Columnist Deems Enslaved Racially Insensitive

mechanixis

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Oct 16, 2009
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God, this is just too absurd, I can't even approach this. The reason they're decrying it is "well it's not actually racist, but it COULD BE (if a certain character was black)!"

If they'd played the game they'd realize that it hasn't got a goddamn thing to do with race. Monkey's name is a literary reference.
 

qbanknight

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Apr 15, 2009
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Zachary Amaranth said:
And while we're at it, why did you bring up your own ethnicity and skin tone? I'd like to think there's a logical reason, but it reads as though you omitted the "and therefore, nobody else should be offended." Does your experience as a Cuban negate the experience of other people with a lot of melanin? Do you speak for all people "of colour," sir? How else can you invalidate the opinion of another as you have done? Do you, in face, speak for all black people? Is it impossible for blacks to find this offensive?
I'm used to bringing up my ethnicity in lovely racism debates as it prevents racist pricks from pulling the race card on me: "You're just saying that because you've never faced discrimina...oh wait"

And yes I do find it impossible for blacks to find this game offensive because there's nothing to be offended about. A character is enslaved to do the bidding of another. Is that strictly referring to blacks? No, it's referring to all people across history who have been enslaved be they for paying back a debt or as the spoils of war. Hell, we still have slavery in our modern day against women and children. Slavery in the United States USED TO refer to Blacks, but in our modern world we have seen other races, religions, and social groups be enslaved for a variety of other ignorant reasons.

So no, Blacks have ZERO right to be offended by this game. Slavery is, believe or not, a ethnic-blind issue. I understand that Blacks faced it for centuries in this country prior to the 1860s, but many other races faced slavery as well. Even today, we are facing it and trying to combat it.

This man's opinion means nothing to me because he does not make a SINGLE valid reason for blacks to be offended by this game. All he is trying to do is capitalize on the central story point of the game and that's all
 

Prof.J

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Feb 22, 2008
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Mario is the tale of a simple Italian stereotype stomping on other goombas and eating spaghetti. This is a lot like T.V's portrayal of Italians as Italian food eating, flamboyant, fat people.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the tale of a black man who is shown to look and act a lot like Cradle 2 The Grave's portrayal of black people as gangsters with guns who fight.

Yes, if we try really hard, we can make anything racist. If I pretended the main character was black, the enslavement is based on a difference in race, and slavery is only based on racism; I could begin to see how it's racist, but even then having a black character in a role of slavery isn't racist until a character approaches the audience and advocates it as right. The fact is during a certain time in history black people were slaves. This doesn't make the character racist. IF the game is about a slave breaking his bonds and freeing his family, is that racist?

I posit that the reason games are often given two plot points (both including space marines ) is because if something as simple as Enslavement or the Taliban is a core part of the game people get all knee-jerky and shout racism.

I saw a movie in theaters not two weeks ago where Robert DeNero called someone a "Wetback"; That is ok for mass consumption but the idea of forced labor isn't because it was briefly related to a racist enforcement of slavery?

Oh, Grandmother, what an arbitrary sense of what is right and wrong you have!
 
Aug 1, 2010
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I couldn't agree more. THESE RACIST GAMES SHOULD BE CRUCIFIED! Also, why is the new Xbox 360 ONLY in black? Is black just there for our entertainment? And worse yet, when the consoles came out, the PS3 was the only black one! Do Microsoft and Nintendo have no racial shame?!?!?!?
 

MeTheMe

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Jun 13, 2008
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I take issue with this. Saying you can't make a game from something is downright wrong. I think games should be able to explore any number of possibilities or relationships.

When I first heard about Enslaved, I was kind of excited. A meek yet intelligent character enslaving a strong one for protection, and if either dies, the other will die. An incredibly symiotic relationship. I really wanted to see how the developer would handle the characterization in such a circumstance. Saying you can't explore certain points of the human psyche is just wrong.

I have yet to play the game myself, however... so I don't know how well they did it.
 

Anton P. Nym

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Sep 18, 2007
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Next up, authour decries Othello for its insensitive stereotypes.

-- Steve (shaking his head... what happened to journalism, dammit?)
 

Snor

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Mar 17, 2009
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stop being so freaking over sensitive about race (and sex for that matter)...

jesus even if it was a galley full of black people dominated by a white woman it still doesn't have to mean its racist. and whats wrong with black people and slavery its not like other races weren't enslaved en masse...
besides historically if there were tribes that were purple living in africa those would have been enslaved too. its not a racial issue.

besides monkey is white (omg its a game full of white people!! racists!)
 

Wandrecanada

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Oct 3, 2008
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The bottom line here is that this person saw something from afar and decided to analyze it's content without actually touching or examining what it was at all. I can understand where he draws his reference from but that doesn't give him a right to criticize without validating his views.

If he had done his due diligence he'd know that Monkey is in fact a character name and not a racial slur. He's also know that the story is much older than colonial slavery and in fact stems from a culture so far removed from colonialism it makes his arguments laughable. Even referencing 'Driving Miss Daisy' is clearly drawing at straws for comparisons and realistically makes no sense whatsoever in his analogy between the two IPs. Driving Miss Daisy being about the residual cultural effects of abolition and what he describes as the culture of slave gladiators (something that has been around since the Roman Empire).

Despite the gravitas of his message he should be laughed off stage merely for his poor performance in his job. Sadly his message is what protects his work from criticism merely because said criticism could easily be misconstrued or spun as racism. It belittles everyone involved when you start invoking racism without integrity or validity.
 

ShadowsofHope

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Nov 1, 2009
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Idiot ranting about racist elements in a video game that aren't actually there, but he makes up crap anyways for the monthly quota.

..This guy is no different than the rest.
 

