Errr, Impz, I have no idea why I’m still being read. No really.

Impz posits a question: Does age matter in the economy of blogging?

I’m not too uncomfortable with the question, per se, but…

Does age matter? It matters, but not as much as you think.

I’m quite relieved that most of the people doing this are around the 20-29 age range, as this means that even in this age range, you can find a lot of differing opinions and styles, not to mention content.

I could throw out 5 names and they’d all be having different ways of writing, covering events, episodes, editorials, and whatnot. Hinano, jpmeyer (wait, is that one name or two?), Impz, NewGeekPhilosopher, IKnight. Of course, we all know them. But their styles are different, even if the content is similar.

Hinano is mostly HURRDURR FANGIRL RAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE, jpmeyer uses wit and sporadic posting, Impz is, well, Impz, NewGeekPhilosopher HAS FUCKING ASPERGER’S BUT IS A HUMAN BEING ALL THE SAME, and IKnight, well, kinda writes with regards to philosophy and literature in mind.

5 people in the same age group, but they discuss the same content in different ways. Does age matter, in this case? I would say it takes a step back. Age helps a lot as an older person is seen as a wiser individual, more grounded and less prone to FAN RAGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Though to be honest, I feel that age isn’t very important, considering people actually read what I write (Of course, I’m not going to break 500K hits anytime soon ), and I’m pretty random when it comes to content. At times I flip out like a fanboy, sometimes I take on the erudite scholer mantle, once in a while I pretend to be a firebrand preacher, and most of the time, I’m just an average joe  who has a lot of fun with this.

But to be honest, I really enjoy what I do, and I love what I write, even if it does get painful at times. It’s rare to see someone who just does it and ends up enjoying it, since most of the time, I usually see either extreme disappointment, apathy, flamebait, or some philosophical discussion I don’t seem to grasp at that point of time (the last has yet to happen. I think.). Or somewhere in between. I dunno. I don’t think a lot of us enjoy watching animé anymore. Maybe that’s why a lot of people are either on hiatus or ARE DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAD T_T

I dunno, mang. Maybe we should stop pretending to like something in order to write about it. We all gotta be honest with ourselves, or we might lose our reason to blog. Or live.

I DO NOT RANK ANIMU

Y I NO RANK ANIMU

Signal-to-Noise

Something bothers me about the otakucube (YES I AM GOING TO POPULARIZE THIS TERM TO DESCRIBE A BLOG COMMUNITY CENTERED ON OTAKU PURSUITS. SOMEHOW).

No, it’s not the personalities this time. That one is enough for a lot of rants.

What bothers me the most is the amount of quality, better known as the signal-to-noise ratio. It’s pretty apparent when I take a look at the aggregators.

Now, this should not even be a problem, given the nature of blogging, new media, and who’s behind it, since it is assumed that new media will have a very low signal-to-noise ratio.

Unfortunately, the otakucube is considered counterculture, and thus, cannot suffer from a low signal-to-noise ratio. (COUNTERCULTURE = BAD) A low signal-to-noise ratio hurts counterculture movements by depicting the movement as disorganized and fractured.

And that is what the otakucube has become. While the news side (and by news, I mean episode summaries and releases and con reports and the like) is at least on par with traditional media in terms of credibility (amazing, considering the nature of new media), we can do better on the OP/ED side. When our most famous personalities are either obnoxious, self-centered individuals, people who dress up the prevailing public opnions as respectable, people who adopt tabloid-style reporting, or people who just want to see people get a rise, that says a lot about the movement.

We don’t need charlatans, trolls, and people who are more interested in their own agendas (and no, I don’t think Danny Choo is included in this list), we need people who are highly passionate who can keep a cool head and are willing to present the otakucube as somewhat decent. We’re already being looked at funny in all aspects. We can’t afford any more setbacks.

PS: I sure wish Cameron Probert would come back. And IKnight and jpmeyer to write moar. And Hinano to maybe tone it down a little. And for more time to find better writers.

PPS: I AM NOT BITCHING ABOUT DANNY CHOO. DANNO CHOO IS A COOL GUY, EH, NOT AFRAID TO DRESS UP AS A STORMTROOPER IN JAPAN AND WHATNOT.

Rape fantasies, oh my!

Required reading: Forced Affection, Marriage, Rank and Rape in the Tale of Genjii

If you’re not going to read at least one of the two linked articles, you’re not going to have a broader framework of what I’m about to say. At least for the first part.

