The News Thread (for news that does not need a thread)

Vashdaman said:
@ayase
But can you blame people for not wanting to support the work of a racist? And it is probably quite hard for many people to give the show the benefit of the doubt in regards to its dubious content now that they know what views the author holds. Likewise, it's probably difficult for one not to be reminded of the author's real life crappiness when the novel's themes are so uncomfortably close to that subject. It ruins the effect of the fiction and kills the illusion and the escapism. It might not be as difficult if the work was more easily separable. I'm not familiar at all with this show, but that's been my experience in similar situations.

But yeah, personally, I'm not sure that I really want to financially support well known racists. I know that most great talents are usually let downs as people, or at least have as many foibles as everyone else, and it's always dangerous to read the biographies of artists you love. But I do think there is a scale, and on my scale unabashedly attempting to devalue the human worth of people of a different race (or gender or sex) through your words is quite high, so I can't really blame people for wanting to wash their hands of this chap.

I'm a little more insouciant about racist artists from the past (providing they aren't on Hitler's level or something) , as racist beliefs were a lot more normalised and common, and if those artists are dead I know I'm not financially supporting them.

Well, that's my take on it. I wouldn't blame anyone who did want to continue reading it too of course, it's just that I do understand the disgust.
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I'm really more in a school of thought that a body of work can speak for itself, in the case of some body of work containing a part of the artits/writers world view coming through in their work a little that will always be a thing, they create the piece of work they want. I'm using a bit of a far fetched hypothetical, but imagine a feminist, perhaps known for disruptive protests writes a story where in that story men are the antagonists and none of the male characters have any redeemable qualities, you will either see that writer make that narrative seem organic or plainly see that it's just that the writer hates men, what matters is how that world is created and wether the bias of the greater is too obvious.
I say that but I doubt I'll trust a neo Nazi to write a harrowing and heartfelt tale called "The jew"
Is the blatant "racism" (he's Japanese, right?) Or more likely xenophobia obvious in MINE's work, or is it creatively "hidden"? And also old people exist, for those creating racist depictions from another age not all of them are dead! there is also the thing of wroters/artists like those on works like family guy with racist jokes, the matter is wether that is written comically with nuance that it doesn't reflect reality or wether it comes from a place of hate
 
@ayase
I understand where you're coming from there. But I think publishers are ultimately just people too, and I think they are also within their rights to choose not to promote the work of someone who, I'm presuming recently, very publicly made racist proclamations. It's completely the author's own fault if his livelihood is effected after that kind of horrid behaviour. If I was a publisher of some kind, being totally honest I don't think I would want to do business with someone who had taken to twitter and publicly attempted to undermine the humanity of fellow humans based on race, fellow humans that I love and have as friends.

I think it's unrealistic to expect people not to become a bit emotional after someone does something blatantly racist like this. Sure, reasoned and sensible arguments explaining to him why he is wrong are important, and it is a shame if he is immutably tarred as a racist when, as you say, change is possible. But I'm not entirely convinced that the vociferous response won't compel him to exam his beliefs, and that a insouciant response wouldn't have allowed him the luxury of being uncritical of himself. He's had a real lesson now in what people think is unaccaptable, and I think he has a chance of coming out the other side a better person.
 
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Fair points @Vashdaman, I think the more I learn about people though, the closer I come to the realisation that anybody is probably capable of anything if their life experiences were different. Just as racists, misogynists and xenophobes have the potential to change, we all had the potential to be those things and we're kind of lucky really in that we're not. I think that has a lot more to do with the simple luck of the draw in the lottery of life than anyone wants to admit. The ability and willingness to listen, learn, reason and comprehend play a part as well of course (but equally it's not necessarily anyone's fault they're less intelligent or mentally ill either, because that's mostly genetics).

I think I feel less upset or angry any more, more just sad for people that whatever life experiences they've had have led them to believe the hateful things they do, because I feel like most of the time it comes from a place of ignorance rather than genuine hate. I'm far from forum Jesus (though your avatar has a handy cross there to nail me to should it come to that) but I find it increasingly hard to hate anyone any more, especially people who don't have any real power and whose only crimes are words and thoughts. I think it's a bit different if you've actually harmed people because of your beliefs. I certainly don't want to excuse anyone's racism, but at the same time I find myself a bit despairing over the lack of willingness for people to give each other the benefit of the doubt that they might be open to learning and changing.
 
