Posted on 07/07/2010 1:38:38 PM PDT by MissTed
A Japanese serial graphic novel genre popular with young teens has raised the ire of a Crestview mother whose teenage son got hold of an adult version of the genre from the Crestview Public Library.
“Manga” depicts highly stylized adventure and, occasionally, violence in fantasy settings.
Margaret Barbaree, founder of a citizens’ group called Protect Our Children, presented examples from a manga book to the Crestview City Council last week that she described as “graphic” and “shocking,” taken from material she said is “available to children” at the Crestview Public Library.
“My son lost his mind when he found this,” Barbaree said of the manga book from which her examples were taken.
She said her son had removed the book unsupervised from the library’s general stacks last summer and put it in his backpack. She has kept it ever since.
“Now he’s in a home for extensive therapy,” she said.
Several months ago, Barbaree had circulated a petition bearing 226 signatures of citizens protesting the availability of manga, which she mistakenly referred to as “anime,” or Japanese animation.
However, the library said some patrons complained they were misled when they signed the petition.
“They told us she (Barbaree) approached them at the Christmas parade and asked them to sign a petition protesting pornography in the library,” said Resource Librarian Sandra Dreaden.
Barbaree said Library Director Jean Lewis explained to her that there is a demand for manga, and that the library strives to meet the needs of its patrons.
City Council President Charles Baugh Jr. assured Barbaree that “we have safeguards in place to protect our children and we have committees that review library purchases so they meet the standards of the (American) Library Association.”
The books that concerned Barbaree “are in the library for those who wish to partake of them and they are in a section of the library” for adult patrons, said Baugh, who visited the library himself the day after the council meeting and said he found the manga available in the young adult section perfectly innocuous.
“We follow up with our citizens’ concerns,” Baugh said after meeting with library staff and viewing the young adult manga.
Baugh also confirmed that the book Barbaree’s son had taken was in the general stacks well away from the children’s and young adult books.
“Our library is well managed and well staffed,” Baugh told Barbaree while assuring her, “I am a family man and I understand what you are saying.”
Lewis said the manga available in the young adult section of the library is oriented toward young teen readers and does not contain the adult themes of the book Barbaree’s son took. That book had been in the general stacks, on a top shelf in a section with other graphic novels and comic books not geared toward young readers.
“We have policies and procedures in place to prevent underage children from accessing those materials,” Baugh said.
In other words, then -- based solely upon the scant information presented in the OP's story -- the hellish, mind-bending tome in question could just as likely have been Urusei Yatsura, or Outlanders, or You're Under Arrest!, or any one of the genuinely "typical," NON-hentai manga titles commonly available here in this country, sans access to a specialty retailer... correct? ;)
Thanks, Dave. ;)
lock that kid in a rubber room and NEVER let him out!
Unfortunately that does happen. I like libraries. There should be enough room for books that others deem offensive or offputting, regardless of what the content is. That’s why there are so many decimels in Dewy’s system.
Anything is available in this country via the internet, and it will arrive at your door in five days.
Welcome to 2010.
That the girbilists thought the story was in anyway news belies the idea of this being Minky Momo or Yamato.
They are insipid, but they hate to be bored.
As a taxpayer, why should we pay for someone elses porn?
Welcome to 2010.
We are not, however, talking about something/anything accessed by the dear, fragile waif in question via the internet, and this is a blatant attempt to shift the goal posts downfield. Welcome back to the subject actually under discussion. ;)
They are insipid, but they hate to be bored.
Modern American teenagers who have (evidently) seen so much, and have become wearily jaded in the process... and yet, somehow, simultaneously, can be driven drooling, gibbering insane by the sights in a manga book.
Uh-huh. ;)
You know if it was hentai and he was around 14, he could have become obsessed. And we don’t know what his problems were beforehand. He obviously had some.
a call to the police, perhaps, or Child Services...this borders on child abuse!!
One call to child Services and they WILL remove the books!
But we have been told neither of these things, and therefore (logically) either or both of said variables might just as easily be something else altogether... yes?
And we don’t know what his problems were beforehand. He obviously had some.
