has there ever been a more successful political assassination than tetsuya yamagami gunning down shinzo abe?

As someone subjected to Mormon brainwashing at home, and Catholic lies and shit at school, yeah its all abuse.

It's fucking wild that this isn't already the case.

'Magical thinking' is a developmental milestone that's normal for toddlers, but no other age groups. Like, a 4 year old might point his finger at you with his thumb up and yell "bang!" and then be legitimately confused that you aren't writhing on the floor dying, cuz that mofo just did his darndest to murder you! ...well, maybe bad example, I don't think many 4 year olds are attempting murder lol, magic or otherwise, but you get the gist: they have a belief that saying or thinking or doing something can influence something else that's in reality well outside of their control.

And for a 4 year old, that's normal - our brain is still cooking at that age, it'll figure shit out eventually. By age 7 or so, the kid should have a pretty solid handle on the fact that they are infact not a fucking Jedi, and it takes more than a hand gesture to lift a car. This applies to other magic bullshit like the tooth fairy or santa clause or w/e: belief in these types of characters is normal at a certain age, but eventually grasp the concept of fiction.

For some fucking reason, religious mythology is given a pass on this: you have grown-ass adults thinking the can cure someone's cancer or make their favorite sports team win or w/e if they just pray hard enough (aka, point fingers and yell 'bang!'). THAT IS AN INSANELY FUCKING CRITICAL DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY!

...but then, it's not really a 'delay' so much as it is an attack: they aren't just stuck on some milestone, they've been groomed by people they trust and conform because that's what they've been conditioned to do. It's like a kid who's been trafficked into some kind of slavery shortly after birth - they don't know they're being taken advantage of. They'll even defend their abusers because they're fed the same bullshit religious groups use to groom their own followers.

Fortunately we have laws against things like child labor and human trafficking; but if you do want to commit those kinds of crimes, all you need to do is slap a cross on it and suddenly it's A-okay.

in Japan

Agreed

The article mentions this has a lot to do with the Unification Church aka the Moonies. It's a cult. The leader claimed to be the Messiah, finances of members were taken advantage of, there were unauthorized transfers of children, you know, the usual cult stuff.

Patriotic Teen Fails Spanish

Nice (precedent).