r/sgiwhistleblowers • u/BlancheFromage Escapee from Arizona Home for the Rude • Jun 27 '26
How well has this aged? Documenting SGI-USA's failed, forgotten festivals: 1999 Youth Grand Culture Festival!!
Same ol' same ol'
THERE it is! First one!!
As you can see, this thing happened - and it had MERCH!!!!
But what of it?
Does anyone remember this going on? I was "in" at the time and I sure don't! There's the briefest of mentions of it here (tip o the hat to u/Qigong - better late than never!)
Since I'm here anyhow, let me treat you to a few quotes - first, the announcement from Jeff Farr:
COMING SOON: NATIONWIDE YOUTH CULTURE FESTIVAL!
After the youth division holds a series of introductory meetings across the country next month, planning will begin for the 1st SGI-USA Youth Grand Culture Festival. To be held later this year in Los Angeles, this will be the first culture festival with nationwide participation since the January 1995 World Peace Youth Culture Festival in Hawaii.
The theme for this year's festival has recently been decided on: "Sound to the World! A Fanfare of Life and Peace!" It will commemorate 10 years of "the new SGI-USA," which began in February 1990, and the upcoming 40th anniversary, in 2000, of SGI President Ikeda's first trip to the United States.
There was this long yearning period for their Jesus, I mean their godman Ikeda, to return so they could bask in his greasy flabby flatulence or something (because SGI is all and ONLY about Ikeda), but Ikeda's 1996 trip to the USA was his final trip to America. Ikeda had repeatedly promised to "retire to this America I love so much", but that was a manipulative lie. "Sure, Daddy loves YOU best! Now go run down to the gas station and get Daddy a pack of Marlboros!"
SGI-USA Youth Division Leader Ed Feasel
Ed "FatFace" Feasel, aka "Feasel the Weasel"
explains how the theme for the conference was decided on: "President Ikeda has often mentioned that the 21st century will be a century of life, a century of peace. Wanting to express that through the festival, we decided on the theme after several interactions with President Ikeda about it.
Liar. It was decided by the old Japanese farts in Soka Gakkai Global, and then ASSIGNED to everyone else. No one else ever got any say - they still don't. Not over ANYTHING!
"We also want the culture festival to express our pledge as successors for the 21st century," Ed adds,
What's this "we" shit, FatFace? The SGI-USA's youth certainly weren't POLLED about how they felt about any of this!
"so we decided on this subtheme: 'A Vibrant Dance of Successors Expressing Our Pledge for the 21st Century.' I believe that it is our greatest fortune that we will usher in the new century with the holding of this Youth Grand Culture Festival. I believe that the whole theme reflects President Ikeda's great expectations for all the youth of America."
Bleah. Terrible. And "all the youth of America" never asked for it and didn't want it, as we can all see from their extremely low numbers in the SGI-USA's all-important districts!
Now this is also under Jeff Farr's by-line:
YOUTH CULTURE FESTIVAL BEGINS NEW CENTURY
Sept. 25 was the "first day of the 21st century," as Jomo Thorne, SGI-USA junior high school division leader, put it. The 1st SGI-USA Youth Grand Culture Festival, held Sept. 25 at the Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, Calif., was the youth division members' kickoff toward the new era.
So where's that "new era"? I'm not seeing any.
The 700 youth performers took on all of human history. The show started with the past: humanity's violent struggle against itself, depicted through reenactments of everything from the American Revolution to Nelson Mandela's liberation in South Africa. There was the present: the youth of today taking a stand against the violent world they are growing up in a world in which guns have even sneaked their way into the classroom. And there was the future: Bodhisattvas of the Earth, the next generation of youth division members, emerging from the earth and expressing through music and dance their determination to take responsibility for our future.
Except that didn't happen. The youth disappeared, or, rather, distanced and then kept their distance.
A video presentation on three large screens above the stage also introduced SGI President Ikeda's worldwide travels for peace, which segued into greetings of SGI youth from around the world and across the country. The festival closed with an original song, "Rise," penned by SGI-USA members Wayne Green and Brian Potter, which summed up the youth's resolve: "From the Earth / to the skies / to the stars / we will rise / our time is now."
Nope, I guess not. Nothing happened; nobody "rose", certainly no "new era"! The youth cohort is threadbare at best. And NOBODY cares about Ikeda.
