ﾂ神窶罵ﾂ？

[leonmarino]

I'm writing about the title some posters seem to have nowadays: ﾂ神窶罵, which basically means God.

Now, am I the only who finds this title a bit weird? To me a God is an absolute power, and I think it is inappropriate for any mortal to wear on a forum. I can imagine believers of various religions might find this title offensive, but I as an atheist do not like this title either.

I would like to know:

• Is this title new?
• What is the thought behind the title?

 

[nice gaijin]

I have not noticed this before, but thank you for bringing it to my attention, leon; is this a default user title, or just a trend in users applying it to themselves through their own hubris? I'm an atheist too but I don't find it very acceptable if it's common practice or an official title.

 

[KirinMan]

My 2 Cents here, as a "regular" member, nothing else...

Now, am I the only who finds this title a bit weird? To me a God is an absolute power, and I think it is inappropriate for any mortal to wear on a forum. I can imagine believers of various religions might find this title offensive, but I as an atheist do not like this title either.

However in Japanese there many different ﾂ神窶罵. It all depends on one's definition of what a "God" is, also ﾂ神 by itself, as you propbably know also means spirit and not necessarily GodAlso it is taken to mean divinity as well.
There are many "kami" in Japan and I think the title is appropriate for a
Japanese board such as this and the people that have earned the title deserve to have that as their title if they so choose.

I'm writing about the title some posters seem to have nowadays: ﾂ神窶罵, which basically means God.

The members have passed the necessary number of posts to earn the title. Here is a link to a thread about the User Titles
Sorry and no offense to your religious choice, but I would be against anyone changing it. As you may know the user titles here are based on the Japanese nobility titles of old. I think they great.

: Heimin (commoner)

: Jinushi (landlord)

: Samurai (knight)

: Danshaku (baron)

: Shishaku (viscount)

: Hakushaku (count)

: Koushaku (duke, prince)

: Koutaishi (crown prince)

: Tennou (emperor)

: Kami-sama (divinity)

Also technically speaking these terms came from the era when the Tennou was also viewed as a "god" as well, so nicegaijin when your post count hits the next level your title will be that of a ﾂ神 as well.

Lastly and in all due respect to you both here, personally I don't think religion or one's choice to believe or not believe should be the reason a change is made or even considered.

As you know the user titles are the option of the user themselves, if they dont like the title they can write their own. It is a matter of choice isn't it?

 

[Davey]

Good post Obeika.

I have added Kami-sama a couple of days, a user title that has been here since the beginning of user titles (I think) but got lost somewhere.

 

[jeisan]

its been there since the begining of those user titles, though at the time no one had enough posts to be kami-sama except thomas. before that we had ranks based on shogi pieces.

though i think the OP is talking about custom usertitles, so unless theyre offensive i dont really see a reason to change them.

 

[KirinMan]

though i think the OP is talking about custom usertitles, so unless theyre offensive i dont really see a reason to change them.

Really, I apologize then because I assumed, which I guess I shouldn't have, that he was refering to the titles that show up automatically under each poster's handle.

Hopefully leonmarino could come back and clarify this.

 

[leonmarino]

though i think the OP is talking about custom usertitles, so unless theyre offensive i dont really see a reason to change them.

No no, I don't mean the custom ones. Obeika's post has clarified a lot for me.. But so this is normal practice I understand?

Personally I don't like the idea that the level above the 窶弖ﾂ皇 (emperor) is ﾂ神窶罵 (God). I believe the emperor's divinity is one of the things that the Japanese had to denounce when occupied by US forces, and although it was a loss of tradition on the one hand, I think it was justifiable in the eyes of secularization; I don't like anything that refers to some high power to justify itself.

Similarly, I also think there shouldn't be Gods walking around here. We're all mortals, and although I think it's "fun" to add titles and such, I think a God goes one step too far.

But maybe I'm over-reacting and nobody feels the same way. If that is the case please ignore me.

 

[KirinMan]

No no, I don't mean the custom ones. Obeika's post has clarified a lot for me.. But so this is normal practice I understand?
Personally I don't like the idea that the level above the 窶弖ﾂ皇 (emperor) is ﾂ神窶罵 (God). I believe the emperor's divinity is one of the things that the Japanese had to denounce when occupied by US forces, and although it was a loss of tradition on the one hand, I think it was justifiable in the eyes of secularization; I don't like anything that refers to some high power to justify itself.
Similarly, I also think there shouldn't be Gods walking around here. We're all mortals, and although I think it's "fun" to add titles and such, I think a God goes one step too far.
But maybe I'm over-reacting and nobody feels the same way. If that is the case please ignore me.

Thanks for coming back and clarifying your original post,.

Even though I do not agree with your thoughts about this point that you raise I do admire and respect your opinion here and your honesty for sharing your beliefs as well.

I dont think you are over reacting at all, just sharing a bit more of who you are and what you think. Thank you.

 

[JimmySeal]

I personally don't see it as much of a big deal. Maybe a little silly. In the shinto tradition (which used the term ﾂ神 before it was applied to any other religion), practically anything can be a ﾂ神窶罵. If a large boulder is determined to be a god, they place a red gate on top and have to redirect traffic around it. A tree can be a ﾂ神窶罵, and so can people. It is not just the emperor who was believed to be a ﾂ神: they just believed that he was decended from the big, main gods. I think that if you look at this from a non-Western perspective it's not such a big dea.

 

[epigene]

I quite agree with JimmySeal that "kami-sama" to the Japanese does not have the image of all-encompassing, almighty being found in monotheistic religions.
If this is offensive, I'd also like to point out, for the sake of correctness, that "samurai " title and the higher-ranking aristocratic titles did not coexist in Japanese history.

I assume that this title system was created just for fun, to rank members by the number of posts and don't care much about it. If I had any concern over this, I'd either have had it replaced by something else long ago or would have posted silly remarks all over the fora every day and gained "kami-sama" status by now.