Small Moral Dilemma

[FadedOne]

hmm....so I've apparently dug my own grave here and I need some advice and perhaps a prayer or two.

I'm the weird one in the family and I have a love of anime and a(new) love of manga. They sort of acknowledge my weirdness and leave me alone. LoL. But today I managed to spoil my own peace.

My Mom is taking this art class and the teacher is apparently a manga/anime fan merely b/c of the art involved and he respects it. So i'm like...ooh, Mom...you should see this manga i'm reading! (happens to be Rurouni Kenshin #1)

Anyway...without too much rambling, my Mom wants to scan and print a few pages to show the art guy and I'm unnerved. There's a small bit of language in that manga and a decent amount of violence(though it's hardly anything disturbingly graphic). I"m really not sure how that's going to be taken and if i'm going to get the 'you're reading junk' lecture.

I seem to have come upon two options....one-I copy a few non-offensive pages FOR my mom and leave it at that, thereby avoiding any kind of conflict. Technically i'm 19, I have reasonably good judgment and I can't be told what to do. But that doesn't mean i want to have that disappointment/disapproval hanging over my head.
The other option is basically explaining that there's language there before it becomes and issue. But aaaaah...that means explaining my values on such things and being vulnerable. *hides from such things*

yeahh....im officially annoyed @ myself for bringing this up to her, so now i have to do one thing or the other. obviously the one option is more honest...but i wonder if honesty is always the best when it comes to keeping the peace. yup, i'm struggling w/ this. advice very welcome.

[Kkun]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. You ARE 19, and I'm sure you're able to use good judgment about it. If it does come up, just try to talk to your mom and see if you can reason with her and explain that it's really not that bad, I guess? Like I said, you are 19. You're more than capable of deciding if a piece of entertainment is right for you or not. It's not like you're hiding it, anyway, if you don't go ahead and warn her outright about the mild language and violence. If she happens across it, she happens across it. At this point, I really wouldn't let it worry you too much. =)

[Mr. SmartyPants]

i wouldnt worry, how old is this teacher? if hes like older than YOU then it shouldn't be a problem

[Ashley]

I also wouldn't worry too much about it. I would tell her quite bluntly "it's got a little violence and a few curse words" but mention it rather non-chalantly. If anything, you can compare it to a movie. Since you're an adult, I don't suspect it will be a problem, and your mom will probably appriciate your honesty.

[Shao Feng-Li]

Hey don't sweat it. I leave my RK manga out for everyone to read by choice. What's a few cuss words compared to real life? I say, take Ash's advice.

[Doubleshadow]

I also recommend total honesty. If she has problem with it, then you two should discuss it rather than you sneek around and do something she wouldn't approve of for whatever reason behind her back.

[Arnobius]

I think they all have a good point.

Of course, I don't think you're being dishonest if you show pages that don't have graphic stuff, so long as you don't try to imply that all the content is of the pages you chose. If she wants to know about the story or of potential problem content, you could just mention that it's similar to whatever movie that has similar content or "kind of PG/PG-13/R" depending on your assessment.

I can relate to your concern. Some nephew of mine got caught downloading some hentai pics and since I'm the oddball anime/manga fan in the family, everyone thinks that
1) I'm responsible (in truth I never showed him anything) and
2) Everything I watch/read is hentai.

As a result, I try to put things in context, showing them some of the lesser content first and letting them know that you don't approve of the worst excesses of manga/anime

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I can relate to your concern. Some nephew of mine got caught downloading some hentai pics and since I'm the oddball anime/manga fan in the family, everyone thinks that
1) I'm responsible (in truth I never showed him anything) and
2) Everything I watch/read is hentai.

As a result, I try to put things in context, showing them some of the lesser content first and letting them know that you don't approve of the worst excesses of manga/anime

oh my gosh, that is BAD! Get thigns straightened out!

[kryptech]

Yeah, I can understand where you're coming from. Like mentioning some hard rock CD to my parents and then there're like "Hmm, those guys look kinda angry - are you sure they're Christian?" And then I'm like "me and my big mouth".

Now I'm not "Mr. Wisdom" but here are a few thoughts that came to mind. If this is pretty much a one-time thing you could just copy a few pages that showcase some of the artwork and give them to your mom. I don't really think this would be hiding anything - it would just be giving a brief look at the manga's best side.

But if she has further interest in it I'd say it would be good to explain that it does have violence and a little language. I think Ashley's suggestion is good in presenting that fact bluntly but without making a mountain out of it. Then your mom is on the same page and you can go from there. Trying to hide objectionable content from her when she is curious to learn more about your manga would be a bad thing I'd say.

Maybe this made sense and helped a little. Cheerio.

[Arnobius]

oh my gosh, that is BAD! Get thigns straightened out!

Well, they eventually realized it wasn't my fault, but they still tend to think of anime or manga as material where it *could* turn X-rated at any time

I was working on a sort of "Anime for Parents" guide, but my computer self destructed when I tried to install Panda Platinum Internet Security 2005 on my system-- lost 2 months of data

...yes I know I'm an idiot for not backing up to DVD

[Ashley]

I was working on a sort of "Anime for Parents" guide,

Actually this is something CAA has been working on too. We've got so much going on and many of our techie-inclined staffers are quite busy, but we are seriously working to create such a section specifically to inform parents about what anime is and how it's NOT either all kiddie stuff or all porn.

[Arnobius]

SOunds like we were on the same track. My approach was to factually approach the good and bad, demonstrating the differences.

[CDLviking]

I think they have something similar at Anime Cafe.

[FadedOne]

Thanks for the advice guys.

and hmm...*feels bad for sir animeheretic* All that info lost AND being initially blamed for things. not fun. computers are just evil itself eh?

[Arnobius]

Thanks for the advice guys.

and hmm...*feels bad for sir animeheretic* All that info lost AND being initially blamed for things. not fun. computers are just evil itself eh?

Well, I blame Panda for that one. Ticks me off that you can't return opened software for a refund if the program itself is flawed.

[kryptech]

computers are just evil itself eh?

Granted, computers don't always live up to the theory of being based on logic but are they really evil? I kinda feel sorry for them - I'm sure I'd mess up from time to time if my brain was chugging along at over a billion cycles per second. Whew! Say, I wonder if computers could be considered female since guys are innately unhandy at multitasking...?