M2-EB wrote: ↑08 Sep 2017, 23:53Trying to combat things using methods that long before were used to exhaustion and didn't work isn't the way to fight. People simply don't seem to learn… Besides, trying to delete, exclude and/or censor these kinds of people just aggravates things. In an ideal world, the best way to deal with all these problems is through education. The effective way, though, might be making people pay (with money, freedom or their own lives even).
Oh, how I wish it was that easy. Once the Internet gets a hold of it, a few noble souls are simply not enough to reverse the torrent of trolls fueling "Gas Gas Gas" and Mac Tonight's newfound infamy.
About your second paragraph… that's just too bad. People will be offended no matter what. Am I a bad person for still enjoying some songs even if they are now associated with bigots? Should I just back off and "oh, you're right, these songs are really insensitive…". Following the same logic, soon that might happen to the whole genre, what will we do then? Either way, I'm preeeeeeetty sure Big A won't give a damn lol
It's completely ridiculous, yes, but there's just so little that can be done because nowadays, eurobeat isn't a relevant enough part of Japanese or western cult culture to outgrow the negative connotations it now suffers.
I should probably point out that 15½ years ago, the We Drink Ritalin meme video, set to John Desire's "Hot Limit," did prominently feature Hitler throughout, although there was no focus on Auschwitz like "Gas Gas Gas." However, in 2002, eurobeat was still a tour de force in Japan, showing up in the Initial D anime, Dance Dance Revolution, and having the Super Eurobeat and Euromach series continuing to sell quite well. Not to mention, people in the west were generally a lot more interested in Japanese than they are today, so much more of this type of media garnered a cult following. The point is, eurobeat was far more than just Hitler techno because it enjoyed far more exposure to a wider range of people, so one video featuring Hitler was nowhere near enough to turn it into an icon of hate.
Even Mac Tonight never turned into the racist Moon Man until several years after McDonald's stopped featuring him in their commercials (but still hadn't disowned the character), so to the younger generation, he came to meant something far more disturbing than to those he originally targeted.