Forum - View topicNEWS: Library Bars 43-Year-Old from Manga Club Meeting
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daggerbob
 Posts: 52 Location: Colorado, US |
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There's nothing wrong with older fans of anime/manga. There are many clubs out there for fans of all ages and genres, you just have to look. Members of the anime club I belong to range in age from their early 20s to their late 50s.
If you read the linked newspaper article on this issue you would notice 2 items of note. He was only exploring the possibility of suing for age discrimination with the ACLU. And he probably only saw the library calendar or 1 of 2 posting that did not have an age limit to it. There was another flier out that did have an age limit. The library "goofed" on not proofing their own information on the meeting. His main beef it seems is the way he was treated when he did try to attend. I seriously doubt he would end up suing anyway, since the library admitted they erred on their postings and they offered to start up an adult club. As a 42 year old, I doubt he was ignorant enough to bring hentai or ecchi with him to a public meeting anyway, as many other profess he may of done. Not all older anime/manga fell into those genres. He may even of expanded the horizon of the other attendees onto other genres besides Naruto and Death Note, as many teens are into here in the States. |
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ginzugirl
 Posts: 30 Location: Detroit, Michigan |
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Oi! I'm one of those 'elderly' fans over 30. However, I do agree a 43-yr old attending a teen manga meeting at a public library was inappropriate. It's one thing if he were a guest speaker or running the meeting -- quite another to show up and try to stay after a look around the room!
I do want to set the record straight on one issue: there are serious, mature, fans of anime and manga out here in the cyber wilderness. Most of us over 30 are not cyber-stalkers, pervs, cougers codgers and creeps. But we are pretty tenacious old farts as evidenced by the years of abuse we've endured, bringing this very special foreign media forward for new generations to enjoy! So please, respect us old geeksters who are your founding mothers and fathers! If you don't we'll beat you with our canes the next time we catch you on a "squeeing/glomping" rampage in the Boarders or Barnes manga section! And get off my lawn! |
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abunai
Old Regular
 Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Why, yes, it's completely silly, wasting the taxpayers' money with something as stupid as a lawsuit over violated civil rights (to wit, age discrimination). Let's just keep the litigation system occupied with serious stuff, and leave the civil rights in the history books, where they belong. After all, nobody really buys into that stuff, these days. Let's apply the discrimination test: if he had been turned away because of his race or religion, would it still be a small matter? Would he still be "wasting the taxpayers' money"? - abunai "Anime Club -- Whites Only" |
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superdeformed
 Posts: 88 Location: New Orleans, LA |
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Whether the guy was a creepy pedophile or a well intended connoisseur trying to enlighten the younger audience, I think we can all agree it's the library's fault for not specifying an age limit.
If you're going to hold an event on something, you should at least know the culture surrounding it. Pro tip: If you're old, call ahead before going to any function short of a convention. |
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Emichan
 Posts: 83 Location: SF Bay Area |
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I wonder if he would have been turned away if he was a woman instead of a man.
I am a 33-year old female anime/manga fan, and I have been a fan (kowing this as "anime" instead of "those cooler cartoons on TV") since I was 17. I got into anime at the tail end of high school, and joined a college club. And I just never stopped enjoying the hobby, regardless of how I got older and the rest of fandom got younger  It is comforting to remember that all the people here talking about 'old' fans will soon be 'old' themselves, and will have either quit the hobby because they are now 'too old for it' or will have to come to accept the fact that they are now the creepy old fans too 
Do all you younger fans have an age limit at which you plan to stop watching anime? Do you plan to quit when you graduate high school, or graduate college, or reach a specified age? I imagine that you will quit whenever you get tired of it. For many older fans, we just haven't gotten tired of it yet
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RadicaLElly
 Posts: 194 Location: Coral Springs, FL |
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I'd mentioned before that our club has attendees ranging between high school students to 30s-40s. I guess I should explain a little bit about how we've been able to make this work for the past 11 years lol.