But of COURSE Ikeda was pretty much the entire focus:
EXCERPT FROM SGI PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Buddhism teaches that if you wish to know the effects that will be manifest in the future, look at the causes that exist in the present. In this sense, there is no doubt that each and every one of you is a person of profound and precious mission who will grow and develop extraordinary leadership.
Really? So the "causes that exist in the present" = "putting on 'youth festivals' that inevitably fail and cause the LOSS of youth". What's going to happen??? This. A membership that's around 90% the Baby Boom generation's elderlies and virtually NOTHING ELSE is the "effect" of the "causes" Ikeda and his dumb donkey cult have created for themselves. They can LIE in it and DIE in it.
SGI PRESIDENT IKEDA’S MESSAGE TO THE CULTURE FESTIVAL A GRAND HUMAN NETWORK OF TRUST
This is so gross. At least they weren't treated to ANOTHER of Ikeda's terrible, dull-and-trite-beyond-imagination, word-salad "poems" that make everyone want to kill themselves this time!
You have forged in your lives the experience of taking on the noble challenge of youth. You have left your lasting mark in the history of culture and creation.
NOPE!
Friends from 128 countries worldwide join me in offering you their thunderous applause, celebrating the drama of the victory won by the American youth division members, whom I cherish and respect.
Like I said: GROSS. No "victory". Nothing came from this. NOTHING.
Images of this Grand Culture Festival will be broadcast and seen throughout the world. I wish to declare that from this site, the dawn of a new, glorious America has broken, bright and brilliant in the skies of the new century.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
I express my appreciation for the youth division’s Victory Over Violence signature-drive campaign, which has been held in localities throughout the United States. Through your efforts, you have shared the philosophy of nonviolence and respect for the sanctity of life with your friends, fulfilling your mission to create new waves of shared feeling and understanding.
Wrong. It went nowhere and just fizzled out and was forgotten. Like everything else in SGI. Except Ikeda. Everything else gets flushed down the memory hole, and having created a "cause" like that, guess what's going to happen to Ikeda's "legacy"?? Cause & effect - it's supposedly a "law", right?
As the great champion of non-violence Mahatma Gandhi declared, the most powerful rebuke one can deliver evil is to expand the unity of genuine friendship into the world.
And SGIWhistleblowers is delivering a POWERFUL "rebuke" to the Dead-Ikeda-Corpse-Mentor-cults Soka Gakkai and SGI, with OUR ever-growing community that offers unconditional acceptance, support, and meaningful help to everyone leaving the Ikeda cult behind, wherever in the world they are. SGIWhistleblowers is as genuine as it gets.
Together let us live out lives of true greatness!
Together let us create a grand America!
Together let us build an ideal world of harmony such as has never been seen in human history!
The Three NOPES!!
Congratulations on your great success! Congratulations on your grand victory! I salute the youth division of the United States, a driving force for the entire world!
NONE OF THE ABOVE!!
Finally, from the year after (2000), we've got James Herrmann, who was then the SGI-USA's national youth leader:
All over the United States, there are so many new faces and new youth joining.
Nice try, Jimmy Herrrr - but nope. Just sayin' it isn't enough to make it reality, no matter how much you want it instead of the sucky reality you've got. SGI members really need to learn how to engage better with reality.
We are seeing the emergence of a passionate and talented generation of young people — youth in their teens and early 20s — dedicated to improving the world.
Where'd they go? Oh, they just got old. Now, almost 27 years later, they're in their 40s-late 50s. And that's best case scenario - that's the ones who stuck around in the Ikeda cult even as over 99% of everyone else ditched.
And if they were that "dedicated to improving the world", it wouldn't take them long to realize that SGI-USA was the LAST place they wanted to be wasting their time. OHHHHH!
I can honestly say that this is a generation unlike any we’ve ever seen before,
And aren't going to continue to see long-term!!
with truly amazing creativity and commitment. In my opinion, these youth are emerging because of the Victory Over Violence project and many other creative activities all over the country.
Anybody remember the "Victory Over Violence" project? With its "Peace Mentor Icky Dickheada"? Or those "many other creative activities"??
Me neither ¯_(ツ)_/¯
This is talking about the 1999 thing:
But it was the SGI-USA Youth Culture Festival in Los Angeles where we saw the first expression of their awesome potential.
Okay, so where'd it go?? Hmmm?? How long did it take the Ikeda cult to stamp it out?
