We Need To Talk About Texas Senate Bill 20.
As if this year couldn't get any worse the Texas Senate has just passed a bill that will criminalize the possession of any material depicting a minor in “obscene” ways.
THIS WOULD POTENTIALLY MAKE OWNING/WATCHING/PLAYING ANIME OR VIDEO GAMES A FELONY
Though Senate Bill 20 is structured in a way that mainly points it at the usage of AI software to create this type of material, “cartoon or animation” are also specified.
Some of the most popular anime, manga, and games of all time contain these sorts of depictions. Depending on how Texan lawmakers feel about certain series, there’s a good chance many of the most popular anime and manga series ever could be affected.
Seeing as many stories center around people who are high-school age, any content that depicts characters who are underage in a way Texas law deems “obscene” would be committing a felony offense.
Senate Bill 20 is intended to be rolled out as an amendment to Chapter 43 of Texas’ penal code, with the section reading as follows:
“A person commits an offense if the person knowingly possesses, accesses with intent to view, or promotes obscene visual material containing a depiction that appears to be of a child younger than 18 years of age engaging in activities described by Section 43.21(a)(1)(B), regardless of whether the depiction is an image of an actual child, a cartoon or animation, or an image created using an artificial intelligence application or other computer software.”
That said, the activities described by Section 43.21(a)(1)(B) are, by design, up to interpretation. Though they describe the standard acts that would be considered deplorable by most, the definition
of “obscene” material ends with this line:
“[Material or a performance that] taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, and scientific value”.
GUYS THIS IS BAD. And not just because they are coming after something that most of us love.
This is the beginning of a new wave of fascist "Book Banning" per se.
Right wing leaders are hiding behind the guise of "children safety" to ban ANY PIECE OF MEDIA that they don't like or agree with. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PUBLIC/CHILDREN SAFETY.
Don't get me wrong, we DO NEED PROTECTION AND LAWS AIMED AT AI GENERATED CH*LD P*RN.
But Senate Bill 20 is written SO FUCKING VAGUELY that there are NO ACTUAL GUIDELINES that would actually lay out CLEAR AND CONCISE WORDING on what IS or ISN'T legal. It would be left up to the fuckhead right wing lawmakers here in Texas to determine what is or isn't safe which means that they would abuse THE FUCK out of it to fit their agenda.
Texans, if you are reading this CALL, EMAIL, HELL, SHOW UP AT YOUR LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES OFFICE. DO NOT LET THEM GET AWAY WITH THIS EASILY.
Let them know that this is NOT ACCEPTABLE.
If you don't live in Texas, spread the word of this. Show your friends what is about to happen because IF YOU THINK THIS WILL ONLY BE ISOLATED TO TEXAS YOU ARE DEAD FUCKING WRONG.
Like I said before: This is only the beginning of a wave of fascist media banning that is only being emboldened by the fascists that currently occupy the oval office.
IF YOU LIVE IN A RED STATE EXPECT LEGISLATION LIKE THIS TO START APPEARING SOON.
