A Sad Day for Anime Fans
Three months ago, I wrote an editorial on the story of a man being convicted of possessing anime child pornography. This was the result of the PROTECT act of 2003, which classifies fictional visual representations of children having sex to be illegal. I feel that this law is ludicrous on the grounds of no crime is ever truly committed in the world of fantasy that is anime and manga. Do you arrest a person for assisting with a murder if they watch a horror film? Of course not. If the characters don’t exist in real life, then there are no real victims. You simply can’t lock someone away for watching anime!
But sadly, they just did, and as ANN reports today, it’s for 20 years. Now, the guy was also sentenced for having actual child porn (you know, the kind with non-animated children) on his computer, and so it is justified that he face whatever punishment is coming to him. But they made it very clear that the anime was one of the reasons for his sentence. The US department of Justice even proudly declared in it’s press release that his “… conviction for receiving cartoons is the first conviction under the statute that was not based on actual photographs of children.” Convicted for non-real photos… why aren’t they seeing their own hypocrisy?!?
This is a sad day not only for anime fans, but for anyone who likes fictional works of art. Fiction exists because it’s not restricted by the laws of State or science. I don’t support child pornographic anime, but I can’t believe that someone can be arrested and sent to jail for it! Doesn’t it scare you? What is that saying to the world about America’s idea of freedom? How can we look down on a war over political cartoons in the Middle East when we just sent a guy to jail over fake kiddy porn?
This is not good… this is not good at all…
I agree, I also have heard that ‘Negima’ manga will be “edited” (censored), I can’t remember where I saw this but it is making sense. The problem is where do you draw the line? (ban pun).
Comment by daRAT — March 11, 2006 @ 8:43 pm
I don’t understand the illegality of loli hentai, either. It really does harm no one. Even if it may feed an unhealthy obsession, there is no crime in watching drawings doing ANYTHING. That is like Vladimir Nabokov being arrested for writing Lolita. I don’t know how much my life will be personally affected by this, what with the lack of loli porn on my hard drive, but the case might just set the precedent for further censorship, which is seriously alarming.
Comment by Saria — March 11, 2006 @ 9:10 pm
Unfortunately, this is an Age of No Cartoon Controversy (a.k.a. the “Danish cartoons” incident) therefore, all cartoons are treated with very heavy hands. Thus, your humour will never be shared with others. [/lame]
Sad day, indeed.
Comment by TP — March 11, 2006 @ 9:57 pm
I understand your reasoning, and second it. However, I just can’t feel any sympathy for some guy who watches probably a lot of child porn. He may not be raping children as of yet, but what does enjoying child porn say about his mental state? I wouldn’t want to touch him with a 10 feet pole.
Comment by Lynn — March 27, 2006 @ 12:23 pm
I agree with you (not that I WATCH or READ the stuff. I’m not old enough yet) because you have a point! What they did was to OVER-REACT and not analyze the situation fairly. Plus, kids WON’T go into selling themselves by media just because they watch those things (and I advise them not to… YET.)… but still! He should have deleted those chld porn thingies on his computer. That was BAD!! >.
Comment by Kriselle — April 19, 2006 @ 6:10 am
Here is where the matter gets interesting: “Whorley was a registered sex offender”, 10 years suite him well.
Comment by Rainy — April 30, 2006 @ 4:33 am
As far as i’m aware, one of the reasons behind the concept that child porn is bad (mm’kay) is that it sexualizes children, ie creates the perception that children are sexual objects. Loli hentai does the same thing. Looking at a cartoon image, which represents child(ren) involved in sexual acts, creates the link in the mind, between children and sex. I think it’s extremely unhealthy for that to occur. What difference does it make whether it’s photographs of children or ‘merely’ drawings? If someone is looking at loli hentai for the purpose of enjoying the naked and/or sexual activities of children, then it’s just as detrimental to society as if they were looking at child porn.
Comment by Willuknight — May 18, 2006 @ 10:18 am
There is no proof that Loli-hentai or animated pornography that depicts child-like characters in sex acts promotes sexual assault, or sexual crimes. On the contrary, the country where Loli-hentai originated, and is widely available has one of the lower crime rates (including sex-crimes) in the world. This would suggest that easy access to sexually explicit material is somehow connected to reducing the sex-crime rate, especially after the influx of popularity of sexually explicit material in Japan since the 70s. I personally find Loli-hentai arrousing. Does that make me unhealthy? I do not find real children arousing. It’s the fantasy. I personally prefer older women. Most of my relationships have been with women anywhere from 8-18 years my senior. This breech of free speech is intolerable. Its just another way to demonize a perversion that can be expressed in an entirely healthy way.
Comment by Marklar — April 6, 2007 @ 1:42 am