When you go to a store where something can very easily be stolen without your getting caught for it, what is stopping you from doing it? Or when you can easily cheat someone for money, but you decide not to, what's stopping you? The answer is a moral compass of some sort. For Christians, the easy answer is the commandment that says "Thou shall not steal." (Depending on who you talk to, it's either the eighth or seventh commandment.)
The anime community, however, is full of what I'd call "anti-Christians" (people who aren't just not Christians, they hate Christians and everything about the Bible). I use anime cons as a good sampling of anime fans, because if you have the guts to go to an anime convention where you risk getting made fun of by the outside world, you definitely are a true anime fan. This is the type of stuff I've seen at anime cons:
- People handing out tiny Bibles being openly made fun of
- Blasphemic "Jesus" cosplays
- Rants against Christianity
- Vic Mignogna being insulted for his beliefs
- A general distaste for any type of morality whatsoever
These are just several "clues" I can think of from the top of my head that are examples of the hatred towards Christianity shown at anime cons. If I actually documented everything, there'd be a lot more.
Why bring this up? Because if people hate Christianity, they're obviously going to hate being told something from the Bible - the command "Thou shall not steal." And if you try to make an argument against a fansubber who is quite obviously stealing his anime, he's not going to listen to an argument that includes "Thou shall not steal." (It'll be the good old "I'm not a Christian so I don't have to obey the Bible" line that is way overused. Really? So is it okay to murder cause you're not a Christian? Oh, wait - abortion. Never mind.)
Lest anyone think stealing is a "minor sin" that isn't that important, consider James 2:10, which says that if you break even one commandment, you are guilty of breaking all of it. (So much for being saved by your good works!) So let's not sweep this under the rug.
In summary, I think that the small percentage of Christians who are anime fans and the large percentage of fansubbers who steal anime are two numbers that go hand-in-hand. Sure, there are Christians who watch fansubs, I know that I did for an arc of Bleach before giving up the crime for good. But I don't think these statistics are any coincidence; instead, I think it's something to ponder.
If you do watch fansubs, please repent and start purchasing the DVDs/Blu-rays of the shows. It may be too late to save the jobs of such wonderful VAs as Wendee Lee, Stephanie Sheh, etc. But at the very least you will be doing something both legal and beneficial to others.
2 comments:
Good post! I decided to watch anime from only legal sources last February, but my stand was wearing down, and I started to succumb. This post came at the perfect time for me. :)
I think part of the problem with fan subs is that it's become so accepted. If people can't find the anime legally available (or can't find it for free), they see no wrong in finding and watching the fan subs. Even for people who have decided to refrain from watching things illegally, it's a constant temptation. One excuse that I've used is that "I wouldn't buy it no matter what, since I don't have the money. This is just like borrowing it from the library. It's not like I'm going to watch it more than once." Another excuse is: "If these sites haven't been shut down, then do the creators and law people really care?" Those aren't good excuses, but with fan subs so readily available, it can be a sizable temptation to wrestle with.
I do feel the need to point out that there are Christians who do think abortion is okay, so I think that calling out non-Christians who do isn't quite fair to them. (also, something that's rather interesting from a religious viewpoint is that murder statistics in the 10 most "religious" -aka those that report the highest amount of churchgoers- also have murder rates above the national average. What is up with that?)
Anycase, I do have to agree that fansubbing of licensed shows isn't cool. *If* there's a way to get it *legally*, then the anime community should show support and not rip off dvds or touch those shows. It's not right.
Unlicensed shows are a different matter, in my opinion. No one will ever license "Yawara!" because they just don't see a market for a 100+ episode shoujo anime. Same for "Rose of Versaille", because it's so old. Why should shows that DESERVE American releases go unwatched because a company decides it's not worth it? Maybe if enough people got together and watched these, the companies would take notice. After all, that's how we got Haruhi, isn't it?
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