But the thing about it is, the entire subject of this topic kinda happens to revolve around doom and gloom. Every single time some topic like this gets bumped up from the grave, I’m like “Ah geez, is someone acting all pessimistic about the industry again?” or “Ah geez, did something significant happen again?”.
Yes, well… no specific eroge cases to destroy our hope but there certainly is enough of an attack on free speech in general that I don’t see any of the worrying or stress dissapating anytime soon.
So, twincest goodness is very welcome. Especially if it is a tearful girl given a kiss to cheer up… so I applaud the morale lifting efforts.
One of the reasons I started this thread was simply to boost awareness of the issue. You wouldn’t believe how many fans either have no idea about this case, or have the wrong idea. I brought the issue up in anime club, and smart people that are very knowledgable about the hobby got this case mixed up with the Whorley case, and as a result thought that no person in the US has gone to jail purely for the possession of pornographic cartoons. Well, that’s wrong. Fans of anime culture need to wake up and realize that their freedom of expression is under fire. Sure, the threat right now might not be that dire. But it lays the groundwork for the Justice Department to prosecute the issue much more broadly. Now that the can of worms has been created, all it might take is a child rapist caught with lolicon and featured prominently in the news for a crackdown to commence.
Yeah, the last sentence you said there (which I assume is the overall message), while not completely unwarranted, pretty much fits the definition of “doom and gloom”, which also incidentally happens to reflect everyone’s inability to distinguish between the fact that the guy was arrested for “obscenity”, not “lolicon”. While the issue itself may be of concern, the sort of attitude you displayed is capable of seeding excessive uncertanty, paranoia and pessimism within the fanbase/industry, especially amongst the newcomers you’re trying to “educate”, which can then lead to unnecessary panic-induced reactions. Pessimism/panic is the last thing the fanbase and the industry needs right now, not to mention it can be very frustrating to hear about people’s government conspiracy theories (which is not limited to this forum, by the way), especially when a thread like this pops up from the grave. Hell, JAST is far more likely to die from a lack of sales due to people not buying from them for fear of the government potentially cracking down on them, as opposed to the government actually doing so–Do we really need this to happen?
So to repeat what I said in the beginning page of this topic: Screw the government, but screw this thread even more. I’m tired of these sorts of craptastic legal panics.
Besides, weren’t there other threads that discussed this legal case that served to “educate” people about it too?
I’m not sure what you’re going on about here. Yes, my previous post gave my opinion on the matter, but 1) it’s clearly an opinion and 2) it’s buried in the third page of the thread. My opening post is quite neutral, fact-based, and hardly panic inspiring. And it clearly states that Handley was charged with obscenity, which you accuse me of misrepresenting.
From my perspective, it seems like you’re just looking for something to whine about. Which honestly puzzles me, since every post you make here bumps the thread, giving it the notice you so clearly don’t want it to have. If, on the other hand, you actually have constructive criticism to offer (in regards to the opening post), that’s something I’ll consider.
I think that the “doom and gloom” stems from the very charge of obscenity… it is completely subjective and relies solely on the discretion of an opinion. 60 years ago, interracial love and erotica were considered obscene. Hell, pretty much any type of erotica was considered obscene earlier last centry.
They are prosecuting speech and expression based on the mere opinion that such speech is distasteful. Not harmful, simply distasteful. Of course any one that truly enjoys free speech is going to shudder and moan with such cases.
Personally, I’ve given up on trying to have a rational discussion with B173 M3. Which is precisely why I have to hold myself back from the urge to bait him.
Hey that’s not nice dude, we’ve never even attempted having a rational discussion to begin with. :lol: