@stararnold:

yeah! I always do, because I don't want to get into something that is really weird, and then have somebody sneak up on me a suddenly think I enjoy reading porn. that's really... embarassing.

@jkhkitty:

The sad thing is some people are perhaps too lazy to even look for the certifications on comics/manga and videos/DVDs before making a judgement on whether or not minors should be watching/reading the materials. It's like letting kids watch "South Park" without first paying attention to its parental advisory disclaimer and the TV-MA sign shown at the top left of the T.V. screen.

@Sora-Mage:

Not to seem like a wet blanket, but writing a story does give you artistic license to do whatever you'd like. Of course, there are rules within writing that one should adhere to, but you're still creating a work of fiction where you're in control. Therefore, it's fundamentally misguided to say that "making a comic doesn't mean you can put anything you want in it".

Now, going into censorship deals, that probably crosses the line into the discussion of whether or not art should be censored, which is a whole 'nother kettle of fish, and a big'un, at that. (Though one could say that spandex gets in the oddest places and leave it at that, we're not gonna go there. =p)

I can understand the reaction to the Death Note, because it could signal that the kid may do something that would end in violence. However, it is not the case here. The mother is overacting to the situation, because it's not that devastating. Her son was caught stealing from the library to read a Mature comic. I really don't think it would cause mental abnormalities to the boy,and she overreacted by forcing him to go to therapy, because she may not know how to talk to her son about mature subject matters.(it may not be the case; we don't know the whole story)
Instead of banning the books and comics that are mature in content, why don't they place them in a section which is supervised by a worker or such? (far away from the youth sections) It's a compromise. 8|

I see this as a mother trying to deal with a boy who might have preexisting psychological dispositions. I say "might" because the articles I've found are extremely vague and lack any substantial detail, other than claiming that he's in a home for therapy. Yet, it became confusingly (and, perhaps, misleadingly) entangled with the issue of how the library reviews and handles its materials. (The library in question does comply with the American Library Association, so that part of her argument is considerably weakened.)

It's difficult to briefly comment on this, since there's so many diverse threads going here and there in this story. Perhaps, tackling the most obvious one - the boy's mental health - ought to take priority, instead of trying to present an argument that is more than likely based on false causes (which might stem from just plain old human fear, uncertainty, and concern).

I wonder how old they are, the kid, that is. The ANN article said they were a teenager. XD

This just says how mothers in America are way too overprotective... and yet also not protective in the way they should be 8DDDDDDD It was the mother's fault... andddd the library's fault too, for not approving the kid's age for the rating of that manga. xP lol But seriously, that was the kid's fault too, for thinking he could get away with reading something like that..

And if it seriously messed up his mind, then that's his fault too >8D He shouldn't have gone prying into something that he knew or wasn't ready to look into. XD

Wow...You know, how was he even allowed to check it out? But seriously, she's going a bit far!

hmm... if she just payed attention to what her child got. but she probably didn't know that they have age ratings on the back...

Just another mom to lazy to teach her child.
I dont know how people get any supporters acting like children{ironically}

@Ace:

Right.

And if we want to carry that further, we could probably go on about how it was the mother's responsibility to instill the correct mindset and values and behaviours in the kid, but since that ship has sailed there's no use in belaboring the point.

@Allamorph:

And the reason the mother is at fault is because she is apparently refusing to place due responsibility on her son.

I could not agree more, as I do with the rest of your analysis. It's definitely the kid who's ultimately responsible for whatever allegedly happened to him and it's a real shame that absolutely everyone but him is being forced to shoulder the blame here.

And on that note, I admit that I probably should have made that more clear in my initial comment. I still do think that libraries could in general do more to inform their patrons of the kind of materials they provide, but that doesn't really mean jack when at the end of the day it's the patron who stole the material he would normally be prohibited from borrowing anyway.

thats kinda tragic for the kid... I have a hard time with stuff that has lots of blood(cant watch horror to frightining) or gore in it, my brother showed me some pages from Gantz(cuz its really awesome-to him-) and yea that is really scary(but I dont have psychological breakdowns over it), so I guess it depends how old and mature that guy was.

@Ace:

There's that angle, yes, but I was also looking at the part where the kid took it. I figure that unless you're the kind of parent who goes rifling through your kid's backpack every day after they get home, you're not going to know what they take home from the library if they just grab it and go.

Essentially, it isn't completely the parent's fault that this happened.

BUT.

Because our society is convinced that if something bad happens, someone has to be responsible, and all the better if it's someone else, she blames the library and acts out. Problem is that blaming the library is just as silly as blaming the mother. Sure, the library could put out warnings and stuff, and should probably implement the security measures, but warnings only work when you're supervising what your kid is getting, and before I knew that they were for security, I used to remove the metal strips placed in the books because they gummed up random pages. So the system isn't infallible and so it's wrong to blame the library. And sure the mother could have done a better job governing her child and supervising his selections and guiding him to areas more suited to his age, but if the kid is stealing books from a library then such guidance won't take because he's too old and it's too late.

