Op Ed – A Short Explanation of “A Modest Proposal…” (CnN version)
On Tuesday October 17th I posted an article entitled “A Modest Proposal – To aid in the reduction of the production of lolis and the consumption by the otaku culture.” I can’t exactly say much about how it was received. All I can say is that the page was “visited” by more people than any other post I’ve written. I’m still getting Google visits from people looking for “loli.”
Let me start by saying that I found Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” to be a very interesting read. I had read it a few times in the past but it came up in relation to a random article I was reading about a month ago.…(more)…
Overall, I was hoping that people would come to a conclusion of their own when reading the post about the stance I was taking. It is clearly a satirical comment on “something,” but I intentionally wrote it to be ambiguous as to what stance I was taking in regard to the subject. Are lolis and lolism a favored or hated thing? That question is not necessarily answered in the memo because it was for the reader to decide. Perhaps that was the problem with the post; people didn’t want to be on the wrong side of the argument if then made a comment. On the other hand, people don’t comment much to my posts so that may not be the issue.
It’s inescapable, the lolism that pervades in otaku and general anime viewing culture. It’s not “cute little girls” that are an issue. Cute little girls and boys are fine. Cuteness is fine in general. However, there is a leaning in some instances where the characters are clearly sexualized in a way that is supposed to be appealing to older viewers. I’m neglecting the obvious child porn that many associate with lolicon.
It’s the gray area that I see creeping up on the average viewer. They say you can boil a person alive if you slowly raise the temperature of the water and do not heat it too fast. I don’t want to see really good anime replaced by simple stories and characters that appeal to one aspect of the view ship. I don’t want to slowly be boiled.
I fear that if it happens slowly enough, one day, many of my fellow anime watchers will forget that it was not “that stuff” that drew them to anime but great stories and unique art. Wait…I may be too late.
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I’ve been posting too much lately. I think I’ll take a break for a few days and get caught up on some class reading material.
Notes:
Post feed
>>Wait…I may be too late.
Damn straight you’re too late!
/legions of slobbering lolikit-clones shuffle around searching for loli anime
I suppose. Although, the thought of “legions of slobbering lolikit-clones” scares me more than not being able to find good anime in the future.
I think there’s an important difference between coveting a character like, say, Chiyo from Azumanga Daioh, and Sakaki from the same series. They’re both under-aged. Sakaki has features that are womanly and sexual in nature. Chiyo’s just a little girl. There’s no biological justification for that kind of turn-on.
Now, some girls just don’t develop much, and a lot of grown women don’t look much like they’ve actually gone through puberty aside from a little width in the hips, but there’s definitely an air of “dirty old man lusting after 8-year-old-boys” in a lot of anime and manga these days. Who’s producing these things anyway? Catholic priests?
Catholic priests…you may be on to something there. I smell another satirical post.
Well, you beat me to the whole “lolicons are evil” post. I guess I’m going to have to figure out something else to throw out there. I think one of the issues that needs to be addressed, that you don’t touch on in your post, is that there is also a problem with people being proud of the fact that they make children into sexual objects. In fact, it’s the main problem and one that’s becoming more and more exaggerated as the internet comes into play (since, lest we forget, most traffic on the internet is porno based).
I have a rule that I have to comment at least as much on my post as other people do…sorry it’s a rule.
Micheal, that’s a good point. I would like to read your views on that aspect of the issue.