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INTEREST: Dr. Susan Napier Responds to Attempt to Ban Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle

TheAnimeRevolutionizer wrote:

Do they want the late 1990s and 2000s again? Because this is how you get the late 1990s and the 2000s again. A reminder, we won that war. We'll do it all over again if we have to.

What "war" are you even pretending existed?

Do they want the late 1990s and 2000s again? Because this is how you get the late 1990s and the 2000s again.

A reminder, we won that war. We'll do it all over again if we have to.

The only one i can think of that is remotely applicable is the War on Drugs.

TheAnimeRevolutionizer wrote:

Do they want the late 1990s and 2000s again? Because this is how you get the late 1990s and the 2000s again. A reminder, we won that war. We'll do it all over again if we have to.

Cliche as it sounds “but at what cost?”

Quote:

"Nowadays we're very concerned about what we say. Which in many ways is a good thing. We need to be careful not to engage in hurtful or hate speech. But I think there's this tendency now where you have to not deal with controversial subjects."

Welp, this is what everyone with a brain said would happen once government and institutions got involved with policing everyone's manners. There are an infinite number of ways for someone to get offended. It's unavoidable. If y'all can't get along, don't associate. There's no obligation for anyone to like one another, only to functionally co-exist. The bureaucracy should only get involved if things really escalate to the point of physical harm or direct constant daily harassment. Otherwise you're embarking on a puritanical fool's errand where new targets and constantly invented and can always be conveniently found to the point of self-destruction.

Before today's world of anime doing as its fancy, anime and manga long upset the status quo that comics and animation were nothing but "kid's stuff", and as today's controversial John Lasseter said, "animation is the scapegoat for bad storytelling." You should had seen the look on their faces back then. So many boltheaded adults were dumbfounded and struck with contusion that animation and comics dared to host mature topics and subject matter, and by that I mean going into what you'd read out of a young adult novel to R rated movie. Anyone can think whatever they want nowadays, anime and manga was the driving force that helped put away the Comics Code into the hands of the Comics Defense Fund and had the gall to grow up with its audience and respectfully did what it wanted with its freedom of expression while raking in the cash and taking names. There were uproars of karen parents lashing out at libraries during this time, and I think ANN did an article on this years ago about a case in Florida. None of them won out.

Of course, this is Ohio we're talking about, the place whose major city with combustible toxic river and leading exporter of crippling depression swears they're not Detroit, which has done more for the cultural fabric of the US other than be the other butt of the nation, like spur interest into anime by the 1980s Bubble Boom of Japan and sending out college kids out to the Land of the Rising Sun.

These were literal conservative lawmakers. Not people who care about social justice. It's really reductive to conflate the two because you don't like some tumblr posts but it's by no means a worthwhile comparison to make, especially in this case.

This is simply a book that talk about themes in which parents don't often approve.
Sex is definitely not a new concept that makes parents uncomfortable and there are plenty of stories about that.

Even worse, I always seem to find news where (conservative) politicians don't even understand anime at all. When Eric Trump thought result images of Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama was a conspiracy theory to block searches of actual Mobs.

It is patently ridiculous to label an honest discussion of pornography, by itself, as being pornographic. Now, maybe there are problematic images in the chapter on the subject, that's the only real objection that I can think of that would carry any weight at all. Anyone in a position to elucidate?

Just had a look at my copy of the book. The centre pages contains several black and white screenshots from several of the anime spoken about in the book. One of these images is a scene from “Legend of The Overfiend”, which is quite graphic and could be upsetting. Tentacles are involved.

But IME, the "wahh muh hentai" crowd doesn't like analysis either, since that analysis is often critical of the material, and that group is prone to conflating criticism of a media product they enjoy with criticism of them personally.

Otaku-sempai wrote:

It is patently ridiculous to label an honest discussion of pornography, by itself, as being pornographic. Now, maybe there are problematic images in the chapter on the subject, that's the only real objection that I can think of that would carry any weight at all. Anyone in a position to elucidate?

Just had a look at my copy of the book. The centre pages contains several black and white screenshots from several of the anime spoken about in the book. One of these images is a scene from “Legend of The Overfiend”, which is quite graphic and could be upsetting. Tentacles are involved.

Brett-Butler wrote:

Just had a look at my copy of the book. The centre pages contains several black and white screenshots from several of the anime spoken about in the book. One of these images is a scene from “Legend of The Overfiend”, which is quite graphic and could be upsetting. Tentacles are involved.

Okay, but would it be fair to label the image 'pornographic'? I'm guessing probably not.