Black Ops Swastika Emblems Will Earn Xbox Live Ban

[mr_rubino]

Toulouse is a tool. You let us slaughter the Vietnamese, infiltrate and destroy a Russian missile base, and kill, (a double I know but come on) Castro..
But no swastika? What happened to freedom of speech in America, let alone freedom of player choice in the videogame spectrum. Because, come on, it's just a video game.
Right?

Thank you Mr. Derpenheimer. I was worried we wouldn't have enough stupid people saying "FREDUM OF SPECH", and then we'd be stuck having an intelligent conversation.

 

[JokerboyJordan]

Get rid of the swastikas,penises, animals with penises etc.
Anyone who uses them is trolling-pure and simple.

 

[theultimateend]

Stupid Nazis. Why did you have to ruin the swastika for everyone else?

They didn't. The people that refuse to see it as anything other than a Nazi symbol ruin it for everyone else.

This.

Nazi's didn't ruin that symbol.

Fanatical Ignorance did.

Thank you Mr. Derpenheimer. I was worried we wouldn't have enough stupid people saying "FREDUM OF SPECH", and then we'd be stuck having an intelligent conversation.

You can be confident that people who have never read nor at least remember the constitution or the bill of rights will cite them in some manner when discussing situations with private entities.

It's basically a law of nature at this point.

[I am of course talking about the person you have quoted, and not you mr_rubino]

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

On one hand, i'm glad this guy recoginzes that the symbol has more to it then just Nazi germany, on the other hand, I am disappointed that he caves in to just saying "it's a bad time in history and we should pretend it never happened".

 

[theultimateend]

On one hand, i'm glad this guy recoginzes that the symbol has more to it then just Nazi germany, on the other hand, I am disappointed that he caves in to just saying "it's a bad time in history and we should pretend it never happened".

But if you act like history never happened then it can't repeat itself.

That's how that old saying goes isn't it?

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

On one hand, i'm glad this guy recoginzes that the symbol has more to it then just Nazi germany, on the other hand, I am disappointed that he caves in to just saying "it's a bad time in history and we should pretend it never happened".

But if you act like history never happened then it can't repeat itself.

That's how that old saying goes isn't it?

If people don't know about it, and the horrors it induced, then who's to say that it won't happen again.

 

[Chewster]

Stupid Nazis. Why did you have to ruin the swastika for everyone else?

I feel the same way about small mustaches.

 

[Johnny Reb]

This Stephen Toulouse guy sounds like a real Fascist.

 

[Flac00]

I see irony in this, controlling content in a community seems all too common.

Stop being a pussy. There is a difference between censoring horrible material and nazis. For one, they are censoring nazis. Stop drawing conclusions of modern society to a radical group that should be hated by everyone on the planet. Your not helping.

 

[Flac00]

So what if I were to use imagery like this...

which is related to the kaisers rather then the Nazis, is that going to get me banned? because this looks more awsome then any image Hitler could come up with.

That's fine, its not the third reich, more like the second.

 

[Flac00]

Am not a big fan of the "Jewish extermination" but the swastika should not be banned, even if drawing attention to the event was precisely the intention of the user. Despite what the MS guy says, it is political correctness.

Even though Microsoft are being massive dickheads here, it's not a surprise that they did this.

The swastika is an image that is banned in certain countries (e.g. Germany). People from Germany play the same online game that everyone else does, so they have to moderate their emblems to exclude banned images.

I could be wrong, but I'm willing to bet that it's the public (emphasis on "public") display of the swastika that's banned in Germany. And I would assume that its display in an online game doesn't qualify as a public display (unless you're monitoring your game play on a gigantic Jumbotron screen set up outdoors for all to see).

Its public enough. And EVERYONE thinks of Nazis when they see the swastika. The only reason you would put a swastika in the game in the first place would be to refer to Nazis. It is definitely good that microsoft censored this, no one should ever in their lifetimes try to be anything like the Nazis, nor should they speak of them positively in any way.

 

[rsvp42]

You're actually offended? Well, here, let me show you a measure of your own empathy and sympathy: I really give a rat's ass that you're offended and I am tearing up as I write this, such is my sadness. I guess you'll just have to endure this painful, painful time. My heart goes out to you.

To blows, then! Now that we've disposed of the shackles of reasonable discourse, that is.

I'm a bit dismayed that all you did was use the same words I did. It's odd because when I used them, they were directed at those who would use the swastika in Black Ops, not at you. The fact that you're directing them back at me means either:

a) you actually do use it and are mad or
b) you took offense to it anyway, which would be strange.

Either way, you failed to distance yourself emotionally from your own argument and saw attacks on it as--

Oh wait, I'm being reasonable again, aren't I? I confess I'm not very good at being an ass for no reason, so I may need your help with that. If you would be so kind.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

...Now how about a ban (or other punishment) on the countless people with a penis as their icon? (I swear, if you drink a shot every time you see that, you'll be dead of liver failure within 10 minutes.)

Hopefully they will get to that after they get rid of the swastikas. Personally, I say ban them because even though there is a meaning to them besides the Nazis, they were used by the Nazis, and that's not funny, clever or cool.

Terrorists used planes to kill people, therefore we should ban planes. Yay logic.

the columbine high school massacre was done with guns, we should ban images of guns, another yay logic!

OT: yeah... i honestly didn't see ANYONE else getting pissy over the depiction of Swastikas, i don't see why xbox has to but then again it IS a privately run company, they can do whatever they want no matter how stupid it is (hence the raising of Xbox Live prices)

 

[Wow they sure are generous with the usernames]

ITT:

-People who are not aware that animal sex emblems also receive bans

-People who don't understand why society looks upon the Nazi's in a different way than the Soviets

-People who are so against anything they consider "restricting their freedom of speech" they think swastikas are fine

-Trolls.

