand, leave it and be quiet about it. Just see that you shouldn’t say anything about what you don’t know.
I MYSELF have to be careful about those points as well. I would engrave it in my heart that I am not as intelligent as I expect.
References
https://gendai.media/articles/-/104407