Al Kahn: "U.S. Kids Don't Read."

[CosmicDebris]

Did you get this? www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6310451.html?text=manga

But the show stopper on the panel was Kahn, who grabbed everyone's attention when he announced that manga is more of a content problem than a content solution because the U.S. is not a reading culture and American children aren't readers. And in case anyone missed it, he repeated it several times: "U.S. kids don't read!"

Yes, that's right, so let's just give up then, shall we? Why even bother teaching them to read? It's obviously a waste of time. No wonder Kahn doesn't care about fansubs. Obviously he thinks that there can't be any children who would read the subtitles. XD Only those odd, strangely intelligent anomalies who know the mysterious ways of ye olde text.

[Throes]

Wow, if I were at that panel, I would have seriously shouted out to Kahn and told him how big of a concited bastard he was. But still, all I saw him doing by saying, "Kids don't read" is offending his audience in ways where their corporation will lose money! It's also probably his reason for why there were never uncut DVDs with Japanese audio and subtitles released, save the yugioh and shaman king DVDs that came out over a year ago.

But you know what I think, I think Al Khan is only reflecting on his own greasy, rich, lazy, fat ass. I bet dollars to dimes that Al Kahn wouldn't read a book if he didn't have to.

I liked some of the responses of the responses.

That seemed to really tick off the audience, particularly the librarians—there was even some hissing.

No comment.

Liza Coppola quickly responded by pointing out Viz Media's partnership with the Read for America literacy campaign.

Let's see 4kids' partnership with the Read for America literacy campaign. Now who cares more about the children. This is just another way to show that Al Kahn doesn't care about his audiences, only the size of his wallet.

[Lovely]

You can get the entire recording of the panel here.
Khan makes the reading statement in about the middle of that.
I warn you all, the panel is kind of long, I was playing with my Pinky:st dolls while listening to it ^.^ .

[TakinawaTonfa]

And in case anyone missed it, he repeated it several times: "U.S. kids don't read!"

Well its official now, 4Kids really thinks that their audience is stupid, and one might think that 4kids is an ideal company to support educational causes. Guess we were wrong!

I hope that that little remark follows him for all his remaining time as a CEO.

"DON'T BOTHER JIMMY YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T READ, NOW SHUT UP AND BUY OUR CRAP! ITS AMERICAN!"

That seemed to really tick off the audience, particularly the librarians—there was even some hissing.

That hissing....you still hear it? Its the sound of a company's reputation plummenting further and further into the ground.

Y'know, the more I look at 4kids, the more that I honestly think think that they're trying to be like everyother mainstream anime company (and doing a poor job of it at that!).

To draw an analogy, 4kids is like that kid at school who's trying to be in the "cool kids", and to do that, he's buying all this stuff for no purpose except to show it off and gain recognition. But I guess a more appropriate analogy is the middle-aged guy who desperatly attempts to be "hip like the young people." so to speak.

[Useless]

Hmm, wonder where Al Kahn does his data collection? Maybe he (and by extension, 4Kids's) problem is that they has been getting all their data and approval from an unknown sample group that is not representative of the population, which is neither the little kids they target or the anime fans that enjoyed the cartoon before they butchered it for America. That's still a stupid comment, because reading is pretty much a part of life. Cannot really learn to talk without reading now, and plus, we need to read the instructions to those electronic devices before using them, now.

(On a totally unrelated tangent, is it supposed to be ironic or a coincidence that everyone calls 4Kids greedy, and the symbol above the "4" key is "$"? Just pointing it out because everytime I type in "4Kids", I have a habit of accidentally typing "$Kids".....)

[Innle]

I've been calling them $Kids or 4Kash for ages now.

So, anyone want to organize a formal protest from literate youth of America? If I can pry my little sister away from Redwall I think she could get some angry fifth-graders. XD

Honestly, if the mainstream public gets wind of this guy's latest screwup... I'd suggest selling any $Kids stock now. With all the efforts in the past few years to promote literacy, he's shot himself in the foot.

