Reasons why CNN should never discuss manga again

Manga is singlehandedly causing the downfall of Japanese society, and CNN, for one, is very concerned about this disturbing trend. All sarcasm aside, in an article that was published on CNN last week called “Sexually explicit Japan manga evades new laws on child pornography,” the news site went into the passage of a law in Japan that says people caught with child pornography will either be sent to jail for a year or slapped with some heavy fines of up to $10,000. OK, cool. Kiddie porn is bad and creepy pedos who exploit children should be punished—as it should be. And then Herbert got a $10,000 fine[divider type=”space_thin”]But the article focuses on hentai, questioning whether it should be banned along with kiddie porn and implying that it may be related to child abuse (though it repeatedly says no link has been made between anime/manga and child abuse, it continues to cite statistics that seem to link the two). CNN quotes Liberal Democratic Party member Masatada Tsuchiya as saying hentai “is not protected under freedom of expression.” Let me take a second to say that there are plenty of manga/anime tropes that I’m personally uncomfortable with, and while I don’t necessarily agree with the concepts behind some of this artwork, I believe in freedom of expression nevertheless. You tell ’em, Mel[divider type=”space_thin”]Besides, I could say that I have this same feeling about many American movies and magazines and works of art. Western culture, despite its cocky, self-righteo…