20 years in prison for buying manga

[krullnar]

Well while I was checking out anime news network I saw an artical that cought my eye http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/editori ... n-thompson

Well I'd like to hear what everyone else has to say on the matter, as for myself I personally believe that this is wrong and is aginst every thing that america is supposed to stand for.

[ShadowCell]

I can't find any newspapers or anything of the like carrying this story.

Either way, though, once you start going on about what "America is supposed to stand for," my POLITICS CRUSH sense starts tingling.

[MrMarch]

This has been a long time coming. Sexual attitudes in North America have actually been regressing for decades and the crusade against pedophiles has been growing to such outrageous proportions, I see this new article as no surprise at all. The litmus test: if you're a single male, just try discussing with anyone how much you like children and want to have your own. I can guarantee at the very least a "politely concerned" reaction, even if it's only an initial reaction. The point doesn't get much more salient than that.

Fans importing manga in this kind of social climate are just asking for trouble. Yes, it sucks. Yes, it shouldn't be that way. But that's the reality of the way the western world is right now. I wouldn't trust a 12-person jury of my peers to defend my rights to own imported manga and neither should anyone else.

[TheGoose]

Its terrible. I really hope that he doesn't get thrown in jail.

[Aegis]

I want to know exactly what they found in the mangas to even warrant such a reaction in the first place. Even then, I wonder what the heck constitutes as obscene to even be thrown in jail and charged as the equivalent of a sex offender.

[Darth Optimus]

HGWHD?

[G-Slayer]

I want to know exactly what they found in the mangas to even warrant such a reaction in the first place. Even then, I wonder what the heck constitutes as obscene to even be thrown in jail and charged as the equivalent of a sex offender.

The inspector of Handley's post office looked through his mail and found what's described as images of "minors engaged in sexual conduct" before contacting police. While I can understand how such material seems like the equivalent of kiddie porn, it doesn't make this case any less ridiculous. Hopefully some higher-up with enough brains will see this and convince the masses to come to their senses.

[TheGoose]

I wonder what manga it was.

[krullnar]

I know what i said earlier but for them to look through his mail they must of already been checking him out the post office just doesn't go through peoples mail.

[TheGoose]

http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/11/24/ne ... eys-trial/


I'm happy that Neil Gaiman has voiced his opinion for the defense. Plus, he has a point, Gaiman wrote a story about, "a story about a serial killer who kidnaps and rapes children, and then murders them." “We did that as a comic, not for the purposes of titillation or anything like that, but if you bought that comic, you could be arrested for it? That’s just deeply wrong. Nobody was hurt. The only thing that was hurt were ideas.” End quote. I agree with him.

Right now, the Supreme Court Miller Test dictates that material is only obscene if a jury determines that it meets all of the following three criteria:


1. Whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest

2. Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law

3. whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value

[Aegis]

The inspector of Handley's post office looked through his mail and found what's described as images of "minors engaged in sexual conduct" before contacting police. While I can understand how such material seems like the equivalent of kiddie porn, it doesn't make this case any less ridiculous. Hopefully some higher-up with enough brains will see this and convince the masses to come to their senses.

I seen the description, and that STILL doesn't paint me a clear picture, especially given how we've seen 16 year olds drawn to look like they're twenty five. I do agree in the end that the fact the guy is arrested for simply buying manga when there's more raunchier and disgusting things that exist out here in the world is simply ridiculous.

[ORegan]

Wait, so now having drawings of non-existant girls is illegal? Does this mean I can get arrested for drawing people naked on a napkin now? There are so many wholes in this case that it might as well be called swiss cheese

[Gadget]

So we get into trouble if we talk about stuff like "Strike Witches"?

So now imported manga need the CCA (Not Char's Counter Attack but Comic Code Authority) stamp?

[J-Lead]

No matter what the jury rules, the guy's life is ruined. It's like being accused of rape, even if your found innocent; nobody will ever look at you the same way. I honestly feel sorry for him. I don't care that he's a yaoi or even a shotacon/lolicon fanatic; he's not a menace to society. It's not just America, either, countries all over the world have jumped on the boat of anal-retentive standards pertaining to political correctness under some stupid conservative pretense, and it's nothing but bad for any community.

Besides, if you think this invasion of personal privacy is bad, you should see some of the crap the British go through. People there get fined for not having a TV license, for god sake, and the government certainly has a creepy, police state-like way of letting you know that they're monitoring things like this. (I wish I had saved some of the pictures of the posters saying things like "There are five people on yadda-yadda street without TV licenses. If you don't have one yet, we'll know shortly!" Creepy...)

[Antares]

J-Lead said:

Besides, if you think this invasion of personal privacy is bad, you should see some of the crap the British go through. People there get fined for not having a TV license, for god sake, and the government certainly has a creepy, police state-like way of letting you know that they're monitoring things like this. (I wish I had saved some of the pictures of the posters saying things like "There are five people on yadda-yadda street without TV licenses. If you don't have one yet, we'll know shortly!" Creepy...)

Weeeeell... If it is something you are supposed to pay for... Speaking as a national of a country where we have that too. My humble opinion is that this still far from a police state. Besides, it's not hard to dodge it if you think you don't need to pay. I pay it gladly because it funds two public TV channels with really good cultural programming (concerts, both classical and rock) and documentaries and the like. But that is slightly offtopic here.

I forwarded this bit of news to a female friend of mine, who studies/researches comics, including manga, and her most recent project is to formulate a catalogue system for the public library system ordering and categorizing manga. To research the stuff she has ordered imports of a wide spectrum of manga, including works of, um, questionable nature (she tells me it's for research). I'll see her in court, it seems, unless academics are somehow exempt.

[Zeonic Glory]

So we get into trouble if we talk about stuff like "Strike Witches"?

You'd get worse reactions for Kodomo no Jikan. Theres a reason why it didn't quite make the trip to the U.S.

[South Burning]

The Postal Service DOES just go through peoples' mail and they don't need a reason to do it. Random mail "inspection" is done frequently according to someone I know who works for the Post Office. It's 1984. Stay alert.

[ShadowCell]

The fact that you're allowed to complain about how it's 1984 proves that it's not 1984.

This is exactly what I was afraid this thread would turn into. One more chance or I kill it.

[foxpaws]

Regardless of how one may feel about the alleged subject matter and/or the legality of this case - and the discussions on various forums would suggest that people have plenty of thoughts, conflicting though they may be - my personal fear is that if the case results in a successful prosecution, it will increase unwarranted scrutiny of this hobby.

For this reason alone, I'd personally suggest contributing to the defense fund - if not to protect the interests of the accused, then to help protect our own. It's good to have a reasonable debate about it, but it's even better to actually do something about it.

-- Keith

[krullnar]

Agreed I did donate 10 dollors US to help the cause.