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NEWS: French Man Gets 1-Year Sentence for 'Manga Pornography'


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Mad_Scientist
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:37 am Reply with quote
Tanteikingdomkey wrote:

I know the phrase I was just trying to be subtle about it.

Mister wright do you have a problem with charging someone for having child pronography because that is what they charged him with (and gave him the lightest sentence possible probably since it was drawn and not a real 6-8 that was getting rapped).


Oops, completely misread your intentions then, darn internet makes it tough to tell sometimes.

And I should clarify that I have no issues with people being charged with child pornography if they possess real life child pornography. But I do not think that drawings alone should be able to count as child pornography, nor do I think they should be illegal.
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Strife212



Joined: 26 Sep 2011
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 2:14 pm Reply with quote
Mune wrote:
Really?!

When found in possession of something that depicts illegal actions and making a comment online. This is profiling to the highest degree.



The depiction of illegal acts has nothing to do with it. Owning the manga is actually illegal in itself, which is why he got in trouble.

The judge didn't randomly decide "this guy is looking at stuff that would be illegal in real life, lets throw him in jail".
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 3:58 pm Reply with quote
France is really going to hell in a handbasket. Laughing

They're turning anti-Muslim, then outlawing dissenting opinions regarding the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), and now going after people's moralities.
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jl07045



Joined: 30 Aug 2011
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 4:15 pm Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
then outlawing dissenting opinions regarding the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey)


This shouldn't be that controversial. Many European countries (including France) already have laws against Holocaust denial.
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Tuor_of_Gondolin



Joined: 20 Apr 2009
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:12 pm Reply with quote
Tanteikingdomkey wrote:
is it a thought crime yes, but the guy should get court appointed counselling, jail time probably not, but certainly counselling because people like it or not your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, and your actions define you.

Wow. That's... amazing. So, okay. Right now, I'm thinking that I want you to have $1 million...

...

...

Do you have $1 million yet? But I *thought* it as hard as I could!

Maybe, just maybe, what I think doesn't mean a damn thing in the real world. Thoughts don't become anything. In fact, maybe I didn't actually think that I wanted you to have $1 million; how would you know? You're not a mind-reader, are you?

If someone actually attempts to harm a child... well, we have laws for that, don't we? And are you saying that everyone who fantasizes about something will definitely act upon it, or even that they would *want* to act upon it if they could? Speaking for myself, I can think of a whole lot of things that sound fine from a distance, but that I wouldn't want anything at all to do with in reality.

So, I'm sorry, but while those words of yours I quoted above may sound nice, they aren't very accurate: thoughts don't always lead to words, and words don't always lead to actions.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:18 pm Reply with quote
jl07045 wrote:
enurtsol wrote:
then outlawing dissenting opinions regarding the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey)


This shouldn't be that controversial. Many European countries (including France) already have laws against Holocaust denial.


Yes but it has angered Turkey, and it's straining the relationship between Turkey and France. The Armenian genocide is different from the Holocaust . Turkey refuse to recognize this event as genocide to them. This is why Turkey and France has a bit of a strain relation after France announce the outlaw of Armenian genocide denial.
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Surrender Artist



Joined: 01 May 2011
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:31 pm Reply with quote
I don't really buy the 'thought crime' rationale. It seems unnecessarily grandiose and doesn't really make sense. The segment of the population that could be controlled this way and the extent to which they could be controlled hardly seems to fit any grand plan of psychological oppression. This kind of moral busybodydom probably has simpler, pettier motivations. Paedophiles are easy to hate and zealously hating them might be a way to gain or sustain social status.

I wonder if attitudes about paedphiles are significantly misguided. I think that acting upon paedophilic urges should be sorely discouraged and punished, but scorning paedophiles themselves seems unwarranted and unproductive. We treat them as innately criminal, but I don't know that doing so is fair. I can't imagine anybody choosing to be a paedophile, so I'm left to think that it might be something written into their biology, thus beyond their control.

Whatever the case, I certainly don't think that anybody should face legal action for at worst being really creepy.

mdo7 wrote:
jl07045 wrote:
enurtsol wrote:
then outlawing dissenting opinions regarding the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey)


This shouldn't be that controversial. Many European countries (including France) already have laws against Holocaust denial.


