Political Self-Reference in Eroge
I'm anti-censorship and pro-self-reference so the in-game commentary on some kind of anti-rape/fetish regulations in the Land of the Rising Sun amused me.
This kind of legislation typically spring from moral panic over new media forms, and are a manifestation of cultural gaps and the struggle for social influence. Every time a new media form develops, a generation gap accompanies it, and with that, a moral panic about the youth being corrupted. Video games (remember Mortal Kombat?), the Internet, comics, Dungeons and Dragons, gangster films, and back in the day, even novels were scandalous. Every successive wave of music is derided and feared by the older generation, typically as promoting sexuality and so on, unsurprising given the adolescent audience.
Part of the impetus for such ill-conceived regulation comes from its restrictions only applying to an "other" group, receptive to moral corruption. Ask a supporter whether they should have the ultimate choice whether to expose themselves to a message, and they will answer in the affirmative. But these "other" groups can't be trusted, their free will is essentially flawed, their character fundamentally malicious and untrustworthy, and their rights to make judgements so easily sold off.
This kind of legislation typically spring from moral panic over new media forms, and are a manifestation of cultural gaps and the struggle for social influence. Every time a new media form develops, a generation gap accompanies it, and with that, a moral panic about the youth being corrupted. Video games (remember Mortal Kombat?), the Internet, comics, Dungeons and Dragons, gangster films, and back in the day, even novels were scandalous. Every successive wave of music is derided and feared by the older generation, typically as promoting sexuality and so on, unsurprising given the adolescent audience.
Part of the impetus for such ill-conceived regulation comes from its restrictions only applying to an "other" group, receptive to moral corruption. Ask a supporter whether they should have the ultimate choice whether to expose themselves to a message, and they will answer in the affirmative. But these "other" groups can't be trusted, their free will is essentially flawed, their character fundamentally malicious and untrustworthy, and their rights to make judgements so easily sold off.