The Historicity of Rape in Japan

We don’t like the act. Heck, the word itself is taboo in many societies. Or at least it’s pretending to be taboo in many societies.

Unfortunately, it’s part and parcel of Japan’s culture. Shocking? not really, if you look in the right places.

Yes people, in Japan rape does really mean hello, at least in the Heian Period. In fact it’s right there in their most famous work, The Tale Of Genjii.

Prince Genjii was a dashing, handsome, hunk of a man. He was also a high-ranking prince. And he was very very honorable. Unfortunately, he also liked women, and slept with many women, usually by force.

Disgusted? I’m not surprised.

Ever wondered why Japan has many, many problem with sex crimes? It’s because of their culture that tolerates sexual crime (in this case, rape) and in some cases, even promote it.

To drone on about the prevalance of rape in doujinshi and eroge and the like, in feudal Japan, a woman had no rights. If she was to be raped she had better well like it because the man won’t take no for an answer. And in some cases saying no could be worse.

It’s all there in The Tale Of Genjii. It does seem sexual deviancy is rife in Japan, what with it having a history of rape, sexual deviancy and all.

Wherein the Author Actually talks about Rape Fantasies

Sex was originally meant to be a physical symbol of love between a man and a woman.  There’s nothing dirty about seeing a truly loving couple enjoined in the throes of lovemaking. In fact I think it’s quite beautiful when done right.

Unfortunately, we all corrupt even the most beautiful things for for our own debased pleasure. Females develop rape fantasies simply because they cannot obtain the kind of love aforementioned.  Usually.

Why do they not find the kind of love I mentioned earlier? It’s because the woman (in most cases) simply isn’t mature enough to develop the patience and passion for a deep, meaningful relationship. To put it bluntly, she hasn’t grown up mentally.

A mentally mature adult knows how to wait. A child doesn’t. In most cases where the woman has rape fantasies, she wants the fleeting joy of being ‘attached’ to a man without wanting to develop the intellectual and emotional affection required to turn this base act into something different and beautiful. To put it really bluntly, Girl Want Sex Now. Relationship Come Later. The same applies to the man.

And that is why people have rape fantasies. Because people want the physical intimacy first without the mental, psychological and emotional attachment first. As a result of not being able to form deep, meaningful relationships with people.

Delicious sausage links:

Hinano (no Hinano, Japan does not think rape is wrong)
animemiz (Girl, go read The Tale Of Genjii)
Haruda (We actually trivialize rape in real life)
a Day without me (Japan and The West have vastly different views on sexual harrassment)
lelangir (I liek Yuu Watase)

SO TSUNDERE: A look at animé female archetypes

SO TSUNDERE

AHEM.

Inspired by that single pic and that somewhat inappropriate comment (it is, after all, a /tg/ meme relating to female Tau and all…), I might be, ahem, delving a little bit deeper into animé female archetypes and what makes them so likable. Or something.

Yeah I’m bored. Also may or may not be in conjunction with my flurry of KnJ editorials.

On the topic of good and evil

Many have puzzled about the origin of evil; I observe that there is evil, and that there is a way to escape it, with this I begin and end.
- John Newton

I am mildly amused at people NERD RAGING over Suzaku’s apparent moralfaggotry, but not going overboard over Lelouche’s actions.

Which is a ruddy shame, because the both of them are doing morally wrong things, or to put it simply, they are letting the ends justify the means.

Let’s put it in a way that even the pretentious, the trolls and even the mockers can understand.

Let’s say you need money fast. You know there are people who would pay good money if you killed a certain someone. Would you then kill that certain someone to get the money?

If your answer to that hypothetical situation is yes, then congratulations. You’ve just let the ends justify the means. Highly simplistic, yes, but it gets the point across.

Wanna tie this to animé? I’ll use Gurren Lagann.

My memory is rather fuzzy on this, but apparently, a lot of people can’t see that there is evil in Gurren Lagann. Lord Genome, Rossiu, the Anti-spirals, heck, even Kamina and Simon are evil. Yeah, I’m a bit too harsh on the characters, but remember, they did evil before they did good. Lord Genome used fear to rule over Earth and treated humans like playthings. Rossiu lied. The Anti-spirals used fear, uncertainty and doubt and pretty much shat on the whole free will thing. Kamina rebelled against authority. Simon was a coward.