Yes but it has angered Turkey, and it's straining the relationship between Turkey and France. The Armenian genocide is different from the Holocaust . Turkey refuse to recognize this event as genocide to them. This is why Turkey and France has a bit of a strain relation after France announce the outlaw of Armenian genocide denial.


Nevermind that; it should be objectionable enough that such laws abrogate freedom of speech. If liberties are to be founded upon meaningful principle, then one can't really pick and choose who enjoys them, no matter how distasteful. The proper reply to bad speech is good speech, not to use the sword of law to silence it. (Well, I might cut the Germans some slack, after all, they're German)
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The_Q



Joined: 09 Mar 2010
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:55 pm Reply with quote
configspace wrote:
tempest wrote:
Sorrior wrote:
As for this case i really thought France was better than this.


Well, they're better than Canada and the US. Similar cases in North America that we've reported on resulted in much harsher sentences.

Regardless "not as bad as the other country" still isn't "good."

They're not better, they're just different. France and Canada, along with several other countries, make no distinction between virtual and real for child porn charges, though the punishment can differ.

In the US, the charge (1466a) is not the same, though the punishment is just as bad *if convicted* (which is why many choose plea bargains under the threat, even if they could potentially win) but the requirements are higher and more complex. The only good thing about the Handley case is that defense was able to get a Federal judge to remove parts of 1466a on 1st amendment grounds. It now requires interstate commerce, and proving the material is obscene (via Miller test; courts).

While there is a whole other debate on the exception of obscenity for 1st amendment (NOTE: this means it's not protected, NOT banned; most regular porn could qualify as obscene), that last part about actually proving legal obscenity in the courts is why law enforcement in general and the FBI don't bother preemptively. If not for that, could have a very easy time since it's all out in the open and published commercially. I have mentioned before that the FBI investigated 4chan for other incidents. They are well aware of what goes on there.

IF the virtual stuff were treated as the real stuff in the US--very black and white like those other countries (e.g. UK, NZ, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, etc)--then 4chan, sankaku and a ton of other sites, as well as commercial publications, and even Amazon, would be no more. Web hosts and blogging services would explicitly prohibit you from posting any nude or explicit drawings of what may be judged a minor too, but obviously they don't.

Though this is a federal law, proving obscenity legally requires judgement on the local level (this also brings up 10th amendment vs commerce clause, but that is another issue) That means deferring to state laws and courts. Some states don't have any laws against it and others explicitly allow it, like California for example:
Quote:

Even though it may depict children engaged in sexually explicit activities, there are some types of "content" that are excluded from child pornography prosecutions. Possessing "pornographic" images of minors in drawings, figurines, statues or in films that have been rated by the Motion Picture Association of America are exempt from California child pornography laws.[17]

(CA also makes an exception allowing obscene materials to be distributed to 18+ and minors by guardians)
for example, remember that JList is in CA, MediaBlasters is in NY


I really think this post should be a required reading when discussing these kind of topics, especially since one of the most common responses is ignorant hysteria following by the burning of Negima comics.
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Mad_Scientist
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:09 pm Reply with quote
Surrender Artist wrote:
I wonder if attitudes about paedphiles are significantly misguided. I think that acting upon paedophilic urges should be sorely discouraged and punished, but scorning paedophiles themselves seems unwarranted and unproductive. We treat them as innately criminal, but I don't know that doing so is fair. I can't imagine anybody choosing to be a paedophile, so I'm left to think that it might be something written into their biology, thus beyond their control.

Whatever the case, I certainly don't think that anybody should face legal action for at worst being really creepy.


The argument some would make is that simply acquiring lolicon manga constitutes "acting upon" such urges, maybe not in a way that directly harms someone, but in a way that indicates the person is a danger.

Then there's always the other argument that says that such material provides a safe release without harming children, and thus people who have it are less dangerous than thus who keep everything in and have no outlet for their urges.

Both arguments seem to make sense to me on the surface at least, and if I had to guess, both are probably somewhat true depending on the specific individual.
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Tanteikingdomkey



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:12 pm Reply with quote
Tuor_of_Gondolin wrote:
Tanteikingdomkey wrote:
is it a thought crime yes, but the guy should get court appointed counselling, jail time probably not, but certainly counselling because people like it or not your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, and your actions define you.

