First, read this and the link at the top->
morriganthesink.deviantart.com…ANGER AND RAGE MY FRIENDS.
Now, I realize that Japan is not America, and therefore the 1st Amendment doesn't apply, however in Article 21 of
the Constitution of Japan, it says, "Freedom of assembly and association as well as speech, press and all other forms of expression are guaranteed. 2) No censorship shall be maintained, nor shall the secrecy of any means of communication be violated."
In other words, this ban that the Tokyo government is pushing through is entirely unconstitutional, even in Japan.
Sure, violence, gore, and porn (be it gay, straight, loli or whatever the hell else gets you off) is not necessary, nor is it morally right, but people have a natural right to read, write, publish and purchase whatever they want. To limit that is to step all over not only the laws given to each individual by nature, but to step on the constitution of their own government. I could rant on and on about this one thing, but really, it's as simple as the first sentence of this paragraph.
The Tokyo government is concerned about these materials and their affect on children. I understand that, but there are so many better ways of going about it that just banning the material. First off, set stricter laws on ratings. Have specific guidelines concerning ratings: graphic violence gets a T rating, sexual situations a T+, graphic sexual content an M and Holy Shit That's A Detailed Penis gets an NC-17; ID people who are buying T+ and up; set up special 18-and-older rooms in shops for certain materials so that people under that age just plain can't get to them, etc. It is a fact that trial deters people from trying to obtain things they shouldn't, and hardcore security on these items will make it even more difficult for underage people who aren't deterred to buy them. So rather than penalizing those who are old enough and responsible enough to purchase these things, or the people who make them, it would make more sense for the system to simply tighten up its security concerning sensitive materials.
Next off, this whole ban is rife with contradictions, hypocrisy, and general nonsense. It bans the creation of, distribution of, and possession of violent/gory/sexual manga, but it specifically
allows for photographic materials of the same nature</b>. In other words, you can have your real child porn, but loli manga is a no-no. You can have photos of a real little girl or boy being brutally raped, but you can't have a manga that depicts the same thing but doesn't actually harm a child. There are so many things wrong with that, I'm just completely dumbfounded.
To start with, actual porn or any kind, be it child porn, violent porn, porn depicting rape/incest/etc, all involve the harming of a real human being. If you allow people to legally purchase and own those items, then you are condoning the actions in the video, saying it is alright to go out and hurt an real, living, breathing child and then
record it. Yet, despite this, the ban applies only to manga, which doesn't involve actual people. When someone buys
actual pornography of this nature, they are delighting in the sexual torture of another human being who is real, with a family and people who care. However, someone who buys manga of this kind does so with the understanding that the behavior depicted is never appropriate in real life, and that no one was actually hurt in order to make it. It is a safe way for people to
sublimate their otherwise unacceptable desires without harming others. So which is worse, the purchaser who understands that someone was hurt in order to fulfill their twisted fantasies but buys it anyway, or the person who understands that such behavior is wrong and is therefore purchasing an alternative which doesn't hurt anyone? I think we'd all agree that the second person is better, and yet it is the second person who is penalized while the first one gets to encourage sexual violence against children!
Next, apparently the guy who's forwarded this bill, Shintarō Ishihara, is the author of
a series of schoolgirl gangrape novels. That's right folks, Mr. Pedobear himself apparently thinks he is morally superior to a manga-ka who draws the same things he writes. Excuse me but what? That makes no sense. Frankly, having something drawn graphically is just as bad as having something described graphically. So if you're going to ban manga of that sort, then it would follow that all literature of that sort be banned. But the mainstream publishers wouldn't like that, now would they? And what about banning actual porn? Couldn't do that, now could they, considering the size of Japan's porn industry? I find it ironic that a country which historically has been very positive toward depictions of sexuality would be so brutal on comics, of all things.
This bill is a clear stab at otaku culture. Ishihara is a well-known dickwad who has said
that both otaku and gays are genetically inferior. He's a double-talking bastard who apparently thinks that somehow, literature about gangbanging young girls is morally superior to a drawing of it. He just want to keep making money off his own petty smut while punishing others for drawing the same. This is a legal persecution of artists, and even if you don't agree with what they make, you damn well better believe they have a right to make it. I predict that if this law really does go into effect, the manga-writing community will flee Japan for more liberal places like America and Europe. There are established manga and anime distributors in the western world, so the transition would be fairly easy. Still, they shouldn't have to even contemplate leaving their home country just to keep making what they make, or worse, contemplate not making it at all.
Seriously Japanese legislature, please understand that your country is known for its crazy comics, and that any sort of ban or restriction on them will only serve to worsen your already stagnant economy.
</end rant>