Someone got downvoted for saying there is a real problem in Japan with sexualization of children. I can guarantee whoever downvoted has no practical knowledge of Japanese society as anyone who lives here is aware of the seedy underbelly. This isn't to say manga or anime are a problem, 99.9% of it is your typical stuff. Even so, having 0.1% of it being child porn is an issue.
Beyond this, the society as a whole has problems with the fetishisation of youth, something even the locals (apart from the psychologists and cultural anthropologists) are typically unaware of the roots of, and something that extends through the music, tv, and other entertainment industries, into the sex industry.
The UK loves focusing on the dark side of Japan. In fact, they seem to have a deeply skewed fixation on the country that only allows them to highlight the weird and kinky (like if all Japan knew about the UK was based on what went on in its gay and red light districts). Maybe its resentment for WWII Japan upsetting their hold on the Far East. That doesn't mean Japan doesn't have issues. Downplaying or ignoring them just highlights your own lack of knowledge and undercuts any other argument you might make.
Edit: Just to note, I haven't watched the entire vid yet. I'm not sure why Channel 4 (Not the BBC) felt the need to produce it after the BBC did their own on the same subject last year. I'll check it out later though and likely find a mixture of truth and hyberbolic sensationalism. As I said above, mixing truth and bullshit undercuts your truth and its something these documentaries also typically do.
Update after watching: As expected it's utterly superficial and makes no effort to understand the wider context of Japanese society and culture. Essentially it looks at a (real) creepy industry through British eyes and thinks "Oh, this would be unacceptable in the UK" (Yes, unlike islamic child grooming) but doesn't take the next step of thinking, "Why is this acceptable in Japan?" Well, it's not acceptable but is tolerated because Japan has pretty strict laws on human rights and people are free to do most things that don't harm others. Whether the girls are harmed is debatable but typically they can make money from it and some use it as a platform for more serious pop or modelling careers. Whether the mothers are exploiting them is also an issue but many just want their kids to have a potentially 'glamorous' career. The big danger is not, however, the creepy guys. For many of them it actually isn't sexual but more an emotional need based upon severely retarded social/relationship skills. A few of them are potentially dangerous stalkers though so there is an element of concern. More serious though are the video companies who will make DVDs of child idols and, once they get older, potentially push them into soft and then hardcore porn. Not technically illegal but for sure a form of grooming that Japan has so far failed to address.
Gave the first episode a shot, I mean, a big budget tv show featuring the Lovecraft Mythos, even with the "set in the Jim Crowe era South" hook it could still be decent, as long as they aren't too heavy-handed.
Well, more fool me, of course it's as heavy handed as possible. Every reference to or appearance by white people is purely to highlight how unbelievably racist they are, while the black community is depicted as happy, close knit bunch of decent folk who simply spend their time dancing and singing in the streets.
It's just disappointing that once again the rabid politics of its creators have ruined a potentially good show. With a light touch they could have actually delivered both a commentary on the era and an intelligent, entertaining show (though I know it will still appeal to some) rather than something verging on pantomime.
"Riding a bike in his neighborhood"
From what I've read so far it was in his yard in front of his house. Are they using that phrase as a deliberate attempt to make people think of him as older?
And when double-checking the details I noticed Snopes (specifically someone called Jessice Lee) has for some fucking reason decided they have to jump in and try and defend the media for not covering the story properly. What the fuck would motivate someone to - immediately - rush to offer a counter-narrative to a story like this. I already detested Snopes but I guess I can still hate them a little more.
Great game, excellent story, graphics, gameplay. If you let little things that some might consider 'progressive' or 'diverse' bother you too much, just give up though as its hard to know what else might not be to your taste.
I hate having politics, especially anything SJWish shoe-horned into games but this is a post-apocalypse setting where they're trying to show a different type of culture and tribal system, don't expect it to make perfect sense. In many ways its the opposite of what SJWs would like as its a fairly colour-blind society, i.e. race doesn't have very much to do with people's identities (and the lead is a pale skinned red-head, one of SJWs key targets for erasure). Imagine if instead the game had originally been shown having a red haired heroine but internal pressure saw them replace her with a black character, that character had a prominent same-sex love story, and her black tribe was being persecuted by a tribe of white people tattooed with skulls and eagles - because if SJWs were designing it you know that's what you would have gotten (mind you, could still happen with the sequel).
If you look for things that 'might' be SJW-tinged you'll find them, the same way SJWs always find things that 'might' be racist, or 'might' be offensive. My advice is give game developers and tv show makers the benefit of the doubt when there's a little bit of progressive content and remember there's still a big difference between someone having left-wing views and still being a sane, decent person and them going full SJW. If its actually SJW-driven it will become so heavy-handed so quickly that you won't be thinking "Is this hyper-left trash?" the answer will be self-evident.
If Horizon doesn't suit you, try Far Cry 5. I found the revelation that the game is actually full of right-wing good guys a pleasant surprise.
Still waiting to get access to the reddit sub again.
It's important to keep it up as a resource for old users as there's a wealth of valuable links to articles on different aspects of SJW cancer. I regularly search through the sub for specific topics whenever i know I'll need to discuss one of them. Great way of finding examples highlighting the extreme nature of the problem.
Apart from this they just always come across as absolutely horrible people. I've met people with both deep homophobia and/or racism who I was still able to have pleasant conversations with about these subjects. In some cases they were open to changing their minds, in others they were resolutely close-minded. Only a few of the latter group, the minority by far, were toxic towards they people they disliked. For the others, even the majority of close-minded people their attitude was more "I don't like your kind but live and let live, you don't bother me I don't bother you." For SJWs this kind of tolerance seems impossible, they exist to find people to target and attack, not to promote either tolerance, understanding or harmony.