Showing posts with label censorship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label censorship. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Cartoon characters are imaginary, even in porn. Really, they are.

Every year, there's a new case of someone being arrested in America for having images of cartoon characters having sex. Here's the latest.

Beyond a trademark violation, I still don't see how this can actually be illegal.

Former teacher pleads guilty to downloading 'Simpsons' porn
By KBOI Web Staff
Oct 13, 2010


BOISE, Idaho - A former middle school teacher in Meridian has pleaded guilty to
possession of visual representations of child sex abuse.

The U.S. Attorney's office said [he] had downloaded more than 70 animated cartoon pornographic images on his computer. Many of them depicted child characters from The Simpsons.


These are imaginary characters. They're not real. They're never going to be real or be hurt or ever feel anything.

How can this be a crime, with in this case, "a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000"? And the federal government is spending tax dollars prosecuting this? There's no other crime in Idaho to worry more about?

For the record, this type of comic art doesn't interest me at all. I also don't care about furries (but if you do, more power to you). I do care about free speech and justice though, and this is wrong.

I'm a member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and I urge all my readers to join as well.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Post ombudsman on censoring Non Sequitur

The ombudsman has issues with the Post not running the Non Sequitur comic strip last weekend.

Where was the 'Where's Muhammad?' cartoon?
By Andrew Alexander
Ombudsman
Washington Post October 10, 2010; A17

Monday, October 04, 2010

Washington Post runs scared, censors Non Sequitur

The Post joined the group of newpapers afraid to publish a Non Sequitur strip that dared mention Muhammed - see the bigger story here  - 
 by Alan Gardner
October 4, 2010


The Post also issued a 'No Comment' to its own blog -
'Muhammad' does -- and does not -- appear in today's 'NON SEQUITUR' comic By Michael Cavna, Washington Post Comic Riffs blog October 3, 2010.

The Post's strong tradition of censoring on its comics page what it would never consider in the news pages continues - click on censorship in the tags to see other examples.

Monday, June 14, 2010

One key difference between us and Japan - freedom of speech

Tokyo assembly votes down measure to regulate child porn in comics
(Mainichi Japan) June 14, 2010

We may have the First Amendment, but there's a law in the US that says possessors drawings of imaginary under-age cartoon characters (how is that even possible?) can be prosecuted for child pornography. Support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund today.

Here's a new interview with its head - Spurgeon, Tom. 2010.
CR Newsmaker Interview: Charles Brownstein Of The CBLDF.
Comics Reporter (June 13).

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Pulitzer Prize cartoonists' petition online at Cartoonists Rights Network


Now you can join the nineteen Pulitzer Prize winners who've created and signed a petition against censorship. Click through the link to add your name. It's up from seventeen signatories at the last time we looked at it, and has been generalized to be opposed to all censorship of cartoons, not just South Park's specific example.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Religious opinion on South Park and Mohammad cartoons in Saturday Post

In the Saturday Washington Post Metro section, "Limits to Religious Liberty?" would be of interest, especially the commentary regarding cartoons of Mohammad and South Park, but I can't find it online. The link to the print edition of the paper sends you to the Saturday On Faith blog.

At the blog I was able to find a few relevant articles, although not most of the ones quoted in the physical paper.

Sally Quinn. 2010.
Divine Impulses: Tariq Ramadan says Comedy Central is 'scared' of the Muslim reaction to South Park, Washington Post Divine Impulses blog (May)

Without freedom of expression, there is no democracy
Ex-Hindu monk, professor
Ramdas Lamb
On Faith blog May 6, 2010

Imposed or self-imposed censorship?
Professor, University of Mississippi School of Law
Ronald Rychlak
Washington Post On Faith blog May 7, 2010;

Monday, April 26, 2010

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Catching up with comics in the Post

Comic Riffs looks at a couple of dunderheaded decisions in the Style section –

Doonesbury shrunk by almost an inch in the latest redesign, but it’s back at a bit larger now:


The Post's 'Doonesbury' shrinkage: winning the Battle of Inch-On

By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog October 28, 2009

and Frazz, which has been exiled to appearing sometimes on the Kid’s page is missing this week because of a Halloween story which has a naked kid in a tree - god, you just can’t make this stuff up. The kids flip past, in today’s paper “TV report on breast self-exam bares all” and “The Dark Side of Peter Pan” book review to get to the Kid’s page, and they’re then protected from cartoon nudity. Anyway, here’s the story with the rationalization “
There was no way this could run in KidsPost so we decided to hold it out for a week.”:


Calling all comics readers: To save 'Frazz,' what strip should we send to KidsPost?

