[Omegaman]

Doesn't this feel kind of backwards? Maybe I'm being naive, but drinking age laws are put in place to protect people that society has determined aren't mature enough to be responsible with alcohol, or to whom it poses a greater health risk because they're still maturing. Underage drinking is basically always the result of someone else's negligence, and in that sense, someone underage drinking really should be considered the victim, especially since the person most harmed is themselves. It doesn't sound as though she got behind the wheel of a car or acted aggressively towards anyone.

I get that the letter of the law is that what she did was illegal, but it really seems like a situation where someone deserves support and help rather than total blacklisting. I don't necessarily want to speculate, but it does seem plausible that this was a response to the awful rumors going around about her, as substance use often is a form of escape, though I maintain that this isn't really deserved either way. Rather than sending the message that "Drinking before you're 20 is bad," I feel like the main thing this communicates to all the kids out there is that one small mistake can totally ruin your life.

I don't argue that her agency wasn't within their rights to do this, but that doesn't mean I can't think they're pretty scummy for totally cutting her loose. It seems like it's going to have a more negative impact on the show than keeping her on ever could have as well, as I've seen a number of people saying they're dropping it -- if not for solidarity with the actress, simply for how mangled the last episode was by the attempts to scrub her from it. Sorry for dropping the paragraphs, I just wanted to get my two cents out there on this since I'd been stewing on it the past couple days.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

Here I'd like to quote from memory Hiroshi Fujioka's words after the scandal with Tetsuo Kurata: "I'm an ordinary person, and like everyone else, I sometimes do wrong. But I also understand that I'm a role model for many, and that's why I try to exercise responsibility."

No disrespect to Fujioka, and it's a very admirable way to handle being in the spotlight, but he has had 50 years to develop that sense of maturity and responsibility. I don't think it's fair to expect the same thing from a 19 year old. If there's one thing that's almost universal about that age, it's making dumb decisions, and hopefully getting the chance to learn from that so that you CAN be a better, wiser person in your later years.