In Lord Genome’s and the Anti-spirals’ (and to a small extent, Rossiu’s) cases, they mistakenly thought that they had to be the evil in order to achieve their goals. What they did helped no one, and as we could see, only caused a ton of sorrow and almost destroyed the earth (in Rossiu’s case.) Kamina was impatient and couldn’t wait for the right time. Simon refused to face up to reality. They all let the ends justified the means.

But I’m being too harsh to the cast. They all realized that they were wrong and finally did the right thing in the end.

What I’m trying to say is this:

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink. For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.
-Proverbs 25:21-22

If you want to defeat evil, you have to do good. Knowing that you are evil is nothing but sheer braggery and is the sign of a haughty spirit.

He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.
-Proverbs 17:15

And you definitely cannot let the ends justify the means.

Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.
-Proverbs 20:11

For evil is known by it’s actions. And the road to disappointment is usually paved with good intentions.

Then again, I’m probably preaching to the wrong crowd. After all, if we can justify stealing AND sowing discord, I’m sure we can justify evil. I mean, we just justified Suzaku’s and Lelouche’s actions (too lazy to link to various posts.), I’m sure we can even justify things that are not just morally reprehensible, but illegal as well. Like murder. And trampling on the freedom of will. Oh wait. WE DO! ON A DAILY BASIS!

PS: War is the consequence of a great number of factors (suffice to say, man’s twisted ambition to control his life is one of them), and as such, death is to be expected. War is reprehensible, but remember, it is the result, not the cause. We are appalled at war because we are appalled at ourselves for letting matters get to such dire straits. What more morally reprehensible is that the people in power always justify the results of their incompetence to cover their asses. Oh liberty, what injustices we do in your name. (aka next person who says something about not justifying war will me modded, ignored, and flamed. You have been warned.)

I am a bitter and contrite man.

In the interests of keeping this post as areligious as I can, I will do my best to refrain from quoting from the Bible. However, my sorrow is far greater than what can be humanly put into words, so please forgive me for straying from the path.

I see the numbers, hear the rhetortic, read about the atrocities, lambasted the fools, acknowledged the wise, and mocked those who deserved it. And yet, no one listens.

My heart is contrite, my soul filled with the bitter taste of gall.

They lampoon, stir up war, accuse each other for atrocities they themselves have done, and yet, refuse to sit, and think about the consequences.

The industry sayeth to the community: “Thou art a hive of scum and villainy, for you hath not supported us. The worth of your pilfered goods is zero, for you art selfish and impatient. Your efforts art illegal, and shall be reviled.”

And the community sayeth back to the industry: “Thou art cruel and unjust! We hath done no wrong, it is you, with your diminishing returns and bad planning, that hath sent you down the road of ruin! We are Justice, and you are the Devil!”

(Personally, I wish both sides were as eloquent as Shakespeare, but eh, I have a habit for using Ye Olde English.)

Has not the ongoing debacle taught us all nothing? Have we learned nothing at all about the state of the culture? Or have we, unable to accept the truth, turned to false prophets, liars, and our selfish desires to batter down what is left? Have we failed to realize that it is not one side or the other that is to blame, but ourselves?

Now listen, if you please, to the wails of a bitter and contrite fan.

Here’s the thing. We know we can’t solve this thing in a civil, honest and considerate manner. It’s too far gone for that. If you mess up, the opposition will form lynch mobs and murder you.

Since you all don’t care too much about the community anyway, why not take enforcement one step further?

Yes, that’s right, I’m talking about cold-blooded murder.

What better way to show that you mean business than pulling off a spate of murders, all financed from some secret slush fund no one knows about and can be moved at will? You know you can’t enforce without violent opposition, so why not take the fight to them? I mean, if you are willing to squeeze out cash from a nine-year-old and send a SWAT Team to arrest a bunch of non-violent Swedes and their server racks, I’m sure gunning down some Internet pirates wouldn’t faze you one bit. After all, You don’t care about the customer, and the customer sees no reason to support what you do, so why not give them a chilling reason to do so?

SUPPORT US – OR DIE. It’s catchy, and sends out a message to all them evil Internet pirates. Break the law and they lose their lives. Heck, let’s ignore the fact that this will eventually lead to you shooting otherwise innocent people who are unrelated to the situation and thus indict you, the CEO, for multiple counts of conspiracy to murder and hiring assassins!