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ayase said:
we're kind of lucky really in that we're not.
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How is that lucky? What would change? There are very few minorities in my town. Virtually nothing would change if I were racist. It's more lucky for those people who are often hated that we aren't the kind of people who would look upon them with scorn. Sorry, but I'm a bit selfish with these kind of things, but the colour of someone else's skin or where they are from doesn't effect me, so I see no reason to hate them.
These types of things absolutely come from ignorance, think of a racist parent teaching their child with no outside intervention, I do believe some liberal values are needed to dispel some of that ignorance
 
@ayase
I agree with all of what you wrote in that last post really. I do think that most, if not all, racism does come from a combination of ignorance and fear, and when I (rarely) encounter everyday examples of individuals privately expressing slightly racist views to me, I do just feel pity for them more than I feel anything else and, as you say, it usually seems to me more ignorance than straight up hate. But with that said, everyone's experiences are different, and I don't know what it's like for some people who have had more persistent experiences of racism than I have and how horrible it must be. For some people it's probably a lot harder to be nonchalant about these things than it is for me, and I can't tell them that they're taking it wrong because I'm not them.

The last time I met a guy with real racist views was a few months ago. He seemed nice and bought me a pint and was telling me the forlorn story of his Japanese girlfriend who left him and I lent him an ear. But somehow things turned to the subject of racial stereotyping and he proceeded to tell me that they are all true and that apparently white Europeans really are more civilised, Caribbeans are backwards people who live on fried chicken, poor Indian children are unclothed savages, and that gay people are to blame for HIV. I felt his girlfriend made a very good decision after hearing all this. He also told me that I was less English than he was because I'm not "pure anglo-saxon" like him. This guy has a degree from Oxford University. At times I did feel myself getting a bit emotional despite myself, but the emotion would dissipate again because I just felt a bit sorry for this lonely guy who had apparently lost many of his friends (and perhaps his girlfriend too) because of his views. I think he actually wanted me as a friend and was upset we disagreed so much, though perhaps I'm reaching there. Looking back though, he had clearly encountered more enlightened views and decided to reject them, so perhaps he wasn't deserving of my sympathy, I'm not sure.

Sorry, I'm not sure what the point of that recounting was. But you're right, often when I think about the confluence of things that allowed me to not be a xenophobe, it does feel somewhat like good luck.

But yeah, I am ambivalent at times about this and do sympathise with many of your feelings about art and the separation of it, to some extent, from the maker. Plenty of artistic geniuses do seem to be pretty deeply scarred, or have mental disorders like Bipolar disorder.

And many of the rappers whose music I grew up listening to actively flaunted their awfulness on record to a shocking degree, and usually they didn't seem much better in their real lives from the snippets I heard about them. I think listening to some of that music didn't do me much good to be honest, and perhaps some of them (like Tupac, who, if I recall correctly, was a convicted rapist) didn't deserve the level of idolatry they received, but some of those guys were undoubtedly talented musicians.

These are interesting times we're living in, I think we are genuinely in midst of a real cultural change.

edit: wow that was a long rambling post.
 
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... back onto something that may be news - not really anime related but more for rick & morty fans - apparently there's a rick and morty magazine and it has a few rick and morty comic chapters, I've just been helping out on it, so the cruel and inherently valueless world has recognised your existence, congratulations.
and that's the way the news goes!
 
Netflix have acquired international rights to the Chinese live-action adaptation of Ultimate Survivor Kaiji called Animal World. It's not an exact adaptation from what I hear but the trailer looks nuts:

 
That's a very misleading trailer if this is actually a Kaiji adaptation. (Literally couldn't look less like Kaiji if it tried)

Guess it's better than giving away the whole plot like most trailers do these days though.
 
So they can sit there and be snubbed yet again by the Academy voters who openly admit they never even bother to watch any of the Japanese anime nominations before voting-in yet another Pixar movie with no substance as the winner of the animation category?... Heck, I wouldn't bother to go if I were them... What a joke that category and the entire event is. :rolleyes:
 
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Girls wIth Guns said:
So they can sit there and be snubbed by the Academy voters who openly admit they never even bother to watch the anime nomination before voting in yet another Pixar movie with no substance as the winner of the animation category?... Heck, I wouldn't bother to go if I were them... What a joke that event is.
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All award events are jokes. Who needs trinkets if your work sells?
 
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