I fully agree with this, based upon what little we've been told thus far. Pre-existing problems of such magnitude, however, could just as easily have been set off by a television show, or a movie, or -- cripes -- a bad box of McNuggets; and what scant info we do have, as of this writing, comes to us via the decidedly askew filter of a (supposedly) reformed junkie. In the absence of anything more concretely reliable, then: I'm more than a little reluctant to broadjump all the way over to sudden belief in the existence of A Japanese Comic So Unutterably Vile, It Corrupts All Those Who Gaze Upon It. ;)
I’m still trying to figure out what the heck ‘he saw’ that made him “lose his mind”; which is really an absurd assertion to begin with.
Big Buckets of ********.
I don't think that the comic made him crazy. It may have been very violent and if he had problems to begin with he may have become obsessed......But this is just supposition. Too bad the "reporter" wasn't of a higher quality. ;-)
Agreed, on both counts. ;)
Well..........Japan has some violent, gory comics called hentai. But the reporter didn't see fit to elaborate.
Wow - I can see where her kid gets his mental problems from.
She said he got the book unsupervised. Why isn’t she supervising him? I wouldn’t recommend that any kid be in a public library unsupervised. In the four years that I worked as a librarian in one, I dealt with homeless, smelly, crazy people muttering to themselves; wife beaters; a weirdo seeking information on self-castration methods; a guy who held up a convenience store and used the library afterward as his alibi; and a sicko who exposed himself in front of teenaged girls about once a week.
In short, parents, take your child to the library yourself and keep a close watch on him or her. Comic books on library shelves should be the least of your concerns.
However, this posting from her facebook page does not help her case:
housewife, mother, participant of wtjt christian nation radio show, founder of protect our children working towards goal of removeing porno material from public library such as beastiality in japanees animay and cut up naked women torsos being molested by men.also want to put cameras in libRARY TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN FROM POSSIBLE CRIMES OR ABDUCTIN AND FOR POLICE TO HAVE ID OR EVEDANCEIF SUCH ACCORS. ALSO A COMPUTER PROGRAM OF SOME TYP TO ID PEDIFILES IF THEY ENTER THE LIBRARY ALSO REMOVE ALL OBCIENITY OR PUT IT BEHIND LOCKED DOORS SO KIDS DO NOT HAVE OPEN UNSUPERVISED ACCESS. I ALSO PLAN TO GO TO JAILS AND PRISONS TO TESTIFIY OF THE MIRICLES THE LORD GOD HAS PROFOMED IN MY LIFE BECAUSE I AM A FULLY RECOVERD DRUG ATTACK COMEING UP ON 3 YEARS IN MAY AND I DONT GO TO N/A I STUDY THE WORDS OF GOD AND I LOVE HIM FOR ALWAYS BEING THERE FOR ME AND SAVEING MY SOUL FROM HELL.AND WANT TO BE A WITNESS TO OTHERS EVERY WHERE I GO.
Usually proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation go a long way in making your case.
However, this posting from her facebook page does not help her case:
housewife, mother, participant of wtjt christian nation radio show, founder of protect our children working towards goal of removeing porno material from public library such as beastiality in japanees animay and cut up naked women torsos being molested by men.also want to put cameras in libRARY TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN FROM POSSIBLE CRIMES OR ABDUCTIN AND FOR POLICE TO HAVE ID OR EVEDANCEIF SUCH ACCORS. ALSO A COMPUTER PROGRAM OF SOME TYP TO ID PEDIFILES IF THEY ENTER THE LIBRARY ALSO REMOVE ALL OBCIENITY OR PUT IT BEHIND LOCKED DOORS SO KIDS DO NOT HAVE OPEN UNSUPERVISED ACCESS. I ALSO PLAN TO GO TO JAILS AND PRISONS TO TESTIFIY OF THE MIRICLES THE LORD GOD HAS PROFOMED IN MY LIFE BECAUSE I AM A FULLY RECOVERD DRUG ATTACK COMEING UP ON 3 YEARS IN MAY AND I DONT GO TO N/A I STUDY THE WORDS OF GOD AND I LOVE HIM FOR ALWAYS BEING THERE FOR ME AND SAVEING MY SOUL FROM HELL.AND WANT TO BE A WITNESS TO OTHERS EVERY WHERE I GO.
Usually, proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation go a long way in making your case.
I thought maybe I overlooked something there...ha ha. Had to be a pretty bad pic if all he did was look *rolling eyes*. Although, there are some things I see that make me feel like I'm losing my mind...Obama in the WH is one!
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