Because it’s all about the profits, right? Right? Or deep down, are you just a bunch of bullies and cowards, refusing to take this obvious line of action?
Has my reputation gone down like a osmium weight? Good. Because this is the same thing I see everyday. Not just in blogs, either. It’s all on the news sites, in the minds of the Japanese, even on ANN. Except phrased oh so differently so as to be politically correct.

Unfortunately, no one wants to admit their wrongdoing in the first place. The industry will not admit that they were too soft and idealistic, or greedy and uncaring. The community will not admit they only now care for number of downloads and hits per day. The Japanese will not admit they made huge mistakes in investment and the slow crippling of the animation support industry in Japan.

And worst of all, no one is willing to ever solve these problems. There is only talk, not action. People who say online distribution is the only way, or that buying DVDs are the only way of supporting the industry. If all we do is flap our lips with no indication of helping at all, then for us, it would be better if we just shut up and did nothing.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. It does seem like everyone is content with flapping their lips, offering nothing but opinion and hot air. Or worse still, daring to tell people to wind up and die. I have not just suggested, but have expressed my desire to help in any way possible, if only they were willing to change. Unfortunately, it seems like no one wants to listen to a crazed voice in the street, and prefer instead, to listen to their false prophets, be it tj_han, Darkmirage, tsubaki, or even ANN.

Sure, they sound reasonable and whatnot, but so what. Politicians also can sound reasonable, but do they mean what they say? Do they care at all? Anyone can sound reasonable with enough education and hubris.

And it is also with a heavy heart that I accuse EVERYONE in the community, starting from the people at ANN, to people like Darkmiarge, tsubaki, and tj_han, to the industry, to the fans, to the leechers, to the fansubbers, and even myself, for putting our collective interest into this giant morass we call “the state of Japanese animation”. For everyone is content to sit by the sidelines, offering nothing but all contributing to the decline, myself included. We all should be ashamed of ourselves for letting things become what it is today.

If you look at all the shit that’s happened, it all leads to the complete destruction of our favorite hobby.If we can’t even stop ourselves, what good can come out of anything the industry does?

I end this pile of unorganized tallow shaving with something I like to call, the truth.

And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

I’ll leave it to you to make sense of it all.

Drm note: I should have heeded the instruction to shake the dust off my feet, as evidence against the community’s hospitality, and took my peace with me. I am such an idiot at times.

Taking a look at the flipside: Why Japan is screwing itself (Part 1 of 2 on censorship)

Before we begin I’d like to take care of a few administrative details.

First up, about the use of ichc lolcats, well, it seems some people are not too happy about it. I shall remove all lolcat pics but seriously, for a 4chan meme turned global phenomenon, you’d think they’d be a bit lenient about it, but then again I’m an idiot.

Secondly, the Orange Box has taken up a fair bit of my time (Yes I did buy the Orange Box, can it, the Orange Box is awesome.) and may still eat up a fair amount of my time. That and work. We will return to your scheduled random flaming retardedness after at least Portal is beaten into the ground.

With the niggly details out of the way, let’s talk seriousness.

I’m sure everyone knows how Japan is supposedly on a witchunt for porn artists and events, screwing with otaku left and right. I’m also quite sure everyone knows about the murders and the subsequent NICE BOAT and HiguKai being pulled off the air for a bit.

But does anyone know why and how duid the cycle of events unfolded as it did? Heck, I don’t know if I got it right or not but here’s my personal rough timeline of events:

