Poetic Sequence of Self-Responsibility Discourses: An Analysis of a Blog Article and Comments Concerning an ISIS Hostage Incident

Abstract

This paper defines the semiotic process of the term jiko-sekinin (self-responsibility) being circulated in Japanese society as self-responsibility discourse. It analyzes a blog article which criticized the Japanese hostages taken by ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) in an incident that took place from January to February of 2015. In the article and associated comments, the terms jiko-sekinin (self-responsibility) and meiwaku (nuisance) appeared prominently. In this paper, I argue that the semiotic ideology of self-responsibility discourse is generated by the participants through poetic sequences in the blog article and its comments. The analysis focuses on the series of cognitive frames involved in the criticisms of the hostage subjects: individual, socio-cultural group, and human being. I demonstrate that social position and role, as cultural norms, have influenced the historical circumstances which reproduce these self-responsibility discourses in Japan.