You nailed 'em. My kids have photos to prove it. 
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.
ROTFL. Our daughter and son-in-law love the manga and anime stuff, make prize-winning costumes - last participated in the convention in San Jose. They've told me about some of the more twisted Manga, usually people who really, really, really want attention. Generally dressed in costumes you wish you could erase from your memory but no worse than some of the patrons of the local Walmart...
Yeah the theft part of all this seems be secondary.
I nooticed that there was no age mentioned so he could be 35 for all we know? Drama queen!
few things will make the stomach churn like watching 40 year old, morbidly obese, neckbeards dressed as skimpy clothed anime characters.
Manga is basically comics. Hentai is the violent and graphic type. Sailor Moon in comic form would be general manga. However, Sailor Moon doing the deed would be hentai.
>> What kind of library has pronographic comic books?
(rolling eyes) Some people are just helpless... lemmee check my rolodex and I’ll get back to you with some addresses.
Yup. I’d say the theft part shows there were existing problems.
It doesnt say why the kid is in extensive therapy. Pretty poor reporting. They go from he had it in his bag to he is in extensive therapy. What happened in between?
Did he read it and start harming animals? Did he shut himself off from everyone? did he refuse to eat? Did he go about his life like normal but his mom threw him in therapy to gain sympathy points for her proto-fascist MADD wannabe group?
We need answers to this.
The irony is that many of the activities depicted in the more violent manga are relatively rare in real life in Japan. Access by minors is less than you might think largely because nearly any adult can shake his or her finger at nearly any kid and say "You shouldn't be reading that," and the parents will come to the defense...of the adult. Try that one in the States.
When I lived there my neighborhood Mom & Pop had vending machines containing manga, soft-porn mags, beer, and, yes, whiskey, and it was less than half a block from a secondary school. The kids didn't bother them because they knew what would happen if they did. America used to be a little like that but it isn't anymore. Just a thought.
You nailed 'em. My kids have photos to prove it.
He checked out The Audacity of Hope? Dreams of My Father? If he read It Takes A Village therapy will be useless.
There are segments of Japanese pop culture that are fixated with extreme rape and violence against women. Some of which is fairly mainstream.
It isn’t outside the realm of possibility for manga to deal with some subject matter that is quite extreme and depraved.
>> America used to be a little like that but it isn’t anymore. Just a thought.
Personal responsibility?
That’s not progressive thinking, you know. That sort of thing went out of favor a generation or so after WWII. Reactionary!
How did we become a nation of such pampered, sheltered victims?
Disgusting...
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.”
BULLSTALIN.
The ALA has NO "standards". They do not believe in a notion of "age appropriate materials".
If you kid wants to thumb through copies of Playboy (for interviews with President Carter and other historic figures), go right ahead.
Want to check out an R or NC-17 rated film? That's no concern for the ALA.
Who do you think it is that fights against porn filters (or even tapping people on the shoulder for cruising porn sites at the library) in public?
Whether it is Japanese Manga or the Comix (emphasis on X) of Robert Crumb, they are actively against putting any restrictions on the materials in the library.
Equity of access means that all people have the information they need-regardless of age, education, ethnicity, language, income, physical limitations or geographic barriers. It means they are able to obtain information in a variety of formats-electronic, as well as print. It also means they are free to exercise their right to know without fear of censorship or reprisal.
ALA - Free Access to Libraries for Minors "An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights"
Library policies and procedures that effectively deny minors equal and equitable access to all library resources and services available to other users violate the Library Bill of Rights. The American Library Association opposes all attempts to restrict access to library services, materials, and facilities based on the age of library users....Libraries should not limit the selection and development of library resources simply because minors will have access to them. Institutional self-censorship diminishes the credibility of the library in the community, and restricts access for all library users....
Children and young adults unquestionably possess First Amendment rights, including the right to receive information through the library in print, nonprint, or digital format. Constitutionally protected speech cannot be suppressed solely to protect children or young adults from ideas or images a legislative body believes to be unsuitable for them.
1 Librarians and library governing bodies should not resort to age restrictions in an effort to avoid actual or anticipated objections, because only a court of law can determine whether material is not constitutionally protected....
A store that sells same materials found in a library to a minor could be criminally charged with corrupting a minor.
Ran across RanXerox or something?
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