 

[Arawn.Chernobog]

The Swastika existed and for many people it had many different meanings, but when we analyse things without the clouded judgement of petty emotionalism... it's just ANOTHER symbol, it stands as a religious icon for some (Certain Buddhists), a political icon for others (National Socialist Supporters) and a threat to another group (people that think symbols have magical powers).

If one is to ban the Swastika, fine, but apply the same regulation to all symbols if the filter is that said symbols is iconic with genocide (this would extend to ANY symbol of a judaic-christian or even Islamic faith as SOME groups have utilized it to symbolize genocide).

To generalize the Swastika and ban it's use for it might hurt those sensitive or ignorant to what it may stand for has no more value than banning any other of the following symbols: The Christian Cross (Pagan cultures; Modern-Era SPQR mentality supporters; etc. are sensitive to it); The Star of David (I'm pretty sure any non-Jew in Israel doesn't look at it too kindly); The Islamic Crescent Moon (US Republicans don't care for it, that's for sure).

Have we arrived at an age that we censor the artist, the hobbyist, etc. for some might not care kindly for one's image=? Perhaps because they are simply ignorant to it?

There are many ways the Swastika can be used:
- Icon for a sect of Buddhism (it's original meaning);
- Icon for National Socialist/Fascists doctrines;
- Icon of Hate, Intolerance, Racism;
- Icon of Human Corruption and/or Ignorance;
- Realism for a WW2 re-enactment in-game;
- Etc.

And all of these would be fair use of the symbol, one human should be allowed to express his/her opinion, regardless of whom it might POTENTIALLY offend and regardless if said opinion is valid and intelligently structured or a chaotic mess of incoherent statements and unjustified positions. But I suppose it's always easier to turn tail and run, to give in to censorship for the sake of "not causing a fuss"... in short, it's easier to be a coward.

 

[rsvp42]

snip

But this article is about the swastika being banned in Black Ops, not across the entire world (and please don't indulge in some slippery-slope fallacy). Microsoft is their own company and is completely within their rights to make such a rule, just like Best Buy is allowed to keep their employees from displaying the symbol on their person, or McDonald's, or the Mom n' Pop diner down the street. Nothing is stopping people from going out and getting as many swastika tattoos as they want or anything else similar. Yes there's social pressure not to do that, but that exists for everything.

I feel like a lot of people are turning what should be a no-surprises story of a company doing something perfectly reasonable with their service into a huge issue of first amendment rights and censorship. Again, a person can go out and build 50 websites covered in swastikas and get nothing but hate mail. They can paint huge canvases with images of a glorified Hitler stabbing a dove made to look like a Jewish person. All that stuff they can do freely in this country, yet there's outrage about "freedom of expression" when an online game won't let you show a swastika. Like this game is all there is.

 

[Wow they sure are generous with the usernames]

The Swastika existed and for many people it had many different meanings, but when we analyse things without the clouded judgement of petty emotionalism... it's just ANOTHER symbol, it stands as a religious icon for some (Certain Buddhists), a political icon for others (National Socialist Supporters) and a threat to another group (people that think symbols have magical powers).

If one is to ban the Swastika, fine, but apply the same regulation to all symbols if the filter is that said symbols is iconic with genocide (this would extend to ANY symbol of a judaic-christian or even Islamic faith as SOME groups have utilized it to symbolize genocide).

To generalize the Swastika and ban it's use for it might hurt those sensitive or ignorant to what it may stand for has no more value than banning any other of the following symbols: The Christian Cross (Pagan cultures; Modern-Era SPQR mentality supporters; etc. are sensitive to it); The Star of David (I'm pretty sure any non-Jew in Israel doesn't look at it too kindly); The Islamic Crescent Moon (US Republicans don't care for it, that's for sure).

Have we arrived at an age that we censor the artist, the hobbyist, etc. for some might not care kindly for one's image=? Perhaps because they are simply ignorant to it?

There are many ways the Swastika can be used:
- Icon for a sect of Buddhism (it's original meaning);
- Icon for National Socialist/Fascists doctrines;
- Icon of Hate, Intolerance, Racism;
- Icon of Human Corruption and/or Ignorance;
- Realism for a WW2 re-enactment in-game;
- Etc.

And all of these would be fair use of the symbol, one human should be allowed to express his/her opinion, regardless of whom it might POTENTIALLY offend and regardless if said opinion is valid and intelligently structured or a chaotic mess of incoherent statements and unjustified positions. But I suppose it's always easier to turn tail and run, to give in to censorship for the sake of "not causing a fuss"... in short, it's easier to be a coward.

This has some good points but fails to recognize that the vast, vast majority of Western culture recognizes the swastika as only a symbol of hate. This argument of whom other symbols offend (pagans? really?) is irrelevent, I could make up some bullshit religion that worships a symbol that looks suspiciously like a man jerking off a horse on one side and a gorilla on another, and then claim offense to the banning of that symbol from BLOPS. But again, the vast majority don't see it that way, they see it as a dude jerking off two animals. The ignorance to the symbol is society's fault, and it's not Treyarch's duty to educate everyone on the variety of meanings that the swastika may have. The swastika has a special place in the mindset of the western world as the most public and reported example of genocide and true human evil. Trying to get the mindset away from the evil of the Nazi's and give the symbol its original meaning is commendable, but again not the duty of Treyarch. All the people here are directing their outrage at the wrong entity. Why does Treyarch have such a duty to educate the masses on the many meanings of the swastika? Why not start with the actual governments that ban the image?