About Death Note Being Banned(?)

[serria]

New Mexico's Albuquerque Public Schools held a Thursday hearing over a parent's concerns on the Death Note manga series, but a committee voted unanimously against a proposed district-wide ban on the manga. ...According to the KRQE News 13 program, this is the first time in five years that the district had considered banning a book, and a

Comments

[kurosaki_akane]

We could start with the fact that Death Note is not a teaching book for children to read, nor was it made from an educative point of view for schools to display. It's a manga to have a nice time if you're mature enough to understand it-- definitely, no stupid kids material.

Banning a mature manga just because it's not suitable for kids is ridiculous. Of course any tale related to death is not for kids, can they move on now?

[tenkensmile]

Confirmed fact from my foreign friends: DN is banned in China and Vietnam, too.

Speaking from my point of view and I hope you'll all agree, I do not like others to dictate what I should and should not read. Why do governments feel such a need to do this? It's utterly wrong for anyone to think they're playing the role of "god", hence they're looking down upon other people and hastily judge that they lack the intellect to comprehend such a MASTERPIECE as "Death Note".

It's every bit of the hype, people. I cannot think of anyone with half a brain that wouldn't love this series. (Then again, people with half a brain wouldn't be able to appreciate its brilliance).

[tenkensmile]

I'm an adult and not a simpleton. I enjoy sophisticated forms of entertainment because they examine, portray or try to understand the darker sides of life. A lot of things I do, read, listen and watch are not suitable for kids but that's not my responsibility. I would never expose kids to it, and in a free society, that's how far my responsibility should go.

The idea to ban certain ideas or cultural expressions to protect kids is a sell-out of artistic freedom, a negation of parental responsibility and an end to the whole concept of a free country.

Furthermore, it simply doesn't work; there's no way to ban anything that could possibly influence some kids in a negative way without resorting to extreme censorship like in the Dark Ages. Books don't lead people to commit atrocities like that Virginia Tech school shooting. Millions probably read the same without getting this idea. The book is not the problem, the individual and his direct social circle is. Apparently they failed him.

[ilikesocks811]

i can see where they are coming from because if you are not into the story, do not know where it is coming from, or have not read it the idea sounds kind of dangerous. Once you have read it most people would see that it does not condone the killing of people you do not like but raises moral questions about good and evil.