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Defending Manga & The Hypocrisy of “Cultural Diversity”
A month ago at New York Comic-Con, I attended a panel entitled “CBLDF: Defending Manga”, which discussed the Canada customs case involving a young man arrested for possessing manga that contained “child pornography”. Charles Brownstein, the Executive Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and two of the most well-known manga experts in North America, Erica Friedman & Deb Aoki, talked about the nature of the case and how this affects everyone who reads manga. After hearing what they had to say, this whole case has got me thinking about the idea of promoting “cultural diversity” and whether some people really follow that.
If you ask me, the one reason why certain people seem to like other cultures is primarily because of their food. That’s it. I mean, everyone loves food. Of course there is probably music & technology. If it’s tangible and useful to other people’s lives, then yeah, they love whoever makes it and say “Oh yeah, we appreciate their culture. They make (insert great product/food)!” Don’t you just love it when people aren’t educated or don’t care about the whole picture?
Which leads me to the next point: stereotypes. At the panel, Deb Aoki spoke about how certain people still associate manga with perverted antics. People who aren’t familiar with manga need to be educated about the style. As much I make fun of stereotypes from time to time, they need to die down a lot. How do we teach others to not always listen to the media and possibly their peers about certain stigmas that don’t always apply?
I think everything has to start at a young age. If you put a child in a culturally-diverse environment, then the chances of that child stereotyping against others are low. For adults, it’s a lot tougher if they already have ideas rooted. You have to make them aware that they are stereotyping. Adults all have some sort of subconscious bias and say things without even thinking why they say them. As such, education is power.
Education is so undervalued right now in North America, it’s not even funny. There is so much visual media distraction that doesn’t provide much value to children & adults. I do think that libraries are important in the role of education. When asked about how to educate people about manga, Erica Friedman talked about libraries being a great resource in promoting manga and I highly agree. There’s also the release of “The Drops of God’ in North America, which I believe will help to lower the stereotype of manga being hentai because of the amount of press recognition the title has received & the impact it has on the wine world.
Charles Brownstein brought up another interesting point about how manga fans need to band together and fight for their right to love manga. Manga fans all around the world are of diverse backgrounds. If we don’t stand up for our passion for manga, then we’re going against the idea of “cultural diversity”. We might end up being hypocrites ourselves, especially if we say that we love Japanese otaku culture. I, myself, have let everyone know that I am a huge Japanese culture lover. Pretty much everyone around me knows this. I eat Japanese food, read news about Japan, am not ashamed to read manga during my commute, & I even have a portrait of a Japanese female figurine in my room. My family & relatives are tolerant of it because I take some time to educate them on why I love the culture a lot (& also possibly the fact that they see other young adults into it).
The final point I want to make is about the blog’s mission. I want to educate people on the benefits of reading manga. I want readers to see how manga characters can be influential in helping them be better people and understand real people who are similar to them. Hell, I even though of opening a practice in the future using manga as therapeutic tools. The panel has reminded me that I need to keep this blog going, because I’m one of the many who believe in spreading the power & value of reading manga. In essence, I’m already defending manga as we speak alongside the CBLDF.
Manga readers, show the world that you’re (to quote Eminem) NOT AFRAID TO TAKE A STAND.
A full recap of the panel can be read here, courtesy of Anime News Network.
