A jobless animation fan has made legal history as he was convicted of having illegal pictures of cartoon children. ____ ____, 39, is believed to be the first in the UK hauled before court over his collection of Japanese Manga or Anime-style images alone.
He admitted 10 counts of possessing prohibited images of children at Teesside Crown Court. His barrister Richard Bennett said: “These are not what would be termed as paedophilic images. These are cartoons.” Full Article
This is a very scary and slippery slope. On one hand, they can argue that a person possessing/looking at real photographs represents harm to a victim as a real person was involved. However, these are just drawings. Why is it that I think something like this could become a blank check for prosecutors and the government?
Well, society itself seems to have become mentally aberrant on the issue of sex. I can only hope that a cure for it can be found. For these people to have anxiety attacks concerning completely imaginary events with completely imaginary characters really does stretch the bounds of sanity beyond the breaking point.
Hey USA…are you happy now? See what a lousy influence you’ve been to your big brother across the pond?
If fantasy(fictional art is after all, just fantasy) is now a crime, then you better go arrest EVERY man that has ever watched Britney Spears’ early music videos, almost every teen movie ever made in the last 35 years, and has ever been to a beach in the summer. This is getting ridiculous!!!
The producers of this abhorrent filth should be the ones who are prosecuted. God only knows how many more of these poor little creatures will be violated before the legal system comes to their rescue.
Drawings, paintings, animations, sculptures, statues, casts, molds, dolls, and other items which can potentially feature a recreated likeness of something real is not in of itself real. If anything this is intolerance at its best.
This is nothing more than censorship. Are the producers of violent video games…movies…musical lyrics prosecuted for murder, assault, or rape…I think not!
Why? Because that would be denying them their freedom of expression = censorship.
You MAY not like this person’s drawing BUT he has every right to make them.
You don’t have to like him as a person…but again, he has every right to his opinion and the right to express it…however unpopular it maybe.
what about all the art museums with nude pictures and staues. i was just in New York watching people stare at these horrid pieces of art OMG i’m appalled…take them down its causing people to stumble…
Real man get real prison time for virtual sex with virtual child.
http://mobile.news.com.au/national/queensland/sweetie-sting-nabs-brisbane-sex-offender-scott-robert-hansen/story-fnj4alav-1227098259997
I wonder if the law there under which he was convicted is anything like the California laws. If the letter of the law in California were followed, no one could be convicted in these stings because of the wording of the laws. These laws state something along the lines of the perpetrator “knows or reasonably should know the person is a minor.” Well, to know implies it to be fact. You cannot know the earth is flat, no matter how many people say it is or how convincing someone persuades you, you can only believe it. By the same token, you cannot know someone is a minor if they are not, you can only believe it. To be convicted under these laws is a perversion of the law at best.