Well, I'm back at home and it's damn freaking hot! Woooh~
That's the price I pay for going somewhere cold.
I don't feel like giving anything detailed; just that it was fun and pretty amazing, and there was a bit of cultural shock. Hey, at least I know what to expect the next time I visit Korea again. Overall, the food was nice, the accommodations are okay and the people there are rather polite. I've bought a few things which can't be found here and ate stuff that tastes a whole lot better than what we've got.
Visit Korea if you have the chance to, it's pretty fun.
Yes, I AM promoting to visit a foreign country. What we have here is meh...
Right, I've stumbled upon a really interesting but maddening article in Baka Manga Updates as I was heading to the releases section to check if my daily fixes was available.
This article was about a guy in Iowa, USA being charged for allegedly obscene manga, particularly for yaoi or BL (boy love, homo, gay...whatever else you might call it). He faces up to 20 years in prison.
The full article and story and be found at the following sources:
Click here and Click here too.
while a personal opinion of a manga fan can be found here.
Here's where I'll start my own opinion:
I think that the lawmakers and enforcers should spend more time thinking about more laws to save our dying planet than to go through people's parcel and posts or go around arresting people for reading comics.
Yes, that's exactly what I think. And yeah, it might probably be a really naive opinion; what do you expect out of a 17-year-old, huh? It's true that I might not understand the magnitude of the situation and am just a bystander or onlooker; a rather far onlooker that lives all the way across the world at that. But this affects me in a way, like it affects all the manga fans in the world.
How? Let's take this article for example: Click me
This article is complaining about Peach Girl, which I have previewed two years ago, around the age of 15. Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I can understand why the parents are complaining; but don't you think that ignorance (in context of the child) is actually bad?
And to answer the question that was posed by the mother of the child, MY parents DO know what I'm reading and they TRUST my judgment on what's right and wrong.
I have to admit, this topic is a double-edged sword. In one way, the child may grow up and mimic the scene that he/she had once saw or read about. In another, the child is aware that there is a kind of possibility of that scene happening to him/herself and will take precaution when out alone or that this kind of situation does happen in the world; rare as it is but it does happen.
Unfortunately, parents never seem to comprehend the latter fact; only thinking about the supposed 'pollution' that the graphic novel/ manga will do to the child. Come on people, YOU CAN'T SHIELD ALL THE BAD THINGS IN THE WORLD!
If they don't find out now, they'll find out eventually; perhaps in a harder, more painful and scarring way.
Nudity, present in some of the graphic novels that I've come across. Sometimes, the underwear is slightly seen and the undergarment is slightly revealed, so what? Compared to the cultural shock I experienced at the spa in Korea, these things are like grass at the side of the highway. Perhaps that experience has made me a lil more mature than others, and I know that it IS a NORM in certain communities in the world.
Besides, most of the graphic novels have labels clearly written on them, like +13, +15, +16 or for older teens or they give warnings like slight language and stuff. I qualify most of the manga that I read, being as old as I am. My sister, who is six years younger than I am, is barred and banned from touching and even coming near to the books in the first rack of my bookshelf, where all my manga are kept.
My point is, it's NOT the publisher's fault; rather, it's the fault of the reader's curiosity (or age). Humans have a brain; the brain has a section called the cerebrum which carries out mental processes such as learning and making judgment. The child SHOULD be able to make the right decision or judgment when it comes to picking up that novel. If taught correctly by the parents, the child should know that he/she is not at the right age to pick it up. So, the fault also lies at the parents.
Therefore people, don't blame the publishers; blame yourself that you've not taught your kid on making the right decisions. Yes, YOU.
What right to I have to even say that statement?
I don't touch yaoi, yuri, shotacon, lolicon and the worst, hentai; I don't even go near them. Sure, I am curious by nature but I DO know where to draw the line. I sure don't need my parents, teachers or even people who have nothing to do with my life to interfere at all.
To those people interfering with other's lives, BUTT OUT! It's none of your business. If that person doesn't pose as a threat, leave them alone! What's your problem? You got nothing better to do isit, huh? You go worry about your financial crisis lah! Bother about what people reading about for what?
(Sorry about the Manglish; kinda lost it there)
What about those romance novels, huh? The best example, Barbara Cartland; all the heaving bosoms and what nots. Just be happy that your kid is not reading about those!
Bottom line is (I'm getting sleepy now) just leave us alone. Everything has been so peaceful (I can't say for the economy though) and suddenly, they dropped this bomb on us. We've never done anything wrong, unless now you call reading as wrong. I like reading these graphic novels because it occasionally makes me feel fuzzy inside with their warm love story and to fill and brighten up my boring and mundane life; I'm sure there are a whole lot of other people who feels the same too.
Caffeine is bad for you; but yet millions of people drink coffee everyday (which includes me, for I did the past few days).
Smoking is bad for your health; but the tobacco business is one of the most profitable ones in the world. Not to mention that 6 out of 10 people in the world smokes.
So, don't take away our hobby; if we take away caffeine and cigarettes from you, you wouldn't like it, would you?