If we want to place the blame correctly, we put it on the kid. He went into the mature section and read the mature material, and he got affected by it just so. I doubt he "lost his mind"—more than likely that was more of his mother overreacting in her zeal to crucify the library—but I'm quite certain that if you read stuff that's beyond your capacity to comprehend, you're going to go a little squirrelly in the brain.

And the reason the mother is at fault is because she is apparently refusing to place due responsibility on her son.

@Allamorph:

Granted, and I acknowledged that in the second paragraph. Heck, for all I know, the library in question had a giant cardboard cutout of a happy clown out front saying "Know your manga ratings!". I do think that the mother might not have reacted quite as unreasonably if that were the case, though. Then again, some people just find an excuse to be stupid no matter how much warning they were given.

@Ace:

In my experience, libraries could in general be held more accountable for their graphic novel selection (that goes for Western comics, too. Stylized nudity is still nudity as far as everyone else is concerned). Not to say they shouldn't have these titles available, but making parents aware of the rating system would definitely be a start.

Then again, there's not much that parental awareness can do if your kid filches the material in question and reads it without your knowledge.

The only real difference I see between 'mature' manga and 'mature' novels like the Kushiel's Legacy series is that one is smaller and easier to conceal in one's backpack.

XD HA!!!
Wow...that kind of makes me sad...if she didn't want her kid reading it, she shouldn't have let him read it!!!

Sadly, some parents don't know the meaning of "if you don't like your kids reading that comic book, just don't let 'em instead of trying to go through drastic lengths to ruin it for everyone else".

Such parents get me mad to no end.

I wonder how old the kid was. . .
Gantz~<3

In the immortal words of Charlie Brown, good grief. To be perfectly honest, I don't know what to be more disappointed with; the fact that the details are being blown out of proportion, or the fact that the mother doesn't seem to take any interest in learning about what she's protesting. Seriously, if you're going to a b***h about something, you might as well figure out what your slapping before you do it! -_-;

Even though it was on a rack of general books, maybe these mature books should be on a higher shelf where young kids can't reach them instead of banning them altogether due to one incident.

In my experience, libraries could in general be held more accountable for their graphic novel selection (that goes for Western comics, too. Stylized nudity is still nudity as far as everyone else is concerned). Not to say they shouldn't have these titles available, but making parents aware of the rating system would definitely be a start. There tends to be an extremely stupid misconception sweeping the general populace that suggests that if it has drawn pictures, it's for kids. In fact, parents and libraries aren't the only ones who fall for this one. A couple of months ago, I saw Jeff Smith's Bone in the junior novel section of Borders right next to the Babysitter's Club and the like (Bone, for the record, is an amazing and epic story, but definitely a bit morbid and creepy and not at all for kids).

On that note, however, the mother is definitely overreacting. Besides the obvious fact that a kid can't just go completely nutso by viewing a little non-age appropriate gore (and if they did, we wouldn't have three different versions of CSI to scar us every week), the kid STOLE LIBRARY PROPERTY. I'd say we have a bigger problem here than unsuitable media. Mayhaps the mother in question should ask herself what she can do to discourage this type of behavior in the future rather than blame it on the library.

Talk about exaggeration.

*sighs*...Well, it was on the shelves for mature readers.

/sighs

She or whoever was supervising him should've watched what he was taking.

@:

It's a more common practice than you know. It was a rampant problem for some time in my library system, to the point where there are now security detectors in every branch and books have plates in them that set them off if you have them on your person and walk through them. There are also security guards that check your check-out receipt against the books you checked out to make sure they match up.

As far as your comment, I agree that there may have been some problems that the kid had prior to getting his hands on the manga. It was also pretty stupid of him to steal the manga, but since it came from the adult material shelves, he was most likely too young to check it out on his own.

I know I really shouldn't be surprised by this reaction, considering that kids who write up Death Notes in schools are still occasionally being reported, but I thought the days of parents going so far as trying to ban manga and anime from the library had passed. The culture has been mainstream for some time now. Even the anti-Pokemon fanatics died down after a year or so. I suppose it's just a mother trying to look out for her kid, but there has to be a time to just let go. Either that or go about trying to make a change a bit more rationally.

*laughing at their exspense* bwaahahahahahaahahahahaahaahaha~>8D. I wish I could get my hands on half the manga at a library, let alone mature ones. ah, well. mwaahahahahahahahhahahaha. mayve he couldn't take it?