two dimensional love

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20081030/tod-japanese-man-petitions-to-marry-comi-c359f57.html

There are a lot of crazies out there. Fortunately, whoever wrote this article isn’t one of them. I can’t say how impressed I was at how the author of this article wrote on a topic most people would find ridiculous.
Firstly, they gave some background on Japan for anyone unfamiliar with the culture. That is important to try and see the problem from this man’s point of view.
“Comic books are immensely popular in Japan, with some fictional characters becoming celebrities or even sex symbols. Marriage is meanwhile on the decline as many young Japanese find it difficult to find life partners.”
With that piece of information, it is still hard to relate, if not impossible, but at least readers are aware that we aren’t dealing with this problem in the U.S. for a reason.
Also, I liked how the author hinted that the internet might be an instigator in this situation. The man set up a petition online, and through the wide web he has found people who (amazingly) agree with him that marriage should be opened to include fictional characters.
If this problem were happening in the U.S., I’d be very afraid for our country, but mainly for the future of marriage. Already the idea is being expanded to include same-sex couples (which I am not opposed to, because they are human, and there would be physical and emotional love involved, the same as opposite-sex-marriage), but if it is expanded to include inanimate objects, animals, cartoons, then the entire idea of marriage becomes a joke. The idea of loving a two dimensional character, though “it is still love,” it is not, and cannot be returned. A marriage is supposed to be between two people who want to be together. If anything, it is unrealistic to suppose that the two dimensional character loves the human back. So on any level, sane or crazy, this guy’s idea doesn’t work.