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The way this has all unfolded is very interesting. From the beginning, Ghosn has employed a team of publicists to manage his image during the arrest and trial.
by gryson 7y ago
The way this has all unfolded is very interesting.
From the beginning, Ghosn has employed a team of publicists to manage his image during the arrest and trial. Their primary focuses have been on highlighting the injustices of the legal system in Japan and on portraying an apparent conspiracy against Ghosn perpetuated by Nissan and the Japanese government. It's not hard to see how successful they've been in getting support for Ghosn.
Meanwhile, this strategy has successfully shifted focus away from the charges themselves - charges that include Ghosn secretly shifting $5 million from Nissan to companies his wife and son own in Lebanon.
One point that is interesting in hindsight is that Ghosn decried the injustice of not receiving bail in January, when prosecutors successfully argued that he was a flight risk. He received it in March with heavy restrictions.
In hindsight, the strategy of managing his image, promoting a conspiracy, and denouncing injustice, all while diverting attention away from the charges, seems built with the intended outcome of him fleeing the country. Of course, it probably wasn't planned that way, but it's certainly better to flee and rebuild your life when international public opinion is in support of you rather than against.
In any event, the likely outcome now is that we will never find out the truth behind the four charges against Ghosn.
- totalZero 7y agoConsidering that he fled, I think we can at least say that the Japanese system was correct and accurate in assessing that Ghosn was a flight risk.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y agoThat said, I always wonder why people don't abscond more often when facing charges that will see them jailed for the rest of their lives. I suppose it's more likely than not that he did at least some of the dirt he's accused of. But from his personal perspective, the choices are the life of a fugitive and the life of a prisoner (in Japan, no less, which is famous for its harsh treatment of prisoners). For me, the choice would be obvious.
- dnskxbzj 7y agoYou give our word not to flee. For some of us the dishonor for breaking our word is worse than being jailed unjustly. Besides, liberal freeing society collapses if we cannot or will not hold people to their word, replaced by totalitarianism.
- keiferski 7y agoAnd what happens when the government doesn’t stick to their word? Nothing. Asymmetrical power relationships are complicated.
- dnskxbzj 7y agoSo? My honor, like my privacy, is valuable to me without having to attach to it a material worth. My honor is refusing to live a lie and therefore denying myself. I would much rather die knowing I lived like Havel, then his infamous grocer. (In case you don’t know Havel, he’s one of the thousands of bright lights who refused to live a comfortable lie in the Eastern bloc and took down an empire. The government is more scared of honorable men, then men who would flee)
- totalZero 7y agoThe government loses power when it lies, unless it can convert its lie into the truth.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago> For some of us the dishonor for breaking our word is worse than being jailed unjustly. I would guess the set of such people is very nearly disjoint with the set of people who actually have been jailed unjustly. With perhaps the exception of idealistic dissidents who have been jailed for the cause.
- magduf 7y ago>in Japan, no less, which is famous for its harsh treatment of prisoners Worse than the USA? The only place on earth I've heard of that has good treatment for prisoners is western Europe.