• post WW2-early 1960s: Japan, devastated by the war, jumps into overdrive to revitalize its economy, with help from the Allies.
• 1960s-1970s: Rapid modernization occurs. Education system shifts into rote. First signs of student burnout and instability. Osamu Tezuka popularized manga and animation in Japan. Gundam and giant robot animé air. First otaku ‘born’. First Comiket held.
• 1970s-2000: Education burnout continues. People (those who cannot adapt to the rigid education system) become despondent and retreat into an animated world of robots and such. Animé popularized in Japan. Manga undergoes it’s first golden era. We can safely assume that the same people also drew porn. Westerners stumble onto the subculture. Limited contact happens. Dragonball Z and some of the earlier series gets shown in America. Birth of fansubbing. Eroge is proven to be a new market. A convicted killer is found to have liked cute little 2D girls. Sarin gas attacks happen. Japan realizes the otaku are bad news.
• 2000 – 2005: Increased contact between Japanese animé companies and world. Otaku make headline news as Densha Otoko saves a woman from molest. Maid cafés open up shop. Otaku are tolerated, but rather grudgingly.
  Japan begins urban redevelopment of Akihabara.
• 2006: Urban redevelopment of Akihabara has slowly, but surely, pushed out a fair amount of otaku by closing down otaku hangouts.
• Jan-March 2007: Nothing newsworthy.
• April 2007: Gainax screws up Gurren Lagann, accidently reveals their thoughts on otaku, other companies follow suit.
• May 2007: 2ch is revealed to be more influential than even the Emperor and Prime Minister of Japan combined, some young punk kills his mother and confesses on 2ch, The Japanese Supreme Court tries to declare Comiket and other related events illegal, Gazo BBS channel admins arrested over uncensored pics, other imageboard admins get arrsted.
• June 2007: Japanese Supreme Court rules some eromanga illegal because of inadequate censoring, Akiba Liberation Front formed.
• July 2007:  Akiba Tours formed, Eromanga to have explicit markings
• August 2007: C72 is targeted by the Akiba Liberation Front, another doujin author gets arrested over nudie pics,
• September 2007: NICE BOAT
• October 2007: A bunch of doujin events (mostly the porn ones) get iced or put in storage, a poll in Japan states that an overwhelming majority oppose loli porn (Note: Polls and such cannot be taken as fact in japan due to cultural issues), WanFesu 08 has a giant warning about porn and such.

The timeline here shows three things: one, the otaku are representative of the human cost Japan suffered in order to put itself back up on the global market, and two, the problem lies with Japanese society, and three, what happens when you can’t hammer the nail down.

You see, Japan, for all of it’s wonder, is actually pretty messed up internally. Due to the culture of groupthink and lack of emphasis on individual rights, people rarely, if at all, speak their minds, preferring to grin and bear it. There is a good reason why Japanese people love to hit the bars after work… … … Being unable to speak their minds, and living in a situation that is slowly going to the dogs, they are forced to resort to getting wasted to forget their troubles, or in the otaku’s case, to retreat into a fantasy world. Be it alcohol or 2D girls, the motive is the same: To forget about their troubles, even if it is temporary.

The groupthink culture also presents another problem: if you stand up for something or something similar, it can be taken that you want to stand out, and that is an unforgivable crime in Japan. If you stand out, Japanese society will make sure that you will not stand out for long.

Now then, what happens if you encounter the nail that refuses to be hammered down, no matter what? You remove the nail. This I feel, is what is happening to the otaku in Japan today.  The otaku have stood out a lot more than the rest of Japanese society, for all sorts of reasons, more wrong than right I’m afraid. And they refuse to be hammered down, no matter what. If the Akiba Liberation Front can be taken as an example of how hard it is to show them their position in Japanese society, then it is pretty simple to anyone with all the information handy to see what is going to happen.

And if the recent extra legislation and events are an indicator, chances are the Japanese authorities are taking action to remove what they deem to be a stain on the country’s honor. The otaku are loathed in Japan, believe it or not. No one likes them. They are people who have failed in life, in the eyes of Japanese society, the visual representation of the human cost Japan paid in order to be a global economic superpower. They could not cope with the education system, and lost all sense of purpose. Despondent, they turn to their fantasy worlds, and immerse themselves in it, never to leave. They are the lowest of the low in Japanese society (the bunrakumin are even lower, but that’s another story), people who cannot accept reality, etc.

It is not a matter of freedom of speech, it is a matter of culture. And the truth. If there’s one thing I know, the truth hurts. But truth is truth, and eventually we all have to accept the truth. It is my wish that Japan realizes the real truth about otaku.

Reading material:

Let’s start with Patrick Macias

Then Work our way to the Japan FAQ

Shingo has kept a fairly good coverage of the events as it happens

LOL ZEPY 

This issue is not a matter of economics, it’s a matter of self.

DRM NOTE: I haven’t had the luxury of doing a nice, well thought-out post in a long while. I really should do more of this, it’s much better for the mind.

I read the news regarding the Japanese government issuing pleas for help to America for help with their rampant bit-swapping problems. Initially, I waved it off, knowing how Japan has always been unable to enact such laws in the past. Still, with the recent spate of otaku crackdowns and destruction of their hangouts, I waited with bated breath for the inevitable discussion, flamefests and jiggery pokery at the ANN forums.

I did not like what I read. People throwing out the same pro-fansub propoganda drivel, Zac being a pompous ass and muttering about how fansubs have become too big for their own good, people slinging lies and whatnot about BOTH SIDES of the argument, in short, it’s the sort of idiocy that happens everywhere.