By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog October 29, 2009

In yesterday’s Style section (not the trend here), there’s a TV report on how inappropriate Family Guy is, at least as far as Microsoft is concerned:


Microsoft realizes that it's incompatible with Seth MacFarlane, after all

By Lisa de Moraes
Washington Post Wednesday, October 28, 2009

and a review of a play with an imaginary superhero friend:


A bittersweet 'Barrio Grrrl!'

By Celia Wren
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 28, 2009


Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Iraq prison abuse photos likened to Danish Islam cartoons by Justice Dept. says NY Times

The claim is made in

Obama About-Face Goes to High Court
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: September 15, 2009
First the Justice Department decided it would not ask the Supreme Court to block the release of photographs showing the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then it changed its mind.

The relevant paragraph reads:

In a book about the controversy surrounding the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, the publisher [Yale Press] decided not to publish the actual cartoons. The government’s brief, in fact, cited the reaction to the publication of the cartoons in a Danish newspaper as a reason to block disclosure of the images of detainee abuse.

I'd encourage everyone to read the original article and perhaps someone could look into the government's argument as well.

Meanwhile, one of the Post's (conservative) columnists editorialized against Yale's decision - "Chipping Away At Free Speech," By Anne Applebaum, Washington Post September 15, 2009.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Post calls kettle black

The Washington Post has again editorialized that somebody who isn't them should be publishing the Danish Islam cartoons - in this case Yale. As a letter writer pointed out in 2008, this would have more force if the Post hadn't refused to publish the cartoons when they were reporting on the story.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Tintin Banned in Brooklyn

See "An Intrepid Cartoon Reporter, Bound for the Big Screen but Shut in a Library Vault," By Alison Leigh Cowan
New York Times (August 20, 2009): A21. The story appeared on their blog yesterday as "A Library's Approach to Books That Offend, New York Times City Room blog August 19, 2009, http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/a-librarys-approach-to-books-that-offend/?ref=nyregion


Saturday, August 15, 2009

American Association of University Professors president condemns Yale's cowardice on Danish Islam cartoons

See the Washington, DC-based American Association of University Professors' letter at "Academic Freedom Abridged at Yale Press" August 13, 2009.

Here's what the book's author thinks - "Culture Vulture: Interview with Prof. Jytte Klausen," by Helen Epstein, ArtsFuse blog on Aug 14, 2009.

Post on surpressed Family Guy cartoon [UPDATED]

This is sort of old news, having circulated around the Internet for weeks, but "'Family Guy' Channels Controversy Onstage," By Emily Yahr, Washington Post Staff Writer. Friday, August 14, 2009.

Oddly enough, a very similar story ran 2 days earlier by their TV reporter - "'Family Guy's' Look at the Lighter Side of Abortion,"
By Lisa de Moraes, Washington Post Wednesday, August 12, 2009.

Today's Tank for Post readers

Here's today's Tank. Presumably Sunday will be back to normal.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Yale to publish book on Danish Islam cartoons without the cartoons

Well, this seems totally pointless, doesn't it? Publish a book called “The Cartoons That Shook the World” and leave out the images? For more details, read "Yale Press Bans Images of Muhammad in New Book," By PATRICIA COHEN, New York Times August 13, 2009. Mr. Aslan's comments in particular should be noted.

Normally I would buy a book like this as a matter of course, but I'm going to boycott this one. If Yale doesn't have the courage of their convictions, I see no reason to support them.

Washington Post joined in censorship of Tank

The Washington Post was joined in its censorship of Tank McNamara. See Michael's story at "Keeping Score: Who's NOT Running This Week's 'Tank'?," by Michael Cavna, Washington Post Comic Riffs August 12 2009. He's also got links to how the story went viral. I'll steal one of his links here, for the record -

Washington Post pulls comic featuring Vick, Cheney
By CHRISTIAN BOONE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution August 10 2009

And for those of us who still subscribe to the Post - here's today's Tank.