[kimaraoyamada]

But the show stopper on the panel was Kahn, who grabbed everyone's attention when he announced that manga is more of a content problem than a content solution because the U.S. is not a reading culture and American children aren't readers. And in case anyone missed it, he repeated it several times: "U.S. kids don't read!"

Al Kahn actually said that US kids don't read...? Ha... I don't know whether to laugh or yell at his idiocy and conceitedness.

*sarcasm* 'Course, how can they learn how to read when they're too busy watching 4Crud's shows about fasion-obsessed fairies and... "American" pirates who drink what passes as "fruit punch"? */sarcasm*

[Throes]

After listening to some of that, it seems Kahn is trying to cover his own ass by saying, "What I meant to say was the way they read." Gee, if I remember from earlier, I believe he said, "The kids today don't read.", that's contradictory to itself. Another bad quote, "I don't care about printing stuff. At all."

Oh, later in the panel, he says he's asked kids where his products come from, and he says that the kids say America. It's like, ya think?! I mean, you've only removed any reference or hint at it being a japanese show! Riceballs are edited to be cookies, onions, you name it. Japanese text is wiped from every shot. And he says that their surveys say, kids think anime comes from America! Gee, I wonder why?

I've got an idea for a FWS regarding this panel, so be on the lookout.

[Takato]

There's one thing I want to know. Why is 4Kids at a Graphic Novel convention in the first place? They don't believe kids today read nor do they release comic books of any kind (thank god), so why are they there? Were they there for comic relief or something? And I think 4Kids should take a look at the Harry Potter books if they don't think kids today read. Even if most kids today don't read, that doesn't mean the manga business is going to go down anytime soon. There's still plenty of teens and young adults that read manga, but there's plenty of kids who like reading, too. Scholastic book fairs don't visit elementary schools every year for nothing.

[CosmicDebris]

Here's the text exerpt. I like how he starts the first sentecne: "
""Um...How do I say this without becoming..."

A complete idiot? Jerk? Is that what you're trying to say? XD

Honestly, I never really bashed Kahn other than a little humor before, but this reallly does make me dislike him greatly.


""Um...How do I say this without becoming...I think that the um...right now that the trend that I believe is gonna happen and if you look in the next five or six years - is that we're seeing in the Japanese anime companies. They're looking for co-production partners. They're looking for people who help them localize a show in its inception and create something that has a much more global reach coming out of the market. One of the issues that happens in Japan sometimes is that you get a show that has a lot of Japanese culture built into it. And that culture is hard to translate in France, in Italy, in Spain, in Germany. So what we're seeing now, and especially with the anime...animators - TOEI, uh, especially - where we have a number of joint ventures, we're developing new shows. One of them called Chaotic, for instance, which will be coming out worldwide in September. Which is being produced and written in Japan, but the pre and post was done in the U.S., as opposed to the usually when the pre and post is done in Japan they do it the animation , we get it, we do the post. Now we're doing the pre and post, and we're using them to add the sensibility, the spin, the look. But the story arc or the idea is our idea and it's being done in conjunction with other Japanese companies. So I think that's going to be a process. Every Japanese company I know of is looking for joint venture partners to do that. The second part will be, I think...will be complete co-productions where the...even the intellectual propery is co-owned, which is a totally foreign Japanese concept. They don't wanna give you any copyright, yet all the properties we're currently involved with are co-copyright holders. We own them in perpetuity - we won't go through another Pokemon experience - and, y'know, we will end up working more colla...more collaboratively with the Japanese to create something that can spin out for a long time.