However, while both sides are slowing turning into what could be termed a slightly more mature form of “my view is better than your view” circular argument, I read the whole discussion. Zac hits back at how the system is broken. He quips:

Here’s a tip: say like within 6 months or so you watch 9-10 26 or 13-episode series fansubbed and, after dedicating hours and hours of your life to watching this stuff and discussing it on the internet, always downloading more and more, you decide to spend $30 on a thinpak boxset on the one series you decided you liked enough to pay for… the system is broken.

I realized he’s extremely disillusioned with the entire community and industry as a whole. And who wouldn’t be, seeing as the whole community is slowly becoming a circlejerk with no hope for redemption, salvation or even a cure. The pro-fansub pedants keep going about how it is THEIR RIGHT to download Japanese animation just because they can’t get it fast enough/too poor/bad quality/dubs suck/whatever is the excuse of the day, the pro-industry people going on about how fansubs WILL kill the industry eventually, corporations refusing to look beyond their myopic views…

I don’t blame Zac for being disillusioned. In fact, I actually feel the same way about the whole thing too. Yes 4chan, I am empathize with the enemy here. Y’see, fansubbing wasn’t about the amount of leechers one group got, or about the friggen’ drama, or the quality of releases, or the feel-good feeling. It was about promoting a alternative lifestyle that was not just interesting, but also created a close-knit community that was just as wholesome as any group-based activity.

How did such altruism turn into the black, sticky cesspool of elitism, circlejerking, self-serving dung it is today? To be honest, I don’t know. However, I think I can venture a guess, based off human behavior and history.

History has always been rife with traitors, bad people, assassins, dirty politicians and their ilk. In the play Julius Caesar, ol’ Caesar was stabbed in the back by his second-hand man. Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot. Some of the Egyptian kings were murdered in power ploys they didn’t foresee. The Jews, failing to heed the words of Moses and the prophets, backslided into greed and power, wanting to free themselves from a rather generous Roman occupation of Israel.

In a sense, the fansubbing community was a lot like the Jews in the times of the New Testament. Originally created for a higher purpose, it slowly backslided into what we see today: Grabs for power, recognition, and heck, money. The similarities I can draw from these two events, spaced 2000+ years apart from each other, is frightening.

From all that, I realized one thing: the whole issue of fansubbing had, slowly, and unknowingly, became an issue about self. In fact, the whole filesharing debate can be summed up in one sentence: It is about self.

Let’s get our heads out of the past and into the present.

I’m quite sure the bitter memory of ODEX is still in the heads of many. I’ll use that to illustrate what I have to say.

Now, I live in Singapore, as you all know. Censorship of media is pretty rampant, it’s nearly impossible to get shows locally (and what is available, it’s of such low quality not even a loanshark would touch it, and the main company was founded on unethical standards) , and should you import, the poor sod might not even get what he ordered.

Given such circumstances, do you think I have a good reason to act like a dirty pirate and indiscriminately grab what I like? I know most of you will answer yes, I have every right to do so, but I’m sorry. The answer is, “NO.” Why? Simply because a reason is not an excuse.

Let’s see the reasons for downloading stuff off the Internet in my case, eh?

• Censorship
• ODEX is a shitty company
• Too pricey
• Not value-for-money
• Buying merchandise is supporting the industry
• Can’t get it here, must fly to Japan
• No money
• It is my right to do so
• The law does not explicitly say it’s illegal

I could use any of these reasons to justify my actions, and I’d still be not wholly to blame.

What kind of a fucked-up society would allow such lousy reasons and flimsy defenses to exonerate such crimes? I’ll tell you what kind of society it is. It is a society where no one will be held accountable for what they do, as long as they have a made-up excuse to back it up. It’s the same society that allows flimsy evidence like IP addresses to be used in a court of law as HARD EVIDENCE to defend CORPORATE GREED. It’s also the same society when a bigot is praised for destroying the community and the one protecting it gets called a hypocrite. Sickening isn’t it?

In order to fufill selfish desires, we have turned society into the cesspool of dung it is today, where organizations and companies like the RIAA and ODEX to fuck with the innocent while the real perpatrators get away scot-free and do the same crime until someone kills them.

