Censorship in a library is bad enough. Censorship in a library in the armpit of California is even worse! And to think, this is all because of some hentai. GP contributor Chris has written an open letter to the man responsible.
The county of San Bernardino, California has pulled a textbook about manga from library shelves. Read the details at the author's website.
At Guilty Parties we believe in free speech, and we DON'T believe that some government stooge from Hesperia (and the chairman of the county Republican Party) should be telling people what they are and aren't allowed to read. With that in mind, I offer this open letter to Mr. Bill Postmus, the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of San Bernardino County, California:
Mr. Bill Postmus
Chairman, Board of Supervisors, San Bernardino County
385 North Arrowhead Avenue, Fifth Floor
San Bernardino, California 92415
Dear Sir,
It was with great alarm that I read your office's press release dated April 13, 2006 entitled "POSTMUS ORDERS BOOK CONTAINING OBSCENE COMICS REMOVED FROM COUNTY LIBRARIES." While I applaud your commitment to protecting children in your community, I would like to express my concerns about your hasty action and the implications it may have vis-à-vis the First Amendment.
The book in question, Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics, by Paul Gravett, is widely regarded as a legitimate scholarly work on a well-known aspect of Japanese art and culture. Japanese comics, also known as "manga," cover a wide range of subjects and target a correspondingly wide range of readers. There are many examples of manga that are "adult" in nature, as well as material suitable for a more general audience. As a work of non-fiction exploring and explaining this phenomenon, Mr. Gravett's book is certainly justified in giving fair treatment to both juvenile and mature aspects of the art form. In my opinion such a book has a demonstrable value as a research tool and is not, therefore, "absolutely inappropriate for a public library" as you are quoted as saying in the press release. To draw a parallel, it would be equally unwise to condemn an exhaustive overview of Renaissance paintings because some of those paintings contain nudity or are sexual in nature.
There is certainly a responsibility, both legal and moral, to prevent the exposure of children to harmful materials. My concern, however, is with where that responsibility lies. Neither the library nor the government of the County of San Bernardino should be held accountable for the raising of children, because that responsibility belongs solely to the parents and legal guardians of the children in question. By ordering Mr. Gravett's book removed from your libraries you are denying access to the roughly 1.3 million adults in your county who are entitled to choose for themselves whether or not to view such material. History has shown us that the decision of what constitutes "obscenity" is best left to individuals, not governments.
In closing, I urge you to reconsider your decision to remove Mr. Gravett's book from your county library system. I am confident that, upon reflection, an alternative solution can be reached that will both protect children in your communities and protect the constitutional rights of the adults.
Respectfully,
Christian Rohrbach
If you like this letter, permission is hereby granted to print your own copy to sign and mail to Mister Postmus at the listed address. Please do refrain from threatening, insulting or otherwise LEGALLY ACTIONABLE language when writing to elected officials!
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