One of the scarier aspects was Aum Shinrikyo’s ability to recruit medical doctors and scientists from research universities into the cult’s ranks. That’s Jim Jones stuff right there.
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That can’t be Japanese – there’s no kawaii anywhere. That looks more like some basement sex dungeon/gymnastics space to me.
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I can’t help but imagine the process is like a Japanese game show that takes things just a little too far.
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I thought I remembered there being more fatalities, but they only killed 13 people. In the US, we call that “Tuesday.”
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those that are saying this is acceptable case for death penalty, it’s actually the opposite - the worse the crime you want them to live behind bars, killing them just endorses killing people and allows them to “escape”
also if you know you are going to be put to death, what’s the motivation to stop killing more people? obvious not conscious but self-preservation might kick in
but did not realize Japan was one of the only 23 countries in the world still executing people, would not have guessed that (China 1551 people? seriously? holy cr*p)
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Death penalty or no doesn’t seem to affect the murder rate. People kill other people for various reasons, and getting caught and punished isn’t usually a deterrent. That is more or less for most crime. Indeed for some of the worst crime areas, the mentality is generally “kill or be killed”. Dying later isn’t a deterrent when you are more likely to die now.
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Prior to the subway attack, they also used sarin to murder judges who were presiding in a lawsuit against them, killing many bystanders in the process. They also took advantage of the chaos following the collapse of the soviet union to buy an old Russian helicopter that they hoped to gas cities with (this was unsuccessful) and sought to create a nuclear weapon or at least a dirty bomb…
Their adherents were often very technically competent, but were social misfits, and were suckered in with very basic new-age religious practices. It’s kind of crazy how ordinary people can be motivated to perform evil by charismatic weirdos. Also they were constantly on LSD apparently.
From what I’ve heard, they were largely protected from scrutiny for so long because authorities did not want to impede what many thought was a legitimate religious group. Also, there is suspicion that the cult had members in high places or perhaps some kind of blackmail material on such people. Crazy!
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I’m worried what ordinary people might do for an uncharismatic weirdo.
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This seems like real punishment. Death row inmates in Japan are not told when they are to die. So, every time the door opens, it may be the day…
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You should be punished severely.
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Sarin’s relatively easy to make but one of the precursor chemicals is tightly controlled. Terrorists can get their hands on isopropyl alcohol, sure, but methylphosphonyl diflouride isn’t cheap or easy to come by because it has no real use outside making nerve agents.
Were I a terrorist I’d go with the simpler poison gases that are easier to make in an improvised lab, like phosgene.
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Tech-death-metal band Archspire’s 2017 album “Relentless Mutation” is rooted loosely in this cult’s story. There are other themes of the album that I’m not well-versed enough in AUM to know if they’re related or not - a parasitic tar-like substance, either from outer space or concocted by AUM, or both? It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but for tech death metal, they are at the top of the genre.
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The fact that they only managed a dozen dead under practically ideal gassing conditions(crowded enclosed space) might have something to do with it.
If you have the necessary chemistry skills and supplies explosives start to look like a more dramatic, and probably effective, option; and if you don’t small arms have lower requirements for technical expertise and seem to work at least as well, sometimes better.
Even among military users, where funds, expertise, and precursors aren’t an issue, war gasses were sort of a niche option: very good at forcing the enemy to have to endure using protective equipment, very scary; somewhat good at wounding in quantity; but consistently lagged conventional weapons and explosives for straight killing.
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You have a warped sense of humor I can appreciate.
I was thinking of the acid face melting scene in one of Lucio Fulci’s flicks.
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A cid what you dun there
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Sometimes executing cult leaders has the opposite effect that the authorities intend.
(See: the last 2000 years of Western religion)
That said:
I have to wonder what kind of editor they have on staff if they were able to get “gas a bunch of people on a subway” out of those three religions.
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Per the BBC coverage, in Japan the appeals of ALL people involved in the death penalty case must be exhausted before any ONE person in that case can be executed.
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Speaking of the aesthetic death penalty, have any of you seen Dancer in the Dark?
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Aum Shinrikyo was executed by hanging. It’s a terrible way to die. I do not support the death penalty, not even in this case. It has no value and is simply barbarism. People like this need to be separated from other people and psychologically treated as best as possible.
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If you oppose capital punishment, you’re absolutely responsible for arguing why this is not OK, otherwise you don’t oppose capital punishment, you just oppose most uses of it.
I’ll gladly say: prison seems a fine fate for such a man. Most of our great terrorists (the Unabomber, for instance) are in prison for life. Manson just died an old man in jail. I’m not interested in a bloody revenge if the price is the state’s ability to kill.
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