Jay Aeba of the Japanese Conservative Union speaks during Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2020, at the National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Unraveling viral disinformation and explaining where it came from, the harm it's causing, and what we should do about it.
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In the 12 years since it was formed, the HRP has failed to get a single candidate elected to Japan’s parliament. But in recent years, under Aeba’s leadership, the group has gained more political legitimacy back home by aligning itself with right-wing U.S. figures like Steve Bannon and Matt Schlapp.By giving Aeba a platform, CPAC and the Republican Party is showing once again that it is willing to accept and embrace dangerous fringe movements, like QAnon and the Falun Gong-backed Epoch Times, a pro-Trump newspaper that spread disinformation and has become a firm favorite in MAGA world. “Look at things like The Family, QAnon or even Epoch Times,” Hightower said. “The GOP are willing to openly and flagrantly cooperate with groups many people would call ‘cults.’”According to the movement’s own websites, Happy Science is “Japan's biggest and the most influential religion, and it is rapidly growing on a worldwide scale.” The group claims it has 11 million followers and thousands of missionary outposts around the world, but former members have cast doubt on those figures.Happy Science was founded in October 1986 by Ryuho Okawa, a former Wall Street trader who claims to be the reincarnated form of Buddha, who himself was the reincarnated form of El Cantare, a god from Venus who created life on earth millions of years ago. Happy Science was officially recognized as a religious group in Japan in 1991, quickly gained a huge following, and made Okawa a very rich man. One estimate from 1991 put the group’s annual revenues at around $45 million.
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