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Gay people are people! And, uh, people are sometimes fucking fascists. (thelemmy.club)
submitted 5 months ago by [M] to c/historymemes@piefed.social
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[–] 15 points 5 months ago* (3 children)

TIL Mishima was gay. Such a shame about him. I really loved his writing until I discovered the whole, well, everything about him.

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  • [–] [S] 16 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    I've been meaning to read him. From his biography, he really seems like the kind of lost person who would get sucked into far-right bullshit today. Which is saddening.

    It reminds me of an article during early WW2 period speculating on what 'kind' of person would become a fascist, and going around a (theoretical?) party examining different figures and why they might or might not go fascist. I remember disagreeing strongly with several of the examples, but one always stuck with me as striking and true: "He is the product of a democracy hypocritically preaching social equality and practicing a carelessly brutal snobbery. He is a sensitive, gifted man who has been humiliated into nihilism."

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    That sounds like a very fair way of looking at him. He was clearly a troubled person and he was a beautiful writer. You can't write the way he did without sensitivity and thoughtfulness. I should go back and reread something of his. It's been ages.

    His mentor is one of my all-time favorite writers (and was not fascist!): Kawabata Yasunari. Truly the most beautiful writing that I have read, so much so that it led me to learn Japanese (reasonably well) and spend time living in the country.

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