Posted on 07/21/2004 4:58:49 AM PDT by snopercod
A few days ago my daughter related how she took my ten-year-old Grandson to the Eau Gallie, FL (near Melbourne) public library to check out some books. She turned him loose in the kids' section while she looked for some books for herself.
A while later, they each took their stack of books to the counter, checked them out, and went home. My daughter didn't inspect his choices any farther than the covers - big mistake. This is one of the books he chose (cool cover, right?):
"Meet Rally and Minnie-May -- The Gunsmith Cats -- two of the most fun-loving, well-armed, bounty-hunting women in Chicago! Whether they're chasing bail jumpers or fending off the mob, you can bet on a healthy supply of guns, bombs, car chases, and more guns! In this 176-page trade paperback -- collecting issues 1 through 6 of the series -- the pair run afoul of Bonnie and Clyde, a couple of hired guns working mob jobs in the Windy City. With their business interests running on opposite sides of the law, it's no surprise that the net result is gunfire and mayhem!"
Later in the day, Grandson shows Mom what's inside the book. Her eyes got big and her jaw dropped. Splattered across an entire page was a lewd sex act of the monica kind in graphic detail captioned with "OOOH, yeah!", "Oh Babe...!", MMPH!, etc.
My daughter turned some more pages and found episodes of cop killing, cocaine sniffing, drug dealing, prostitution, and normal, head-banging sex ("Twenty friggin' times" to quote the John) - all punctuated with assorted gutter language. There's a frame in there that even I can't figure out. Some guy is apparently performing fallatio on his gun barrel. His tongue is licking the side of it with the caption, "hahh...ahhh...huhh".
It turns out that "fun loving" character Minnie-May Hopkins portrays an underaged prostitute. Nice.
You know, I'm not a prude and not a "social conservative". But what the heck is a book like this doing in a public library at all, let alone in the childrens' section?
My daughter went back and talked to the woman at the desk, who thought this book was completely suitable, apparently. When asked why it was in the childrens' section, she said, "Oh this was probably misfiled. It should have been in the teenage section". When asked why it was in the library at all, the woman responded, "Because it's popular with the kids". Well hell, why not throw in a couple of beers with each book; That's popular with the kids, too.
I hope my daughter follows up on this. I recommended that she write a letter (with copies of the offending pages) to the Brevard County Supervisors and ask them why her tax dollars were being used to purchase this crap and push it on her children.
This sexualization of our children and early introduction to casual violence is a horrible outcome of years of liberalism in this country. We have been paying the price for many years in terms of devaluing human life.
A shocking story! And thanks for taking action on this. Unfortunately, you probably can't expect any action from the public library on this. I suggest checking the book out and destroying it.
In Brevard there will be a reaction. This will be fun.
You lucky there was nothing in there on beastiality or 'safe' rimming. Those topics are covered in the web sites recommended by the American Library Association for teenagers. The ALA believes that parents don't do their job in providing sex education and insists that they step in and help all these oppressed teenagers.
Yeah, I'm all for book burning, too! I say we should just burn ALL potentially offending books.
Porn anime in the kids section? Not cool.
Take a video camera down there and see if you can find some more. Then save the video to disc and provide a copy to the local news. That will get their attention.
Check this out!
Actually, my daughter told me she thought of doing exactly that. But that wouldn't address the problem of the people who selected that book for our children. The head librarian should be called to account for her choice (I am assuming it's a woman, but haven't checked yet.)
My daughter turned some more pages and found episodes of cop killing, cocaine sniffing, drug dealing, prostitution, and normal, head-banging sex ("Twenty friggin' times" to quote the John) - all punctuated with assorted gutter language. There's a frame in there that even I can't figure out. Some guy is apparently performing fallatio on his gun barrel. His tongue is licking the side of it with the caption, "hahh...ahhh...huhh".
And I know a certain liberal (perverted) librarian (Hi Vicki you miserable wretch. Grow a spine witch) who despises children basically anti-family who moved to the Florida panhandle who would defend this type of kiddie porn comic book. She's probably ordering stacks to fill her library cuz GOSH, it's all about free speech.
Hopefully a shark eats her, soon!
1: Bonnie and Clyde
2: Misfire
3: The Return of Gray
4: Goldie versus Misty
5: Bad Trip
6: Bean Bandit
7: Kidnapped
8: Mister V
9: Misty's Run
There could be, I just don't know.
Is there a Central Florida ping list that you know of?
Is this one of the Japanese anime "non-porn" porns? A fellow who was once a missionary to Japan has told me that the Japanese rule is that if the naked figure has no pubic hair, then no matter how wild its activities are it's not counted as porn. And our own SCOTUS has capped that by saying that if it's not a photo of a real person it's not counted as porn either.
