It seems like everyone thinks that the idea of censoring comics in order to protect children is ridiculous. I think there are some pros and cons to this theory. First of all, one must ask the question of why comics should be censored. Do children think it is all right to do everything that is done in comics? Do kids really imitate the crimes and violence they observe in comics? If it is not the fault of the comics, what are the alternative sources of children’s violence? Next, one must assess why it would be good to censor comics. Or, why it might be harmful to children to censor comics. One might argue that it is bad to censor comics because comics do not sell as well and children won’t want to read them anymore. Another explanation might be that censoring comics might shield children from reality. I think that children must know the true reality of life, and should not be censored from it. However, from what I have read in Comic Book Nation, most of the suggested censorship did not display reality in any shape or form. For example, a man cutting a woman’s head off is not reality and should not be displayed as such. One might argue that a comic does not necessarily represent such acts as reality, but a child might not be able to know whether it is reality or not. Thus, I believe that some comics may have needed censorship since parents could not control everything that their children were reading, but comics should not have been censored to the point where children observe a false sense of reality.
Why blame comics for societal failure? Society blamed comics for the societal failures because it was a fairly new industry, and as things seemed to go “wrong” they figured it must be comic books. When a child grew up during the war, his father was probably killing people and the military and his mother was probably making things in factories to help kill the opposition. The only things kids had to “babysit” them was comic books, and they read many different kinds. So when kids starting acting differently in this new generation the figured it must be the comic books. Society didn’t want to believe it may have been the internal and external scars war causes on the soldiers and their families. Also the fact that young unattended children are reading these comics may not be able to differentiate between fantasy and reality. When society fails it always needs a scapegoat then it was comic books next it was rock and roll. Society naturally resist change.
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