Our meetings are every thursday night from 8-midnight. Since it's a school night and 10pm seems to be around the time most of the high school kids head on home, we use that time to show any more "risque" (NOT hentai) titles that might have been voted in. Since we're affiliated with a university only university students can officially be officers. This includes myself (VP) and 4 other members. The one concern I do have about our club actually concerns younger members more than older, and by younger I mean the the other university students who attend. We have an astounding amount of apathy among our club members who are actually students. Being affiliated with the university, we're required to fulfill certain obligations (attending sporting and fine arts events and donating to charity and such) in order to guarantee that we'll still be a club the following semester. And right now, the only people who are doing this are myself and the other officers. We've asked for help and the only people who really seem to give enough of a sh*t to help are, interestingly enough, the older members who are 25+. Unfortunately since most of them aren't university students we can't accept their help for fulfilling these requirements. It's kinda sad that as a university anime club the most active of our members aren't even students. And it definitely worries us officers regarding who we're going to pass the torch to when we graduate (most of us are juniors and seniors now). |
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Beruda
Posts: 114 |
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As some have said this was a misunderstanding. One thing is that the library, like a lot of people probably assumes that only young people and teenagers are into manga and anime. Another thing is they obviously should have specified teens only. If the library wants to have an age restriction fine but I also think people of varying ages have a lot to offer each other.
I'm in my 50's and have been a fan since the 70's so I do take issue with some people saying that older fans are creepy and perverted and the other the insults I've read. As an older fan it is hard to meet people with similar interest in a setting where you can actually speak face to face and talk about something that really interest you. While my friends know about my hobby none of them are into themselves which is fine. I generally only get to meet people at conventions. While I probably wouldn't take things as far as that gentleman I understand how he feels and I support how he feels about it. For those of you who can't seem to get past a person's age, stop making stupid judgments about people that you know nothing about. B. |
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beelzebozo
 Posts: 308 Location: Aurora, Colorado |
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A lot of these library manga clubs are basically attempts to get teens into reading. The librarians have no interest in this outside of trying to lure more kids into their library (OK, that did sound creepy
 ). Just as they have little concept of the amount of adult Harry Potter fans, they have little concept of adults who have been into anime and manga for over a decade or two. So when an adult does show up for the teen-targeted event, the librarians' minds immediately shift to "he's a pedophile/stalker" mode. I'm sure he was treated fairly badly, partially due to his age and partially due to his sex (males get this treatment far more often than females, I've noticed).
This is why there is a need for adult (age, not necessarily hentai or yaoi) anime clubs. I've been trying to keep our unaffiliated club running, but it's problematic. |
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SalarymanJoe
 Posts: 468 Location: Atlanta, GA, USA |
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Count me in as another who will come to the older guy's defense. We don't know what is intentions (when I hear the phrase about showing off an old collection, I think positive but I've also had experiences like others where some of the older guys are only concerned with cartoon porn) really were. I'd say let him attend, who knows, the kids might learn some positive things from him. If his behavior is a negative impact on the club, such as trying to get some 14 year old girl in the back of a van with "FREE CANDY" scribbled on the side, then kick him out. Let him be judged by his character and actions, not the birthdate on his driver's license.
In a way it alarms me because as I'm finishing school, I've contemplated to see if there are anime clubs in my area still, just for a fun activity to do on weekends, meet some new people, etc. etc. I wouldn't object to having teens in a club but I'd much rather have the healthy mix of all age groups.
