Here we are in September, my favorite month, because it’s the month when most people in Spain have to go back to work, and it’s always a joy to see people bursting with happiness and eager to return to the office after a long, unbearable stretch of rest at the beach or on vacation with family. The nightmare is finally over, and it’s time to open the inbox and face the gazillion pending emails.
Goguma, You’re Cruel and a Psychopath
Okay, jokes aside, today I want to talk about something that made me furious this summer. In August, the story went viral about a Spaniard living in Japan who livestreamed himself on Kick harassing a young Japanese woman. I let a few days pass so I wouldn’t write this while still angry, but I still feel the same.
What Happened?
Basically, the guy followed the woman around, bothering her while streaming the whole thing live, probably emboldened by the horde of orangutans he must have as followers (sorry, I can’t call people who behave like that anything else). Then we wonder why anti-immigration parties keep winning elections. As an immigrant myself living in South Korea, I would have thrown this jerk in jail for a good while. And of course, put him on a blacklist so he could never visit the country again.
You can read the full details of what happened in this El País article.
Goguma, You Sound a Bit Worked Up
That’s because I am. I won’t name the guy (I won’t even give this clown one visit), but I’ll link an article explaining what happened. On top of that, these kinds of people go to peaceful countries to bother people who just want to live safely and quietly, as they always have, and because of these clowns, the rest of us pay the price for their reputation. What’s more, I agree that there should be little tolerance for people who go to a country and cause trouble.
It bothers me a lot when this kind of scum picks on the weak. They wouldn’t dare do the same in a less safe country, for example in Latin America or a Muslim country, because they might get a couple of punches, and rightly so. Nobody deserves to be attacked, mind you, but it bothers me that they go and mess up the safest countries in the world.
Will There Be Any Consequences?
Honestly, I don’t know, but I suspect not. At least if the woman doesn’t file a complaint, I doubt anything will happen. At first he denied the harassment, but later posted an “apology” video claiming it was dark humor for adult men and that he has worse content on his channel. Let’s take this step by step, as Jack the Ripper would say (sorry, I had to say it, haha).
First, what do you mean “dark humor for adult men”? I’m an adult man who enjoys dark humor myself sometimes, and this has nothing to do with humor. This is being a harasser, period.
Second, he says he has worse content on his channel. On top of everything, a self-admitted repeat offender. If I already disliked him, he’s managed to make me dislike him even more.
Anyway, it would be great if the internet worked its magic and located the victim to help her, or set up a crowdfunding campaign to help her get through this ordeal or pay for therapy to deal with it. That would help me restore some faith in humanity.
Interestingly, some lawyers believe that if the prosecution or the woman files a complaint, the crime could be prosecuted even though it happened in Japan. I don’t know much about law, but it’s possible; you can read the opinion of a legal expert in this article. I hope the woman files a complaint, though I doubt it.
But There’s a Precedent in South Korea
This might sound familiar: there’s another individual (I can’t call these people “YouTubers,” sorry) named Johnny Somali who caused a lot of trouble in Japan, got kicked out, and came to South Korea. Luckily, these people are idiots, and thanks to that, the story had a happy ending. He’s now in prison in South Korea, serving a sentence for several crimes, the most serious being the use of sexual deepfakes, though he’ll only be there for about 6 months. The Korean prosecution asked for 3 years in prison, but in the end you have to settle for a few months’ sentence. Even so, thank you, Korea! I still think it’s not enough; you can look up his history with a quick internet search, but I don’t want to give these characters any more popularity.
What’s really scary is that this kind of content has so many followers. Do you really enjoy watching someone harass a woman in Japan? You’d have to have a pretty sad life to enjoy watching something like that. Then there’s the issue of the platforms that broadcast this kind of content, though that’s a topic for another post.
What do you think? Do you think I’m overreacting? Does it worry you that there’s so much content like this out there?
If you’ve made it this far and enjoyed the content, you can help me keep the blog ad-free with a small donation on Buy Me a Coffee.