There's a good deal of background, so buckle in.
If you've seen my blog, you know I read the webcomic Gutters (not linking to it, I'm mad at them right now). Its a weekday webcomic about comics, the comic industry, current comic storylines, etc. It is worth noting now, that Sohmer, author of the comic, is a Canadian. It will make more sense as you read on.
Anyone who keeps up with comics news has probably heard of the CBLDF (Comic Book Legal Defense Fund). If you haven't, it's a group that raises money, and awareness and sometimes arranges for legal defense of comic authors, publishers, and more recently, owners when their First Amendment rights are infringed or in danger of being so. A lot of what the CBLDF does (from what I hear) is help your local comics shops when someone tries to shut them down for selling comics they don't like (usually for violent or sexual imagery, even if those books are marked Adults Only); they participated in a legal challenge to an Oregon law banning the sale of "obscene material" to minors, which was so broad that it could have led to the prosecution of booksellers who provided kids with anything from Berserk to The Handmaid's Tale; they issued challenges against laws in Alaska and Utah attempting to censor material on the Internet. Stuff like that
However, that doesn't get headlines. What does get headlines is the Fund's defense of people who own manga that feature lines on paper arranged to form optical illusions that appear to be, when perceived by a human brain, underaged characters involved in sexual scenarios. If you follow Neil Gaiman on facebook, or twitter, or at his blog, you may have seen his link to a recent CBLDF case.
An unnamed American in his "mid 20s" was crossing into Canada to visit a friend, and is facing a minimum of one year in Canadian Jail, having to register as a sex offender for having comics on his laptop. The Canadian Customs agents searched files on his laptop, iPhone, and iPad. After searching the various media, they found manga that featured fictional underaged characters (lines on paper, no actual underaged anyone being exploited, molested, or in any way involved) having fictional sex, which is considered child pornography. This resulted in a warrant for his arrest and the charges mentioned above. I've never heard of customs agents anywahere searching files on a computer without perviously having probable cause or a warrant. Unless he was reading these manga on the plane, and another passenger saw them and reported him to the flight crew to be stopped, I have no clue why customs would even ask him to turn his crap on. Canadian Border Services has a reputation for seizing items seemingly arbitrarily, especially comics, that individual officers don't like (anecdotally including even Sailor Moon comics). From the CBLDF website - PROHIBITED: Housewives at Play #8, ACCEPTABLE: Housewives at Play #4. PROHIBITED: Co-Ed Sexxtasy, Numbers 1, 4, 6, and 7, ACCEPTABLE: Co-Ed Sexxtasy, Numbers 3, 5, and 8 (I guess nobody tried bringing #2 across the border).
But I've sidetracked myself.
The "comic" in question is an abstract (and rather poorly drawn) poster with the following text on it:
Now myself, I took offense at this. I think it almost maliciously misrepresented what the CBLDF does, and what Freedom of Speech actually is."We are writers. We are artists. We are publishers. We are retailers. We are readers. We will fight for your right to view graphic depictions of naked children. We are the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. We will even provide you with those images. We will charge you a nominal monthly fee."
What really got my goat was the author's comments below:
"At one point, I’m pretty sure the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund sounded like a much needed organization. From where it stands today, however, all I seem to read about is how they’re seeking to protect someone who’s either reading, selling or transporting manga with depictions of sexual acts. Starring children. I believe in freedom of speech very strongly. I equally as strongly believe that graphic images of children in sexual scenarios is not something a healthy person needs to carry on their laptop. Some call it art, I call it inappropriate. The CBLDF raises and spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on these cases, and even within the comic book industry, there are plenty of other people who need defending. I hope one day to see the CBLDF become what it should be. Today’s 1st amendment protected page was done by Ryan Lee."
I was so outraged by that notion I left a few comments on the page. My first post was:
My second point was much more direct:Why am I not surprised that Sohmer took the pro-Canada stance? Anyone who says "I believe in freedom of speech very strongly, but…" doesn't really believe in freedom of speech or doesn't understand what freedom of speech actually means (I know he didn't write "but" but it is heavily implied). Neil Gaiman said it best on his blog years ago, in his post Why Defend Freedom of Icky Speech?
"The Law is a huge blunt weapon that does not and will not make distinctions between what you find acceptable and what you don't. This is how the Law is made.
... Because if you don't stand up for the stuff you don't like, when they come for the stuff you do like, you've already lost. The CBLDF will defend your First Amendment right as an adult to make lines on paper, to draw, to write, to sell, to publish, and now, to own comics. And that's what makes the kind of work you don't like, or don't read, or work that you do not feel has artistic worth or redeeming features worth defending. It's because the same laws cover the stuff you like and the stuff you find icky, wherever your icky line happens to be: the law is a big blunt instrument that makes no fine distinctions, and because you only realise how wonderful absolute freedom of speech is the day you lose it."
I find it impossible for someone who, even off panel, repeatedly makes jokes about prostitution and bestiality to take the moral high-ground about anything.Here's the problem, Sohmer. If you want to go the route that some art is "immoral" or "indecent" or to use Gaiman's word "icky" then you must shut down or at least severely limit your own free expression in LICD. You have a character (Urchin) who is effectively child slave labor (why are you pro-child slavery/anti-adoption/anti-foster care?!) and a prostitute who does not seem to be involved in a legal government run brothel (or regular bathing) but I'm getting sidetracked.
You have/had a recurring joke, or running GAG (not the best choice of words as you'll see here) where your protagonist paid a hooker to have intercourse with a horse. I'll say that again. YOUR art involves a HOOKER FUCKING A HORSE. Why are you pro-bestiality? Why are you pro FORCED bestiality? If being morally repugnant is the rule, that means it is illegal/immoral/icky/indefensible for someone to cross from America into Canada with LICD strips saved on their hard drive or tablet or whatever. Would your opinion of freedom of expression change then? What about your opinion of the CBLDF?
What do you all think? Especially you Canucks on Comic Vine. Did that comic seem inappropriate? Do you agree with that jerk (him)? Do you agree with this jerk (me)?
Is it cultural? Americans have our FIRST Amendment to our Constitution guarantee freedom of expression, whereas the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms lists freedom of expression in their SECOND Section. What's the First section, you ask? The right of the Canadian government to impose "reasonable limits" on the rights of the citizens.
Independence Day is less only 5 days away. Can a country that rebelled against tyranny, and fought a bloody revolution against a powerful empire, truly be understood by a country who spent 115 years gradually edging away from it's colonial rulers, has only been mostly independent since 1982, and still has a foreign Head of State?
Help me CV let me know what you think below.
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