Censorship: Not Cool

I've written before about the censorship of illustrated materials - graphic novels, comics, and manga, specifically, although I'd lump in games, movies, and t.v. shows, as well. That's why a couple articles in particular jumped out at me today:

• CNN Spectacularly Fails To Understand Manga and Anime: This first article concerns CNN's coverage of manga, which immediately assumes most (and implies all) of it is child porn - without questioning whether illustrated materials can actually be porn, since no actual person is involved; or whether it should be automatically lumped in with a type of porn we can all agree is despicable because it harms children (after all, not all types of porn are unilaterally declared morally reprehensible); or even if all manga is sexually explicit, much less whether some manga series might have an intended audience of adults. So, yeah, bad job, CNN.

Love Hina is about getting into college, not - I repeat not - child porn.

• How Far is Too Far? Censorship and Storytelling in Games: This next article concerns the seemingly ubiquitous concern that violent games trigger violence, and that other games contain too much adult content. I have to say, there are lots of games I don't want my kids playing because the games include violent or sexual content that I don't think is appropriate - but that's my prerogative, as a mom. I keep them away from those games, and find other games for them to play. They occasionally run across inappropriate games online, but I'm not too worried that they'll be permanently scarred for life (they know who Slendy is, although they think he's really funny, rather than terrifying). I don't believe it's my right, however, to mandate what is or is not appropriate for everyone else's enjoyment and demanding that games that don't meet my standards be censored. 

Hilarious? Really?

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Links!

• Libraries, Books, & Authors:
• The problem with threshold concepts Especially important reading for those involved in information literacy instruction in higher education! 
• ALA Report Shows Internet Filtering Curtails Free Speech 
• City Shuts Down Free Library Built By Nine-Year-Old Boooooo....
• Supreme Court Delivers Unanimous Decision in Key Free Speech Victory 
• Rush Limbaugh Attacks the Bookstore at Busboys and Poets Let's not get into how ridiculous it is to expect every bookstore to sell your book; let's focus on the fact that this particular bookstore, Busboys and Poets, is particularly focused on books "by or about people of color." Rush, bless your heart, how exactly are you a minority? You should all read the bookstore's response, too. 
• 7 Fairy Tales That Won’t Be Disney’s New Blockbuster 
• Need some book club reading suggestions? Welcome to the HarperCollins Book Club!
• Net & Tech:
• How Amazon is holding Hachette hostage 
• New Emails Show That Feds Instructed Police To Lie About Using Stingray Mobile Phone Snooping 
• How Secret Partners Expand NSA’s Surveillance Dragnet 
• Personal Helicopters Instead Of Cars Could Become A Reality Which is problematic for those of us with no depth perception. But, still, really cool. 
• House of Representatives moves to ban NSA's 'backdoor search' provision Awesome! It still has to get through the Senate, of course.  
• Science:
• Happy Sloth Week - Here's Ten Facts About Sloths I didn't even know there was such a thing as Sloth Week. 
• Other:
• Thai police create fake FB app to get Thai net users’ info, target users trying to open blocked sites 
• There are now more than 50 million displaced people, highest since World War II 
• If you live in the Midwest, be aware: Kraft Foods issues Velveeta recall in Midwest 
• U.S. doctors migrating north They are, in fact, flocking towards a single-payer system to avoid insurance company headaches. Shoot, we should get one of those, hey? 
• Boy Finds Mummified Corpse Hanging In Home This is why you should clean out your closets regularly.