Fans Howl in Protest as Judge Decides X-Men Aren't Human

>(and ethical) concerns that
> society may have to deal with in, say, 50 years, if the wet dreams of all
> the post-humanists ever come to light.

Does that mean when one has sexual intercourse with a posthumanist that one
is really doing it with a doll? ;-)

marc


Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: Fans Howl in Protest as Judge Decides X-Men Aren't
Human


> Mostly, the story below is just plain silly: It's just a legal ruling that
> was once necessary because ToyBiz wanted X-Men action figures classified
as
> toys, not dolls, in China, to pay lower import duties. On the other hand,
> it's an interesting angle on the kinds of legal (and ethical) concerns
that
> society may have to deal with in, say, 50 years, if the wet dreams of all
> the post-humanists ever come to light. Mmmmmaybe. Mostly it's just silly.
> Silly is good.
>
> Francis
>
> + + +
>
> Fans Howl in Protest as Judge Decides X-Men Aren't Human
> http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB1043013622300562504,00.html
>
> Marvel Fought to Have Characters Ruled Nonhuman to Win Lower Tariff on
Toys
>
> By NEIL KING JR.
> Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
>
> Judge Judith Barzilay huddled late last year with a telepathic professor
and
> a cast of mutants to ponder an age-old question: What does it mean to be
> human?
>
> In her chambers at the U.S. Court of International Trade, in New York, the
> judge examined Prof. X and the rest of his band of X-Men, all of them
little
> plastic figures at the heart of a six-year tariff battle between their
> owner, Marvel Enterprises Inc., and the U.S. Customs Service.
>
> Her ruling thundered through the world of Marvel Comics fans. The famed
> X-Men, those fighters of prejudice sworn to protect a world that hates and
> fears them, are not human, she decreed Jan. 3. Nor are many of the
villains
> who do battle with Spiderman and the Fantastic Four. They're all "nonhuman
> creatures," concluded Judge Barzilay.
>
> Marvel subsidiary Toy Biz Inc. pushed Judge Barzilay to declare its heroes
> nonhuman so it could win a lower duty rate on action figures imported from
> China in the mid-1990s. At the time, tariffs put higher duties on dolls
than
> toys. According to the U.S. tariff code, human figures are dolls, while
> figures representing animals or "creatures," such as monsters and robots,
> are deemed toys.
>
> To Brian Wilkinson, editor of the online site X-Fan
(x-mencomics.com/xfan/),
> Marvel's argument is appalling. The X-Men – mere creatures? "This is
almost
> unthinkable," he says. "Marvel's super heroes are supposed to be as human
as
> you or I. They live in New York. They have families and go to work. And
now
> they're no longer human?"
>
> Chuck Austen, current author of Marvel's "Uncanny X-Men" comic-book
series,
> is also incredulous. He has worked hard for a year, he says, to emphasize
> the X-Men's humanity, to show "that they're just another strand in the
> evolutionary chain."
>
> Marvel issued this statement: "Don't fret, Marvel fans, our heroes are
> living, breathing human beings – but humans who have extraordinary
> abilities … . A decision that the X-Men figures indeed do have
'nonhuman'
> characteristics further proves our characters have special, out-of-this
> world powers."
>
> The X-Men series broke new ground when it began in 1963 by confronting
> racism and intolerance head-on. The good-hearted mutants rallied around
> their mentor, the wheelchair-bound Prof. Charles Xavier, to protect
mankind,
> even as humans shunned and despised them.
>
> In 1996, Toy Biz sued Customs in the Court of International Trade, which
> arbitrates foreign-trade disputes between U.S. companies and the
government.
> Toy Biz said its pantheon of action figures should be classified as toys
> instead of dolls. Customs insisted the figures are dolls, and thus subject
> to 12% import duties, instead of the 6.8% rate for toys. Duties have since
> been eliminated from both categories.
>
> Thus began the great debate over the figures' true being. Barbie is a
doll.
> Pooh Bear's a toy. That much is easy.
>
> But what about Wolverine, the muscular X-Man with the metal claws that jut
> out from his fists? Wolverine has known many forms in his more than 40
years
> as a Marvel character. In some comics, he resembles a futuristic robot. In
> the movie "X-Men," he's a scruffy Canadian who drives a camper until
falling
> under the protection of the telepathic Prof. Xavier, dean of an academy
for
> gifted mutants in suburban New York.
>
> But is he human?
>
> To weigh that question, Judge Barzilay sat down with a sheaf of opposing
> legal briefs and more than 60 action figures, including Wolverine, Storm,
> Rogue and Bonebreaker.
>
> Toy Biz, in its filings, pulled no punches. The figures "stand as potent
> witnesses for their status as nonhuman creatures," the company argued. How
> could they be humans, Toy Biz said, if they possessed "tentacles, claws,
> wings or robotic limbs?"
>
> Toy Biz had good cause to pursue this line. Having its action figures
> declared toys would mean a hefty reimbursement of past duties, though the
> company declines to give specifics on how much was at stake.
>
> The U.S. government showed more feeling. Each figure had a "distinctive
> individual personality," the federal legal team argued. Some were
Russians,
> Japanese, black, white, women, even handicapped. Wolverine, the government
> insisted, was simply "a man with prosthetic hands." Justice Department
> lawyers who handled the case didn't return calls seeking comment.
>
> Judge Barzilay, through a spokesman, said that she would let her 32-page
> decision speak for itself. But she described in her ruling how she
subjected
> many of the figures to "comprehensive examinations." At times, that
included
> "the need to remove the clothes of the figure."
>
> The X-Men, oddly, gave her the least trouble. They are mutants, she
> declared, who "use their extraordinary and unnatural … powers on the
side
> of good or evil." The judge observed how the character Storm, with her
> flowing white hair and dark skin, "can summon storms at will," while Pyro
> has a "mutant ability to control and shape flames."
>
> Thus the X-Men are "something other than human." Case closed.
>
> Tougher for the judge were figures from the Fantastic Four and Spiderman
> series. Judge Barzilay wrestled at length with Kraven, a famed hunter who
> once vanquished Spiderman, thanks in part to the strength gained from
> drinking secret jungle elixirs.
>
> The judge found that Kraven exhibited "highly exaggerated muscle tone in
> arms and legs." He wore a "lion's mane-like vest." Both features helped
> relegate him, in the judge's mind, to the netherworld of robots, monsters
> and devils.
>
> Judge Barzilay conceded that the closest call was the Mole Man, who once
> blinded the Fantastic Four with searing beams of light. The judge found
him
> to be "stout and thick," with "exaggerated troll-like features" and very
> pale skin – fitting for someone who lives underground. Given all that,
> Judge Barzilay concluded, the Mole Man was more mole than man.
>
> Veteran comics fan Christian Cooper, who once worked as a Marvel editor,
> thinks Judge Barzilay got carried away. If Kraven isn't human, what about
> the twisted villains in Dick Tracy? Or worse yet, Superman himself?
>
> "Here's a guy who changes his clothes in a phone booth and flies through
the
> air," says Mr. Cooper. "Does that mean he's now an animal?"
>
> + ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup
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