Okay fingers crossed this will be the last political news directly related to anime for a while, though these days I suppose you never know. I feel compelled to write this follow up article regarding the matter of Representative Gosar posting an Attack on Titan meme video where he is portrayed to attack other members of Congress due to the result of his actions. If you have no idea what’s happening, you can read the initial article here. I wasn’t going to write about this conclusion at first, but I was reading through many comments last time and the majority of people had a negative reaction to his post. When I saw the outcome I thought many would be delighted to know that their wishes have been fulfilled somewhat. 

Earlier this week Gosar was formally punished for the video and stripped of his positions at multiple committees for posting the video. He is no longer able to participate in neither the House Oversight Committee nor the House Natural Resources Committee. This doesn’t affect his ability to vote on bills on the floor however. Gosar continued to clarify his intent stating “This video had nothing to do with harming anybody… it’s an anime, we were trying to reach out to the newer generation that likes these anime, these cartoons fabricated in Japanese likeness”. Regardless, the deed was done and the punishment has been enacted.

Oof, maybe if you posted a Code Geass meme, ya politics would of been better.

I know it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way so I hope I can see some happy faces in the comments. I also know that last time I stated I was pretty neutral on the matter and I reckon I’m about the same here. While I didn’t think the video was worthy of an office resignation as some called for, I also didn’t think it was particularly well-executed. Amusing at best, mostly for the raw reason of seeing some old guy posting about anime in the political scene. Still, I understood many people’s position that it was inappropriate for a high office in America due to the responsibility politicians are supposed to have. With everything in consideration, I think being stripped of committee rights is a nice compromise. Doing nothing would have left a lot of people unhappy and set a precedent that it’s okay, while removing him completely for a single meme video seems a bit overkill. As commenter Hectotane put it last time, there’s probably far more substantial reasons to throw him and many others out of office.

Bye bye for now, or should I say, さようなら

I do love when a little story is wrapped up completely. No loose ends here ladies and gentleman. Now we can all move on until Biden or Gosar declares Boku no Pico an international masterpiece that should be required educational material in schools across the country. But hey the way this timeline is going, we should be safe for a few more years. Are you satisfied with the outcome of this situation? Do you think anime will be mixing with mainstream politics more in the future? Hop in a committee and let your voice be heard in the comments below!