Gunsmith Cats is a Japanese manga (graphic novel). It is intended for older audiences, NOT children. Many people instantly assume that just because something is animated or drawn, it is appropriate for children. Your librarian made this same mistake.
I watched the Gunsmith Cats OAV a long time ago. The manga might have been different but it didn't have nudity. The majority of manga and anime are no more different than the American "Superhero" comics which will feature very big chests and very little skin.
In fact I stopped reading American comics when one comic featured a jay-naked Bush sobbing & surrendering at Magneto's feet.
There is an easy solution. Find the books, take them to the Librarian, and say you want to challenge them. All library systems have ways for customers to remove or reclassify items. We do it occationally. I do it occationally without customers asking (But thats part of my job) These items should be in an adult section, at the minimum. Most librarians would like to know that this type of material isn't appropriate, but, can't always look at every book. Its up to the customers to point things out to them. The selectors order hundreds of items at a time, they can't read every book.
As for stealing the book or checking it out and destroying it, that will get your privilages removed. Its also sending a VERY bad message to children that its ok to steal. Why steal or damage the item when the library has a method of removing the item in place?
My apologies--I didn't see the part about the Lewinsky act--that is definitely NOT "normal" for mainstream manga. That is indeed disgusting...
We have graphic novels in the library where I work and they all go to adult non-fiction just to be on the safe side. We are just beginning to add these to our collection and are trying to keep on the lighter side of the genre - like Superman, Batman, and Justice League.
This needs to be called to the attention of the library director. It could have been an honest mistake. A lot of libraries have standing order plans and just get whatever the publishers think are the popular titles. We have a plan like that but I always check the graphic novels before we put them out because like you said too many people think they are all for kids because it's a comic.
Japanese comics tend to be violent which perhaps is an outlet to displace sexual impulses in a country in which explicit pornography is outlawed. Don't be too put off by it; Japan is still the safest country in the world and until recently, violent crime was virtually unheard of in Japanese society.
This is what government libraries and government schools are about, Charlie Brown.
Excellent idea. That's what I would do. Just expect to be villified in the press as a "Christian Fundamentalist."
Then again it's better than being thrown into the sea with a millstone around your neck.
FWIW, at the airport bookstore in Rome, Italy, the hard-core porno "manga" graphic novels are literally next to the kiddie books.
In the last state I lived in, some county libraries were required to post signs warning parents that they were not entering a kid-safe environment.
By the way, is Eau Gallie pronounced Ug-al-lee?!?!?
Thanks for posting.
My 11 year old son, who is an avid reader, has discovered the world of comic books much to my dismay. We've just finished the Ultimate Spiderman book which I felt the subject matter was a little more advance than I prefer for his age (discreet talk of drug use, gays and safe sex) but overall the story line (more like picture line) had some good moral foundations which, quite frankly, surprised me.
I just don't like this kind of reading because there really is not much reading. It's looking at a bunch of pictures for the most part. (My wife said the library calls them "Graphic Novels" now.)
Might I suggest the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. We've just purchased the complete 17 volume Redwall series which are excellent books for children of this age. They're extremely well written and we've have enjoyed those that we've read.
It's "Oh-Galley".
It's sending a very good message that you should fight evil rather than be "nice."
These books are intrinsically evil, so destroying them is a moral good. Failing to destroy these books is a moral evil.
You're a good parent by being aware of what your child is reading.
We had an incident in our library of a 12 year old girl checking out Patterson's "Kiss the Girls". She decided to share the "good parts" with a friend. That friend's mother came in and wanted to know if we could put ratings on our books!
Thanks for the tip on the Redwall series.
I know, I know....just funnin' ya'....
How about teaching the child to try the proper procedures for having a book removed from a public library? You may be surprised how often that method could work.
Then you know how to pronounce Kissimmee, don't you?
Evidently they are teaching that this is typical behavior of a gun owner to frighten the children. That and they want to teach the children that cop killing, cocaine sniffing, prostitution etc. are "cool" in our wonderful valueless society. Just don't allow any Bibles -- that might offend somebody!
Porno? Nope. Gunsmith Cats is a dramatic anime (not unlike crime dramas, both motion picture and television in this country), that is geared toward adults, and written with adults in mind. In terms of what's there, it's no worse than The Sopranos or The Shield. The basic storyline is about a pair of female detectives in Chicago. That being said, it is not intended for children. The people at the library obviously didn't find out what they had on hand. The animated episodes of Gunsmith Cats show up off and on on Encore's Action Channel. The videos are available at Borders and elsewhere. And yes, I've watched the episodes. My teenaged daughter is an anime buff, and I've paid close attention to what kind of anime she is getting into, so yes, I do know what I'm talking about. Please keep in mind that there is far, far more insidious Japanese animation out there, and while the larger distribution companies do not deal with it, parents have a responsibility to find out what their children are reading/watching and deal with it appropriately. I take that responsibility very seriously.
