Critical Thinking on News Article (1)

(This article uses a mock HKASL Use of English Section D exam paper)

Title: Violent comics blamed for youth crime

Comic books that depict gory scenes of violence, and glorify those who commit them, are being blamed for the rise in the juvenile crime rate in Hong Kong.

The root of the problem is simple: Most of the person learn by imitation. A Chinese saying goes “He who approach red will be filled with red (近朱者赤, 近墨者黑)”, those who are in touch with violence by first impression mechanism will mimic violence as daily resort.

The debate over violent comics has hotted up since the beating to death of a 14-year-old schoolboy by a teenager who was addicted to reading such material. The teenager had a collection of hundreds of mangas that featured fantastically brutal acts of revenge. During his trial, the teenboy’s lawyer argued that the book had damaged the youth’s sense of rightfulness for good, and had made it difficult  for him to judge the reality outcome of his acts.

Simply the boy read too little: he read comics only instead of news, reality shows, high literature and/or soap opera so that his value judgment is far from complete. The indulgence into violent mangas does only prove the person’s illiteracy of life, thus being imbecile.  

At least some specialist identify with this viewpoint. According to an HK child psychologist, the stories in these reading materials, in addition to entailing violence, involve heroism fabricating supernatural powers and impossible stunts. This adds to the negative impact of comics on youthful readers, and adversely affect the development of their psyche.

As a differed corollary, S.F. (Science Fiction) animes, even includes Doraemon, lack post-consumption guidence to realize readers to differentiate between reality and the imaginary world. For example, no one has even criticize the abuse of “Time machine” as one of the Doraemon’s widget.

The comics come in 2 varieties: locally produced , and ones that are imported, usually from Japan, which are better produced and, if anything, far more violent.

While Osamu Tezuka’s S.F. anime has won fames for comic production, many of his mangas do, albeit for satire against harsh reality, contain many violence, say triad punishment. The more reality the author want to criticize by showing the alerting violence , the more ignorant readers follow the violence suit by utilitarianism.

Such comics are widely available from newspaper hawkers, and sold without identifying the buyer’s age in advance. The Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance states that people who sell violent comics to anyone under the age of 18 are liable to a fine which can be up to several million dollars and 1-year in prison.

Local government should ban the circulation of  sexually inciting ACGN products of Haruhi Suzumiya as well, e.g.:

Comic book makers, not surprisingly, deny the view that violent mangas lead to violent crime. A CUHK Japanese Studies professor, Dr. Ng Wai Ming, feels that comics only reflect the violence in society. “No one would buy the books if they had no violence” he says.

Those support violent comics lack spirit of global citizenship then. Instantiating violence is not the only approach to reflect the violence in reality. Why not acting defense mechanism of sublimation instead, say counteracting violence by advocating love and peace? In truth, it is the the affirmative who are irresponsible to society, and it is they are source of violence to be cracked down on.

Practising NeoConfucianism by Ojalytician Otakus from Confucious’ Sayings (1)

Here I will try to instantiate  certain ideas from Confucious’ (孔子) sayings in order to let audience understand what Ojalytician Otakus really are.

Raw Source for reference of coming articles in the same series “Practising NeoConfucianism by Ojalytician Otakus from Confucious’ Sayings“:
http://www.amtbtc.org.tw/lun/LunYu_all.htm

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不知命，無以為君子也。

Without understanding the rules in the external environment, it is impossible for an Ojalytician Otaku inheriting NeoConfucian Ideologies to  manifest their ideals for public wealth. For example, if we don’t know the driving force of human  utilitarianism is of fear and jealousy, showcasing one’s talent amidst comparative rivals will be deemed (and thus labeled) as arrogant showing-off and thus no one will appreciate one. So, with acknowledged a fact that many ACG Fans hate liberal arts, it is not feasible for an otaku to blend with philistine ACG fans using one’s own insight. Sad but true, they have no such proficiency to get grips of what an otaku think with a difference, e.g. using Jungian Psychological Type to interpret ACG characters. So, why not resort to psychometricians instead in order to get resonance?

不知禮，無以立也。

 Without understanding the rules in intra-institutional environment, it is impossible for an Ojalytician Otaku to grasp a cutting edge/stepping stone for success. For example, while many collective ACG fans pay no respect to college teachers only to maximize their utility of hedonism, there exists a opportunity for an otaku to communicate with college teachers individually to earn senior learners’ support. Although this will incur the collective’s peer exclusion owing to again fear (for losing influence) and jealousy (of teacher’s appreciation on the otaku), but since it is the ACG fans who defy the etiquettes with teachers first, the otaku still manage to stand out. 

不知言，無以知人也。

Without understanding the rules in communication, it is impossible for an Ojalytician otaku to get hold of their personality of a person. For example, those who only give negative comments on otakus in the (fake) name of counseling are toxic friends. Therefore, an otaku should be vigilant of other’s hypocrisy well in order not to be deceived.