Wow. That's... amazing. So, okay. Right now, I'm thinking that I want you to have $1 million...

Do you have $1 million yet? But I *thought* it as hard as I could!

Maybe, just maybe, what I think doesn't mean a damn thing in the real world. Thoughts don't become anything. In fact, maybe I didn't actually think that I wanted you to have $1 million; how would you know? You're not a mind-reader, are you?

If someone actually attempts to harm a child... well, we have laws for that, don't we? And are you saying that everyone who fantasizes about something will definitely act upon it, or even that they would *want* to act upon it if they could? Speaking for myself, I can think of a whole lot of things that sound fine from a distance, but that I wouldn't want anything at all to do with in reality.

So, I'm sorry, but while those words of yours I quoted above may sound nice, they aren't very accurate: thoughts don't always lead to words, and words don't always lead to actions.


ok smart alack, if you say a group is sub human and deserve to die guess what happens a genocide. and you already charge people for one minor step above thought crimes. maybe you have heard of them, their called slander, libel, and racism/discrimination

sorry mad scientist I wasn't trying t to be a smart alack, just explaining why I wrote what I did

I still question why it is somehow ok for someone to have a pictures of a 6-8 girl getting raped just because it is a drawing and not an actual person. is there some magical functional difference between it being a drawing versus a real person.
just because no one gets hurt doesn't make it any less wrong to me.


Last edited by Tanteikingdomkey on Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
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rinmackie



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:37 pm Reply with quote
Tanteikingdomkey wrote:
Tuor_of_Gondolin wrote:
Tanteikingdomkey wrote:
is it a thought crime yes, but the guy should get court appointed counselling, jail time probably not, but certainly counselling because people like it or not your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, and your actions define you.

Wow. That's... amazing. So, okay. Right now, I'm thinking that I want you to have $1 million...

Do you have $1 million yet? But I *thought* it as hard as I could!

Maybe, just maybe, what I think doesn't mean a damn thing in the real world. Thoughts don't become anything. In fact, maybe I didn't actually think that I wanted you to have $1 million; how would you know? You're not a mind-reader, are you?

If someone actually attempts to harm a child... well, we have laws for that, don't we? And are you saying that everyone who fantasizes about something will definitely act upon it, or even that they would *want* to act upon it if they could? Speaking for myself, I can think of a whole lot of things that sound fine from a distance, but that I wouldn't want anything at all to do with in reality.

So, I'm sorry, but while those words of yours I quoted above may sound nice, they aren't very accurate: thoughts don't always lead to words, and words don't always lead to actions.


ok smart alack, if you say a group is sub human and deserve to die guess what happens a genocide. and you already charge people for one minor step above thought crimes. maybe you have heard of them, their called slander, libel, and racism/discrimination

sorry mad scientist I wasn't trying t to be a smart alack, just explaining why I wrote what I did


But first, you have to turn those thoughts into actions, which not everybody does, at least not all the time. Everyone is guilty of "bad thoughts" and "wrong opinions", though what exactly constitutes "bad" or "wrong" varies from person to person. Personally, I'd rather live in a world where people are free to express themselves, even though it might make me uncomfortable. But I wouldn't want such people punished unless they tried to harass or harm others.
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Tuor_of_Gondolin



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:41 pm Reply with quote
Tanteikingdomkey wrote:
ok smart alack, if you say a group is sub human and deserve to die guess what happens a genocide. and you already charge people for one minor step above thought crimes. maybe you have heard of them, their called slander, libel, and racism/discrimination

sorry mad scientist I wasn't trying t to be a smart alack, just explaining why I wrote what I did

I'm sorry, but you're wrong. Genocide occurs when one group actually starts killing off another group. It doesn't occur just by thinking about it. I don't know about you, but I can't kill people with my mind (which is probably a good thing). In fact, I can't even talk people to death (which is also probably a good thing). So it seems you missed, or simply refuse to accept, my earlier point.

You also missed my other point: there are (for me anyway) many things that it might be fun to fantasize about (and I don't necessarily mean in a sexual way), but which we are well aware that in reality is *not* something we would want to be involved in. One of the wonderful things about imagination is that *it isn't real*. You are free to imagine whatever you want, and no one is hurt by it... and no one is helped by it, either. Heck, lots of things we can imagine are utterly impossible, in which case they *could never* happen, whether we wanted them to or not.

