I think all parties might have over-mirthed and gotten a bit out of sorts.

Over-mirthing can cause the skin to be come very thin and sensitive to the most minor of perceived slights.

Darin, I hope you’ll come back, but, you know, read a little more carefully. Ken, I hope you never leave (especially since it’s your site as well), but just let the nettles and barbs go.

Shall we start a new round? It won’t be long until the news is out again.

Seriously, when you started posting here you had some good points, but your posts have become spam. We don’t ask anyone not to post here, but I hope you’ll take the hint. This is a website for discussion and people interested in discussing Japan. Lots of people are new to these issues and we want to maintain a comfortable, positive place for them to take place in the dialogue. Thanks for your understanding.

Dentsu got a no-bid contract to organize the town hall meetings (and kept the contract at a lower price after bidding was opened up). The town hall meetings had a decent turnout and people asked friendly questions, which made the the government’s education reforms seem popular. We then found out that it was a sham - that participants were paid and that Dentsu stuffed their own pockets in the process.
I had thought that story was well-known.

After Jarad and Ken had talked about people not seeming all that interested in some of the more scandalous aspects of the government, I made liit joke, by saying: “Maybe if the government hired Dentsu to heavily promote the idea of engagement in politics and being angered over being screwed by the government. . .
Better yet, Nintendo could make ‘Wii: Political Rage.’”

The reference to the town hall meetings being implied by the mention of Dentsu and the focus of the campaign being the “being screwed” part. I also immediately followed it with a call for Nintendo to make a political rage video game. Was I serious about that. You know what, I seriously proposed developing a video game as the best way of getting people angry over what’s happening.

Wait, no, I didn’t, and it’s obvious I didn’t. Just as the suggestion of a political age video game as political tool is absurd on its face, so is the “Hey, we’re screwing you” ad campaign.
The town hall meetings got attention (albeit not genuine) and Wii is getting a lot of attention.

My comments wer along the lines of oft-repeated jokes, such as “A lot more people would watch C-SPAN if Miss Universe were the Speaker of the House.” Such person is not actually calling for Miss Universe to be the Speaker of the House, nor was I ever calling for an ad campaign or a new video game.

You’re right that sarcasm can be tough to get across in a brief written comment alone, but my comment above was screaming, howling sarcasm. I have at no point backed up or suddenly decided that I wasn’t serious or anything like that.

Darin, please don’t put words in my mouth (hand?)…

I wouldn’t do that… I can just quote you:

I had a hard time not laughing; the obtuseness just seemed over the top.

obtuse:
(1) annoyingly insensitive or slow to understand : he wondered if the doctor was being deliberately obtuse. See note at stupid.

Perhaps you meant:

(2) (of an angle) more than 90° and less than 180°.
• not sharp-pointed or sharp-edged; blunt.

Yes, I’m about 125° or so wouldn’t you say

Okay, now I am just being a prick, but it’s in good fun. No hard feelings right? It didn’t bother me when you called me stupid anyways.

Garrett DeOrio (this really isn’t the best time to ask, but what would be the appropriate name to address you by? Ken addresses you by your first name, however at present you are using your last name for your name on wordpress. But just calling someone by their last name doesn’t always work well either. Which would you prefer?):

I’m not calling for any ad campaign to increase voter participation because, as you said, that has been going on for quite a while.

Maybe if the government hired Dentsu to heavily promote the idea of engagement in politics and being angered over being screwed by the government. . .

“Voter Participation” and “Engagement in Politics” are essentially the same thing right?

I made a facetious comment in reference to the town hall meeting scandal. Did I not say that before?

Yes, you did say that before, after the fact. Do a quick search for ‘town’ and you’ll notice that it doesn’t come up until you are explaining what you said.

I said that a Dentsu-backed campaign highlighting the ways in which the government was cheating people might drum up some reaction. It was sarcasm, though

So now you are calling for a campaign?

Now I see it was all sarcasm. I remember this being a problem last time. Sarcasm doesn’t convey itself through written mediums. You guys should know that better then anyone considering your backgrounds. However I can’t shake this feeling that every time someone questions something, the answer has been and will continue to be “no, I didn’t mean that” or “I was being sarcastic.”

Very well, I’ll jump on the Christmas mirth bandwagon and assume it was all just one big sarcastic joke.

I’m all for a bit of Christmas mirth and I’m going to assume that’s what this was.

The contradictions I speak of would be such as you calling for the government to run an advertising campaign through the biggest advertising firm in Japan to increase public interest in politics, when in fact they are doing just that. After I pointed that out, you replied fairly to say that you do in fact know about that advertising campaign, but you feel it’s not enough/the right one. Before the reply, for me it was a hilarious contradiction because it seemed you were calling for something that’s already taking place to happen.

It also seems to me as though you say one thing, and then when I point it out you say, “no I didn’t mean that, what I meant was.” Perhaps I’m just stupid as Ken suggests, or perhaps what you mean to say and what you actually say sometimes differ.