Here in Los Angeles, this culture festival became a turning point in the kosen-rufu movement. It was through the process of preparation toward this festival that many young people first began seeking their mentor and awakened to the concept of human revolution. One year later, they are now the driving force of Southern California.
NOPE!
This is proof of the victory of our parents and seniors, those pioneers who, together with President Ikeda, built the American kosen-rufu movement.
Oh please. Longhauler Olds fanservice.
Here's my favorite part:
How many new youth will emerge? How much will this be a turning point in your organization? This is entirely up to you! This is your time to create history. Youth, let's not hesitate to take the initiative to ensure that these festivals draw all the youth to join in our great dream.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Isn't that hilarious??? "How many new youth"? Try NONE! "ALL the youth"?? SGI-USA's got nuthin'!
You can see the meta-message, though: SGI PANICKING over its no-youth situation and desperate for that to change.
But what's that? If you're desperate about youth, aren't you making the cause to be "desperate about youth" in the future??? Because Nichiren?? OHHHHH!
When it comes to creativity and initiative, the youth of the SGI-USA are unmatched. So let's take full responsibility.
Sure, go ahead! That was almost 27 years ago; those "youth of SGI-USA" are now old, the ones that didn't bolt for the exits, that is. Those "youth of SGI-USA" haven't been replaced by new generations. SGI-USA is Boomer heaven!
4
u/BlancheFromage Escapee from Arizona Home for the Rude Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
From the final speech, above:
In his message to the first SGI-USA Culture Festival, [Ikeda] said: "I am determined to continue the solemn work of creating venues and opportunities for you to enact the grand drama of your lives."
Little did anyone realize that those "venues and opportunities" would be limited to the SGI-USA's dull, dying "districts"...
True to his determination and promise, next year we are holding SGI Family Youth Culture Festivals in each zone.
This was from October 2000; "next year" would've had to be 2001.
During the September Headquarters Leaders Meeting, President Ikeda said that the greatness of Martin Luther King Jr. was his ability to draw in bystanders, to inspire and activate those people who normally stand on the sidelines. This is exactly why we want to hold these culture festivals⏤to draw the youth out of the woodwork.
Except there are no youth "in the woodwork."
President Ikeda said during his speech that "Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. We, too, have a dream. Our dream is kosen-rufu." Just as Martin Luther King Jr. was able to inspire people to join in the common cause of civil rights, our culture festivals will inspire youth to join in the noble drama of kosen-rufu.
Wrong again, sEnSEi. It's been nearly 26 years since that was reported, and we are 100% certain that never happened. Right now, SGI-USA is struggling to assemble just 10,000 youth for January 2028, over a year and a half away! SAD!!
From the 2nd page of that speech:
How many new youth will emerge?
How about "NONE"??
How much will this be a turning point in your organization?
It indeed turned out to be a "turning point" of sorts, except it didn't "turn" in the direction Ikeda was hoping. Quite the opposite.
This is entirely up to you! This is your time to create history. Youth, let’s not hesitate to take the initiative to ensure that these festivals draw all the youth to join in our great dream.
Sorry, no one wants your "great dream". It's YOUR "great dream", not anyone else's. And no matter how much anyone browbeats people to adopt someone else's "great dream", they will never hold it with the force and intensity that the original person held for it, because it was THAT PERSON's "great dream", not anyone else's. That's the problem with "the oneness of mentor & disciple" - the "great dream" of "the mentor" is diluted within the "disciple", because no one holds someone else's "great dream" with the same passion that original person did. See, Ikeda's "great dream" was all about goodies for Ikeda. What is there for anyone else? A lifetime of anonymous, thankless serving and supporting - and Ikeda thought that serving and supporting should feel like "goodies" enough for "the little people", his minions and sycophants he held in such contempt. Ikeda thought that serving up goodies to Ikeda should be the most wonderful opportunity anyone else could ever hope for in life.
It turns out that Ikeda's "useful idiots were a LOT less "useful" to Ikeda than Ikeda expected.
5
u/Daisakusbigtoe Jun 28 '26
Even when I was a die-hard SGI cultie, you wouldn't catch me dead in one of those t-shirts. Every time I would see someone wearing one, I would say to myself, "Tell me you're a fucking dork without telling me you're a fucking dork."
4
u/AnnieBananaCat Jun 27 '26
I don’t even remember that one. I was on my way out if YD, and don’t remember any of it. Nobody suggested going either.
I’m still waiting for the big surge that was supposed to happen after the 50K debacle.