This is the problem we have today: people care more about themselves than others. This is the truth. You see it everyday on the streets, in the news, on the Internet. Why is there war? It’s because someone wants to fulfill their selfish ideal. The whole filesharing/internet piracy fiasco? IT’S BECAUSE WE ARE SELFISH PRICKS. Unlike DarkMirage and his supposed “attempts” to “help the community”, this is the real truth, and I’ll stick to it no matter what.

The truth is, no one cares about anybody anymore. Companies exploit the proles for short-term profit shared between a few people. Information gets shared because people don’t want to pay a single cent for it. People want all the benefits, without all the responsibilities. I think Gregory Koukl said it right when he said this:

If I would identify a single trend with regard to the issue of justice and moral health in our society, the one that I would put my finger on is a form of moral relativism: people are no longer responsible for their actions. Someone else is always responsible. Your parents are responsible. Society is responsible. Your upbringing is responsible. Your genes are responsible. Your chemistry is responsible. It’s the chocolate you ate this morning or the pizza you had last night or the difficult circumstances that you grew up with. All of these things, these inanimate things that can’t be punished themselves are all to blame. And people, moral creatures who make moral choices, are not the ones to blame. Therefore, it’s inappropriate to punish them.

It’s about time someone realizes that we must give to Caesar what belongs to him. Zac, the system is indeed broken, but it’s not about the system, it’s about the people. They are the broken ones. They broke the system. The system is broken because people are broken and the community would like it to stay broken so that it hides their misdeeds.

Gah, I can’t write anymore. I think I rambled on for quite a bit somewhere in the middle.

Related reading material:

ANN report, and the discussion

An interesting writeup on the early days of fansubbing.

Now I understand why ANN is sometime called elitist.

An interesting writeup on the state of society today.

A decidely different tack (aka lol John Ledford interview)

Well, since I gotta do something remotely related to Japanese animation or I lose all credibility with the community, so I’ve decided to give my thoughts on the very interesting and refreshing interview between John Ledford, CEO of ADV, and Anime News Network.

Just a couple of things I would like to clear before I continue: I respect ADV, not just because of what they have done, but also of how much they respect their consumer base and not mindlessly screw with them. It really makes you wonder why companies like ODEX exist as well. Also since I have no chance in heck to meet the CEO of ODEX, I have to rely on hearsay and media reports (and the quality of their products). Suffice to say, the prognosis does not look good.

Interesting article and interview. I’ve never seen someone so candid and honest in an interview. He talks on length about contacts (always important to have), marketability (important if there’s competition), and his view on fansubs. This line, I like a lot:

Personally, not professionally, I like fansubs because they come from the fan community. Professionally, if a fansub is not done with a lot of tender loving care, and it’s messy, it can damage the product.

He’s also covered why we’re not allowed to see any numbers (it hurts relationships, yo).

And for those of you who keep complaining about why this series isn’t licensed, here are some quotes to shut you up :

If you make a lot of money in 2 or 3 years, but burn the next hundred, what’s the point? You could destroy the entire industry by thinking short term. I mean the Japanese definitely have a very intelligent view of how to handle the situation.

It’s an unsustainable business. The market will not sustain it. Five years ago, three years ago you could buy anything and almost anything would sell, not everything but almost. Now you have to be a sniper. You have to snipe the good titles, that’s all that will sell. Everything else, the stores don’t want it, the fans will download it. Where does it have a home? Maybe on mobile, maybe on internet but certainly not on video; the home video market will not take it. There’s simply not enough shelf space and the product doesn’t turn fast enough.

The big thing the fans need to know is that the business is different than the market. The animé fandom is still growing. And demand is still growing. The problem the market faces is that some of the established channels for reaching those people have disappeared.

I’m gonna end off my impressions with this. The business of licensing and promoting Japanese animation is never easy. It’s hard, tiring work, and most of the time, the good folks who do this are insulted and sneered at by the very customers they want to attract. It’s interesting to note how he likes fansubs, something most companies should learn from. While he does not really endorse the medium, he takes a rather level-headed view on it. It’s also interesting to note that ADV has adapted itself for the Internet Age. Not a lot of progress in that area, but at least it shows that there are companies willing to start. Also, his positive attitude is something all companies should strive to attain.

Well, I’ll end off with this:

• Thank you, ADV and ANN for making the world a slightly better place.
• Buying the DVDs are really important to the companies involved. Yes this is a plea to ask people to buy whenever they can.
• Running this business is a tough job.
• Anyone who thinks fansubs/downloaded animé are better are also making flawed arguments. And oh how flawed the arguments are.