by Holly Chou

A post was started on Planet Namek's Gundam Wing Message Board (for some reason, stuff that I see there is what gets me riled up enough to write more editorials), about a Christian site that pretty much started to label anime as porn and calls anime, Star Wars, and magic "un-Christian" or words to that effect. The address is at http://www.crossroad.to/text/responses/Anime.htm, and I would suggest you go there and read at least some of the letters and responses posted before you read any further. Once you have done so, well - on with the motley. (While proofreading this editorial, I realize that the tone of it changes throughout and by the end I seem to be addressing the reader directly using "you." I am really addressing either Reverend Berit himself or the parents that follow his thinking; this is a bit of a hypothetical debate, if you will.):

First of all, it astounds me how close-minded this Reverend Berit is being. Not only are equally ignorant parents blindly following his actions by shunning anime without looking into it (I don't mean *at* it as most of them seem to have done, but really *into* it by doing thorough research or even giving it a chance), but they are attempting to get other people to do so also. Any responses that ask that he open up his thinking a little a)are told that they are misguided, b)are told that if they are trying to say that they are both Christian and an anime fan, their form of Christianity is not biblical Christianity but cultural Christianity (i.e. not "correct"), or c)get their words twisted around to say something completely hypocritical. Berit says that shows such as Sailor Moon, Pokemon, and Dragonball Z attempt to turn young children away from God because they use magic or supernatural phenomenon; he insinuates several times that imagination is not a good thing, because it is not God's thought but your own.

Excuse me, but who said that only Christianity could validate a person's beliefs? Even if that were true, who gave Reverend Berit the place to dictate which form of Christianity was right and which was wrong? I have to admit that I, having no religion, have not done much research on the subject or teachings of Christianity, or other religions in general, for that matter. But it was my understanding that Christianity taught equality of all human beings, forgiveness, and ethics. Therefore, is it not unethical to go about changing peoples' belief systems in accordance of whatever your own thoughts are? Did it ever occur to you that you might ever be wrong? Is it not unethical to write something off without experiencing it firsthand? If Christianity is merely a front for people to hide behind so that they may judge other cultures or forms of expression without repercussion, then perhaps I am glad that I have not looked far into finding a religion in my own life.

I recall many of the points made in an earlier editorial of mine, "Impressionable Youth." Berit, along with many of the parents that agree with him, seems to think that children will glean far too much meaning from these shows, that apparently they will follow the teachings of Pokemon over those of God. If that is true, then whose fault is it that their children cannot tell the difference between fantasy and reality? Rather than blame anime for influencing your children "the wrong way", perhaps you yourself are to blame for raising your children to be so easily influenced.

Another thing that irks me about the page in question is that anime is being attacked, yet the things that it is being attacked for can all be found within American culture and media as well. While you may forbid your child to watch Dragonball Z, I'll bet you let them watch Disney's Aladdin, didn't you? Well, if we're going to talk about how sacrilegious Dragonball is, what about all the blasphemy in Aladdin? There are genies and all kinds of magic used, ooh, now your kids won't believe in God because they believe that if they rub a lamp they'll get three wishes, right? What about the skimpy clothes that Jasmine wore? And Aladdin was a petty thief, yet he was the hero of the movie, that can't be right, can it? And you might argue that I am being needlessly sarcastic here, because obviously, Aladdin is just a cartoon and it's not deliberately trying to turn your kids away from you. But if you're willing to realize and understand that that much is true for American entertainment, why is it that you refuse to acknowledge it in other cultures' forms of entertainment as well? One can't help but think that perhaps you invalidate other cultures' forms of both worship and entertainment because of just that: because it is from another (different) culture. Again, are you so close-minded that you refuse to admit that perhaps some belief system, even though it is one other than your own, might be valid? I have said that I am not a Christian, but I do not attack your religion as invalid or unacceptable. And just because I don't practice Christianity doesn't mean that I am about to go out and burn a few bibles, try to turn my Christian friends away from religion, or wave banners and put up websites that Christianity is wrong, wrong, wrong. Though I don't practice it myself, it doesn't mean that I think that no one else should. And just because you won't allow your children to watch Dragonball Z because it's too violent, doesn't mean that you have the right to claim that everyone else should, too. I may not agree with you, but that doesn't mean that you are wrong, or that I am right. And just because you may think that only your beliefs are correct, doesn't make that true, either.