To turn this around: if he's in his forties, I bet he's paying taxes. Teenagers usually are not taxpayers. Therefore, he's being denied the use of an institution provided by public funding, funding to which he (most likely involuntarily) contributes. If the library accepts public funding then there are probably limits on which they can restrict events. Like dormcat said, if this happened to any of us, we'd probably shrug it off but according to the article, the response he received from the library wasn't what it should have been: "Oh, we're sorry, sir; it was our mistake that we intended to have an age restriction on this particular organization. If you'd be interested in starting one for your age group, here's how we can help..." I can only assume the offence of being rejected was undue and unnecessary (or, a much worse case, the guy's a loon). |
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hikaru004
 Posts: 2306 |
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Hey don't laugh too much that method actually works. There was this particularily questionable person who came to my club's meeting but the moment that moe titles weren't shown as often that person stopped coming. I agree with the library. Adults should have their own separate manga group. Teens are there to hang without any barriers. Adults would just ruin the experience. Why wasn't this adult at work? Library hours aren't exactly ideal for working stiffs. Last edited by hikaru004 on Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:19 am; edited 1 time in total |
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kgw
 Posts: 1075 Location: Spain, EU |
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I am 36, being into anime since I was six or so. After wasting a lot of time while a teenager on why I watched those "stupid & nasty chinese cartoons" (sic), now, apparently, should I drop my hobby* because I am "too old for manga"?, or because I can be mistook by a pedophile? That's disgusting.
Supossedly, "old people" should just watch football, soap operas and listening Frank Sinatra or so. For Petes' sake... * one of them. |
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hikaru004
Posts: 2306 |
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Well that's the type of world we live in now. If you're old and attending an anime or manga meeting targeting teens, the first word that comes to mind from other adults and possible teens would be "predator". The second word is "victim". Hopefully, library clubs have nice patrons but if the adult wanders into a club with members of questionable ethics then you will have teens asking for money and doing other stuff which could lead to legal complications and other questionable means of keeping the teen silent (blackmail).
Adult-teen interactions aren't the same as teen-teen interactions. The adult will probably have the best interactions in groups of similar age. Even in my club, the adults and teens cluster in different groups. Whatever interaction that adult was imagining would happen there probably won't happen. So it's probably in everyone's best interest to separate adults and teens in the library clubs. *mileage may vary with geographic location.* |
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feytaline
Posts: 38 |
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WTF.
If it was any other club, say, a science club, or english club, they would welcome an older member for his experience, no cries of 'omg he must be a pedophile!!!' there. An older person can bring a lot to the table, including what it was like to be an anime fan 'back in the day' and that OMG there's anime out there other than Naruto and Death Note! Fandom does have a history, and kids can learn a lot from it. This is in a PUBLIC PLACE. If he turns into a creeper, KICK HIM OUT. Give the guy a chance. EDIT: Also, having worked with volunteer anime fans of all ages in the convention scene... it can absolutely work without any weirdness. |
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ptsulli
Posts: 2 |
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I also am an adult (44) anime/manga fan, I resent the stereotype that portrays older fans as pervs, I started reading manga in Okinawa translating it a page at a time with a Japanese to English dictionary, and trying to follow the anime on TV with the little bit of Japanese I knew. Of course I'm also old enough that I remember Star Blazers as a first run Saturday morning cartoon
As has been stated before in this thread, it is a natural thing for the older to teach the younger, this is the concept of sensei in Japan (literally one who has come before) or mentoring in English. No one even blinks an eye when I teach boy scouts how to build model railroads, but if I mention that I'm a Manga fan(or people see me in the store at the rack) I am avoided. Which considering I spent 10 years as a Marine and I'm a network designer for the government, with background screenings up the kazoo, is irritating at best. I doubt I would have taken it as well as he has, and given my past experiences with public library boards, I don't blame him with dropping a big hammer on them. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Ahh, the wonderful things I get to hear from anime fans when I look into this thread. What do I see, old guy going into teen anime club meeting = pedophile. That's what I have seen a lot of you guys do as soon as you read this article.
First of all, like some people have already mentioned, he is in every right to sue, there was NO indication of an age limit on the announcements for the club meeting. Second of all, he probably thought that there was probably going to be some older people there, which is why he was bringing older stuff from his collection. Now, there's a lot of ways this could have gone. If there was an age limit indicated, and he went anyway, then the library would have had every right to turn him away. If he had been allowed into the meeting and then was causing trouble (molesting or whatever garbage), then yes, they would have kicked him out of there. But, how in the world do any of you who are making these utter claims even know that he would have done such a thing? |
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