Porno? Nope. Gunsmith Cats is a dramatic anime (not unlike crime dramas, both motion picture and television in this country), that is geared toward adults, and written with adults in mind.
In terms of what's there, it's no worse than The Sopranos or The Shield. The basic storyline is about a pair of female detectives in Chicago.
That being said, it is not intended for children. The people at the library obviously didn't find out what they had on hand.
The animated episodes of Gunsmith Cats show up off and on on Encore's Action Channel. The videos are available at Borders and elsewhere.
And yes, I've watched the episodes. My teenaged daughter is an anime buff, and I've paid close attention to what kind of anime she is getting into, so yes, I do know what I'm talking about.
Please keep in mind that there is far, far more insidious Japanese animation out there, and while the larger distribution companies do not deal with it, parents have a responsibility to find out what their children are reading/watching and deal with it appropriately. I take that responsibility very seriously.
Just damn.
If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
Do they show the "monica" scene?
what's even more disturbing than the animation is what the Anonymous Reader's posted in their comments about it, villanizing Christians for condemning it, be carful what you let your children read.
"The worst attack on morality comes in the form of Japanese manga films, which spread a shocking message of immorality under the cover of animation, a cynical move targetting a genre typically aimed at children. These films are supposedly aimed at adults, but a moment's reflection counters this vacuous argument - what kind of grown adult watches cartoons? When we become adults we put childish things behind us, and cartoons, whilst of invaluable aid in entertaining and educating children, are of no use to a healthy adult of sound mind and firm moral base."
In the episodes I've seen, there have not been any overtly sexual segements; as I mentioned, the language, situations and violence are definitely well beyond anything that children should be watching by any means.
Some of the language is very raunchy (and certainly implies "monicaness", to use the same term), and the violence is definitely over the top.
Any librarian who put that in the children's section needs to have his/her head examined.
Hunter X Hunter is my favorite. It has no sexuality, just plain old good action. Legend of Basara is by far the best manga out there IMHO and suitable for teenage girls.
BTW pornography isn't outlawed in Japan, just not allowed to be aired on TV.
Gunsmith Cats is Japanese Manga/Anime.
They have different rules there about what is acceptable and not acceptable in comics. This is not 'porn' in the traditional sense, and to not understand this is to be ignorant.
I happen to own many of the manga, as well as the video - it is only 6 episodes, and is derived from another anime called Bean Bandit, which is more violent.
Now, should this be sold to kids? Nope. I would agree with that. Manga in Japan is marketted to adults for the most part. The kids get the 'cutesy' anime/manga like Pokemon and Hamtaro.
Take a look at the Cartoon Network's after primetime Adult Swim: I have a lot more issues with AMERICAN cartoons like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, SeaLab 2021, and Spike TV's Stripperella and Ren & Stimpy, than I do with anime similar to Gunsmith Cats: Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Inuyasha, and Ruroni Kenshin.
The Japanese graphics are very good, I have to admit. I would post some of the content on my website so folks could see what I am upset about, but I am afraid it would be considered child pornography.
Sure, but give me your interpretation!
In Japan grown adults do indeed watch cartoons. I doubt there's a conspiracy going on here.
Well, I guess that makes me ignorant because I still think that drawings of teenaged girls with their lips slathering the penis of a middle-aged male are pornography.
The American Library Association (ALA) is of the mind that there is no such thing as "age appropriate" material (they have stated this explicitly on their website). You are lucky that the works of Robert Crumb (such as Fritz The Cat) were not filed along side it.
While I think that it is valid to have the works of Robert Crumb in a library (completed collected works are available in reprint), I do not believe that they are right for all ages any more than a library should be loaning out R and NC-17/X films to 13 year olds.
As I mentioned, there is an entire subset of Japanese animation that is definitely off the deep end as far as offensive and pornographic content is concerned.
Overall, there are three distinct areas of anime: the more basic "cutsy" type of animation that is specifically geared toward children; the more adult anime that has more mature stories, storylines and content (not unlike our dramatic presentations or more adult cartoons), and finally the really off-the-deep-end offensive stuff. Japanese culture has evolved around these forms, especially the first two that I mentioned. There's quite a bit of science fiction involved, again as is tied to their culture.
All anime is not bad -- it is simply incumbent upon us as parents to pay close attention to what our children are watching and reading.
Gunsmith Cats, if/when contained within a library, should be in the adult section, not the children's section. It is a crime-drama, and is very violent. The stories wouldn't get a second glance from children if they were in novel form, yet the stories would make for decent mystery literature on the shelves along side most hard-boiled crime dramas.
Unfortunately, because they are animated, many people automatically think they are for kids. They are not.
Forget potential..too risky...just burn all books, all languages.
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