I have yet to get my hands on the new Wire, so I haven't read the interview yet & maybe I should keep my mouth shut. But what fun would that be? Assuming he's really coming from the perspective of "advocacy of uniqueness," it's not really that far from finding boob jobs or salon tans unattractive. That said, if it's true that the average height of Japanese children has changed (presumably upward), it's more likely the result of dietary changes and improved health care, as is the case here in the US. If he's really wringing his hands over Western businessmen and troops intermarrying the Japanese out of existence, that's rather pathetic. Mr Cummings is on one or both of these lists & actually knows Haino, so perhaps he can enlighten us. Maybe I'm a wuss, but I've avoided Skrewdriver records for political reasons, and I find it hard to believe that anyone finds the church-burning shenanigans of some of the Scandinavian death-metal yobs cute. At 11:28 PM 7/3/2002 +0000, Arthur Gadney wrote:
Hello.
Was anybody else quite shocked by Keiji Haino's racist remarks in the new issue of the Wire?
Here's an excerpt: "I think that there are few races in history whose height and weight, whose physical characteristics have changed as much as Japan's has over the past 30 years." and he'd like the Japanese people to "wake up" to realise this "invasion" which is going on. As an example he claims ridiciliously that the average height of Japanese children has "changed by at least 20 centimers"!!
The author Alan Cummings tries to apologise over this by saying that it's not a defense of racial purity, but has to be seen "in the context" of among other things Haino's "advocacy of uniqueness". How this is different from racism I fail to see myself.
Personally I thought it was quite harsh stuff, not to different from wellknown nazi propaganda. But I still like Haino's music, so I guess again it rases the old question where to draw the line. Would you buy CDs with neo-nazi bands, if you liked their sweet melodies?
Certainly a peculiar character, Keiji Haino is.
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Chris Selvig