My manga comment is...I think manga is a problem. It's a problem because we're in a culture that is not a reading culture. The kids today don't read. They never...they read less today. Every survey...they're watching more television, they're on the Internet more; and that content, although being king, is very disposable. Because the way content gets put out now, it's going to be put out free. More and more content will be available for free. You'll go to the Internet, you'll be able to download as many...we're-we're streaming most of our shows. The reason why we're streaming them: we want kids to watch them as much as they can so they get invested in a concept and go out and buy products. The products ain't free. The content is going to be free. And manga, in my mind, is trying to put a square...um...y'know, a square peg into a round hole in the United States. It will never be a big deal here. For kids that are into the computer, or the Internet generation. They're not going to read. They haven't read, so they're not gonna start now.""

[Ssteiny]

Can I bash this guy with a shovel?
I agree with the point that "kids don't read" enough. Maybe he could be more specific. kids dont read enough books. I don't read enough. how can you say that manga is a problem? It contains art and culture. this is just too stupid. he is trying to globalize american culture through the marketing of japanese animation world wide by stripping out whatever culture there may be just because american children might think it is strange. Well of course it would seem strange if you had no idea about it in the first place. But that is learning to overcome ignorance. manga is a big deal. Its not a big deal to him because he doesnt gain much profit. He is promoting ignorance.

It stupid, its F*****g stupid. promoting kids to read less for more profit. it like saying, "let's take advantage of them. they don't read much anyways, but they like watching our show. Lets make many products that they will want so they never have to think about the manga."

[Ankari]

demonboy said:

Wow, if I were at that panel, I would have seriously shouted out to Kahn and told him how big of a concited bastard he was. But still, all I saw him doing by saying, "Kids don't read" is offending his audience in ways where their corporation will lose money! It's also probably his reason for why there were never uncut DVDs with Japanese audio and subtitles released, save the yugioh and shaman king DVDs that came out over a year ago.

But you know what I think, I think Al Khan is only reflecting on his own greasy, rich, lazy, fat ass. I bet dollars to dimes that Al Kahn wouldn't read a book if he didn't have to.

I liked some of the responses of the responses.

That seemed to really tick off the audience, particularly the librarians—there was even some hissing.

No comment.

Liza Coppola quickly responded by pointing out Viz Media's partnership with the Read for America literacy campaign.

Let's see 4kids' partnership with the Read for America literacy campaign. Now who cares more about the children. This is just another way to show that Al Kahn doesn't care about his audiences, only the size of his wallet.

I read this with my friend Rachel.
Im on at her house.
We applaud you.

[Lovely]

I didn't notice the hissing so much as a sort of dead silence when Khan made his comments. It was just shocking, Especially since a lady representing Kodansha was present at the panel. (I'm suprised the other panelists didn't jump him later *laughs*.)


Khan's an ass, and he KNOWS he's an ass. He honestly doesn't care. And on the one hand, I have to kind of admire his truthfullness. He just comes right out and says it's for the money.

But yes, his comments about how kids don't know things are from Japan. It... it really made me kind of mad. It's NOT "boring Japanese stuff." It's a chance to teach children something different and new, something that is actually FUN to learn about and he (and his company) is just dropping the ball. I feel it's these companies RESPONSIBILITY to get these things known so as to help teach tolerence. But.. eh, I'm going into territory I shouldn't here ^^;.


But hey, in the grand scheme of things, it's is a GOOD thing that Khan has no interest in Japanese reading material. I mean, think about it, his company has a LOT of money. Can you imagine the kind of stuff they would pull if they thought manga was a good childrens market?
The little things Viz occasionaly does to their manga would be NOTHING in comparison to the "helpful changes" Khan would do.

Just something to think about.

[Sanji]

I'm not going to say it, since it's already been said, so I'll get to the point. Al Kahn is a piece of shit, he's lower than Death Valley.

[Innle]

I thought you guys might want to see the thread I posted over at GAFF about this. Bear in mind that there are at least a few English majors, and English TEACHERS over there... not to mention people with kids in $Kids' target age group... it's going to be interesting.

Link: www.godawful.net/mb/index.php?showtopic=25572

(I think Guest posting is enabled in the GA News section, but I'm not sure.)