Forum - View topicNEWS: Background Checks Not Mandatory for Anime Expo, Except for Its Employees, Volunteers
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6580 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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Yes. Can we cease the transgender discussion now? It's irrelevant to this thread.
Thanks. |
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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Reality has scored a victory over tyranny. This wouldn't have happened if there was a strict 16-18+ only unless accompanied by an adult clause.
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2305 Location: Online Terminal |
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I fail to see a 1:1 correlation here, especially since I'm reasonably certain scanning attendees were never on the table. Background checks are neither good nor bad. |
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Razor/Edge
Posts: 607 |
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Good for them. I was hoping this idea wouldn't spread and try to have this standard forced on all special guests. Background checks are semi-normal thing in America (if you are going into certain lines of work), but it's a huge insult in Japan. You need to understand the cultural differences and how this could permanently damage relations between US and Japanese anime companies. And if you think i'm overreacting, i'd point you to the Tales of the Industry series that used to be written on this site every week. Company relationships can break down easily with disastrous results.
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10455 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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I explained why the background checks were a bad idea here: animenewsnetwork.com/editorial/2016-05-16/the-spja-needs-to-change-its-youth-protection-policy/.102178 Essentially: 1 - They we're announced at the last minute and forced on vendors and other partners who already committed to AX. You can't change the required commitment after contracts are signed. 2 - It's an unfair financial burden on vendors, press, and all those that had to pay for their own background checks 3 - It may actually be illegal in the state of California. Working at a public event where there are children present is not the same as "working with children," therefore it may not qualify as one of the categories of employment where background checks can be required. 4 - Japanese guests who were invited were offended by this. AX may be in America, but they are sending their staff to Japan and asking Japanese artists to be their guests, they have to take Japanese sensibilities into account. 5 - As a result of the above, many companies, guests and press were preparing to boycott AX, or even launch an alternate event. Several companies believe, under the guidance of their legal counsel, that they could not have legally complied with AX, they had no choice but to boycott the event (see #3 above). They also weren't going to subject their Japanese guests to this indignity (by Japanese standards). 6 - It's pointless to do background checks on "special attendees" (ie: guests, panelists, exhibitors & press) when not applying it to the other 95% of attendees. So all the above problems for no practical benefit. You can never achieve perfect safety for children. The safest thing for them to do is to stay home. The benefits of every security measure must be weighed against the negative impact. In this case the benefits would have been negligible (point 6) and the negative impact severe (points 1-5). So yes, it's a good thing that the background checks were abandoned. |
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AnimeLordLuis
 Posts: 1626 Location: The Borderlands of Pandora |
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Well it's good that background checks are not required for guests or attendants but wouldn't it have been easier and more cost effective if the minimum age to enter AX was sixteen unless accompanied by a responsible adult at all times I mean how many children go to AX by themselves anyway.
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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A child badge "must be purchased together with an adult badge" and "All attendees under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult in order to pick-up a badge. All children 13 years & under the must be accompanied by an adult at all times." |
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Cutiebunny
 Posts: 1767 |
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To answer the latter portion of your question, lots of children go unaccompanied by adults to the convention. It is not uncommon to see a group of young looking teens walking around the convention center, especially in autograph or panel areas for dubs and their actors. It's not uncommon to see cars drop off teens every day at the convention center. The thing with the current policy of having a parent or guardian on site is that, with AX's current staffing, that's not going to be enforceable. Teens cosplay, people look younger than their age, etc. So unless staff is willing to consistently card all attendees in every portion of the center, there will always be at least one parent who will drop off their kid for the day. To these parents, AX is a glorified babysitter and will keep their child busy for four days. |
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Cptn_Taylor
Posts: 925 |
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It would be rude if AX took place in Japan and asked for background checks there. Thankfully it takes place in the US, and last I read the US is not Japan. The US doesn't have the same laws as Japan, US society is different from Japanese society etc... Therefore if some foreign guest wants to attend well they'll conform to the rules of the land. What happened to the whole "when in Rome do as Romans do" ? To be rude is to ignore the rules of the place where you're staying. |
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Parsifal24
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So I guess this is good? I don't really know I don't really attend conventions so this all seems kind of moot to me but the criticisms of what could have happened to some seem valid I feel again I feel like I don't have a "dog in this fight" though.
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sunflower
 Posts: 1080 |
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When you invite people over to your home, do you tell them it's with the caveat that they have to behave exactly as you want them to and follow all your rules? Or do you understand that because you're inviting them, your primary job is to make them feel welcomed and at home. That's what it means to host a guest. Btw for future reference, the "when in Rome" refers to travelers or people imposing themselves on others, the opposite of an invited guest. |
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M1Awesome
Posts: 3 |
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This may have been a slight victory, but be vigilant! By SPJA simply proposing that people have background checks is against set culture they exist to promote. It also opens doors to more mandatory policies later. I have been attending since 1997. Most people who attend are common sense law-abiding citizens. It is the responsibility of parents, friends, and moral communities to protect children or any other fellow good people we meet at the convention, it is our duty as US citizens, especially on our 4th of July weekend. Trust me, I have been attending gun shows and other conventions since the early nineties, all policies that started just like this one ended up turning into laws that not only destroyed the events but hurt the industries as a whole. We need to wake up or we will lose our convention we love to attend and artists whose names you're come to memorize and love.
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MidoriUma
Posts: 130 |
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I don't know about you, but yes. As an example, I have friends who smoke. They are not allowed to smoke in my house, even if it would make them feel more at home. Or when I go over to a certain friend's house. Their parents do not like loud music or rambunctious behavior. So although that's normal for me to do at my house, I am an invited guest there and I follow the rules. If I were to visit a muslim country, I would need to cover myself and not show the amount of skin I'm accustomed to in North America. While this may feel unwelcoming to me, those are the rules in place and I was the one who ultimately chose to go. [Edit]: removed unnecessary nested quotes. Please read the quoting guidelines. Errinundra. |
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senketsumatoi
Posts: 17 |
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Small victory at least...it was stupid to try and enforce background checks on vendors, guests and industry people especially this close to the con. It seems like whenever AX/SPJA comes up with some stupid policy like this it's almost always right after the cancellation deadline. Also, yeah it may be the way we do things here in the US, but do any of you really want AX to try and pull this whole background check in the future on Japanese guests knowing that it's insulting to do so in their culture? Even though it might mean AX has a much harder time getting Japanese guests? There's no perfect solution to keeping kids safe, that's on the parents to stay in touch with their kids and perhaps not treat a 90-100K attendee con like a babysitter
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Akaname
 Posts: 141 Location: MA |
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I wish that I had access to my original post which has been deleted and completely censored, a violation of my first amendment rights.
I realize these rights don't apply here., but I had no idea that my posts would be deleted. I would like for you to go ahead and publicly state that you are going to censor anybody's thoughts who are not inline with your own agenda(which is unclear to me at this time.) You should reinstate my original post and explain **to me** and to this community why you think that it needed censoring. You are essentially enabling pedophiles. But that's the world we live in today. |
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