Surrender Artist wrote:
I don't really buy the 'thought crime' rationale. It seems unnecessarily grandiose and doesn't really make sense. The segment of the population that could be controlled this way and the extent to which they could be controlled hardly seems to fit any grand plan of psychological oppression. This kind of moral busybodydom probably has simpler, pettier motivations. Paedophiles are easy to hate and zealously hating them might be a way to gain or sustain social status.

There need not be some grand plan of psychological oppression for something to be referred to as a "thought crime". I use it whenever someone is being punished purely for what they think/imagine rather than anything they say or do. Nothing additional is required. However, I will make note that when the State wants to increase its power, it makes laws that, initially, affect only the most undesirable/repulsive in a population. That whole "they came for the X... and I didn't speak out" thing. I'm not saying that's necessarily what is happening here, but it is something I would keep an eye on... to see if it is the beginning of some larger trend. At any rate, I think it is better to sound a warning a little too early than a little too late.
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:48 pm Reply with quote
Tanteikingdomkey wrote:
ok smart alack, if you say a group is sub human and deserve to die guess what happens a genocide

No. All that happens is from someone saying "they deserve to die" is exactly that: "someone saying 'they deserve to die'". Period. There is NO inherently consequential outcome, nothing that logically dictates something else like your genocide scenario must follow. That is the requirement for causality. All other actions are completely voluntary, and people should only be liable for those specific actions that (involuntarily) harm others.

Ok, I can understand the emotional response but laws shouldn't be such things. There are way too many bad laws like that already. Think about it. If what you say is true, why aren't there millions upon millions of rapes and child rapes occurring everyday where it's prevelant? All those people who have viewed such fictional material, even relishing in it, why haven't they--me included--become monsters? Why is the rape rate decreasing, not only despite of the increasing porn and obscenity but actually in an inverse proportion to it?

The same applies to violence in speech and media. The crime rate has actually gone down. If anything, there's a cathartic effect for having such free speech. Like Surrender Artist mentioned:
Quote:
Nevermind that; it should be objectionable enough that such laws abrogate freedom of speech. If liberties are to be founded upon meaningful principle, then one can't really pick and choose who enjoys them, no matter how distasteful. The proper reply to bad speech is good speech, not to use the sword of law to silence it. (Well, I might cut the Germans some slack, after all, they're German)

In fact, Germany and EU is actually doing more harm, stifling speech under the guise of 'hate speech', which simply pushes it underground where people become more radicalized and makes politically incorrect speech susceptible.

Quote:
and you already charge people for one minor step above thought crimes. maybe you have heard of them, their called slander, libel, and racism/discrimination

sorry mad scientist I wasn't trying t to be a smart alack, just explaining why I wrote what I did

Slander/libel are actions, not speech. These aren't mere opinions. The requirements are very high in the US to prove libel. Racist and discriminatory speech is perfectly legal and fine.
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Mr. sickVisionz



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:50 pm Reply with quote
I don't have any issue with him being registered as a sex offender and not being allowed to be around children. He enjoys watching and reading stuff about 6 year olds getting raped and goes on the internet joking about how he wants to meet children aged 12 years or younger.

People like that shouldn't be allowed to be around children or at the least parents should be alerted that people like that are working at establishments or in areas where they have unrestricted access to the 6-8 year olds they enjoy seeing raped and joke about sexually desiring.
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Tanteikingdomkey



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:05 pm Reply with quote
I agree people have bad thoughts and that you can't know them for sure. howevever you have to draw a line somewhere.

if you don't believe me about identification and negative speech about groups being the first step to genocide then look at pre ww2 germany. hitler was saying a lot of negative things about the jews before the holocost. he didn't suddenly one day say I am going to exterminate the jews. there where warning signs. you can also look at ruwanda, for an example of this. it is illogical and historically disproven to say that hate speech and hate crime, and even genocide are not linked. I don't see what this guy is doing as that much different.

also if this stuff goes underground it will stay there not affecting the rest of the public, also it puts it in a place where if any action is taken because of it can easily be handled by the police, also your evidence was for 12+ not for 6-8 year olds
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