Catalyst6

Dapper Fellow
Apr 21, 2010
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Careful, columnist. If you jerk your knee any harder then you're going to break right through your desk.
 

DTWolfwood

Better than Vash!
Oct 20, 2009
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Ok i find extreme offense to this racist bastard! yes i called him racist! Y because these are the kind of ppl that perpetuate racism. They call attention to it in everything to the point of absurdity, as in this case. Continually reminding everyone that race is important and that everyone and everything needs to be race related/sensitive.

I say FUCK THAT! You are who you are not based on the color of your skin but by your actions and EVERYONE must be accountable for their own. But no, that is one thing no one ever considers PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!

So i ask whose more racist? the one who constantly calls attention to it or someone who just a bigot? I dont really see much difference between the two.

/angry rant
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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awesomebillfromdawsonville said:
Decent argument, but the only thing I'd dispute is that racism is dead in the US or in the first world altogether. It's a lot more subtle, but that ugly monster is still lurking around. I work in construction and witness it every day in our very own USA. Take another first world country like Japan, of which is highly xenophobic, and you'll see that this evil beast lives on in the hearts of men and women worldwide, regardless of demographics.
I think the idea of subtle or unintentional racism is simply an effort to keep it around as a "monster in the closet" so nothing overt has to be shown to justify the existance of certain movements, positions, and attitudes. I haven't been to your construction site of course, but I'd also say that a lot of things people think are racist actually aren't. Given the way that sub-cultures break down, someone can be against someone for being part of say a black subculture and acting that part, without being against them specifically because they are black and nothing else. It's sort of like when Bill Cosby talks about the problems, and education. If your act like an ignorant moron with a chip on your shoulder, it doesn't mean someone is racist for treating you like one. When you look at how much of black America takes a "git rich or die trying" attitude and feeling that there is something wrong with working, "bowing down" and becoming educated, and other things, it's not surprising that people react to those attitudes and how they behave. Racism is an excuse used to avoid the simple issue that minority groups, like Black Americans in many cases, have a lot of growing up to do. It's not racism when someone brings the problems upon themselves due to their own behavior....

Look at say comics discussions and if someone brings up a character like say "Storm" or "The Black Panther" one of the first complaints a lot of blacks will make is that they don't "act black". That right there, and the very fact that such an attitude exists on a massive scale represents the largest part of the problem. The problem is that it comes from willful ignorance, not due to a lack of oppertunity.

I myself did mention that racism exists, but it's a tiny fringe. A few neo-nazis, or skinheads out on the fringes of society are pretty much irrelevent. They have no real power, they don't make policies. People who are revealed to have such attitudes are socially ostricized. Being viewed as a racist is such a bad thing it's used both as a political weapon even when everyone realizes it's not true, and is something that people will go to huge lengths to avoid even the slightest association with.

I mentioned the far east and middle east as exceptions. I'm not sure if Japan can even properly be considered a country, never mind a first world one other than perhaps in extremely diplomatic terms. I can't think of a word that properly defines what it is.

Understand that Japan is under constant occupation and has been since World War II. Despite the economic rivalry that has happened, Japan more or less exists at the will of the US and it has an odd mix of gratitude and resentment over this. Japan is pretty much occupied by massive amounts of US troops and acts as our primary staging area for the Far East. While we play the game of being guests, it's really not a purely consentual relationship and anyone with half a brain knows it. We won't leave if simply asked because we need that foothold into that part of the world. We allow Japan to maintain a military (the SSDF) as a token gesture given the nature of their culture, but it's vastly outgunned just by the forces we have there all the time, and every once in a while you hear some rumbling about how we might take Japan's toys away from them for misbehaving.

Despite how that might sound the "gratitude" part of it comes into it largely because if we weren't there, Japan would have been wiped out long ago. I'm not talking about by the allies during World War II, but by nations like China and Korea. Japan did not treat it's neighbors well, even long before World War II. During World War II while people talk about Nazi atrocities only a few people her in the US seem to remember things like "Unit 731" (I think I have the number right, there were several similar units, but that was the especially nasty one) as well as experiments like the ones that inspired the Korean Manga "Island" (where there were photos and such in the back, along with notes about the historical incidents that inspired the story). The US might be Japan's occupiers, but we're also it's bodyguards. If we weren't there things would probably cease to be cordial with their neighbors and I think a lot of the surrounding nations would literally tear them to pieces. Japan isn't a military world power anymore, and their SSDF isn't going to have a prayer against China (which is becoming one) and North Korea (which is another big military nation) would doubtlessly both love to pay them a visit.

As a result I can't really consider Japan an independant nation, because despite the freedom and goverment allow, they are pretty much under a very polite occupation with no sign of it ever ending. It's not a territory of the US because at the same time we don't allow them quite that level of autonomy in a lot of matters, while occasionally allowing them to give us economic headaches. It's really a messed up kind of relationship.

Japan is all kinds of xenophobic on a lot of levels, bordering on xenocidal actually, which is contrasted by their odd relationship with America and the whole love/hate vibe there. I have a hard time using them as an example to base much on, because they are simply in a unique position at the moment.
 

00slash00

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Dec 29, 2009
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to a logical human being, i dont think these thoughts would even occur. i havent played the game yet (once i actually have money, im getting it though) but there doesnt seem to be anything racist about it. i will agree that it would be pretty fuckin bad if they had a black character named monkey who was enslaved to a white person, but thats not the case here. its a tough looking tan guy with an american accent. im a hardcore feminist and even i have to say, people like this person, who try and dissect everything and attack it if they find anything remotely politically incorrect, kill creativity. im not trying to spark another video games as art debate, but part of me cant help but wonder if this same argument would be made, if it was a movie instead of a game
 

Thundero13

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Mar 19, 2009
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I don't see how this makes any sense, Black people were slaves once and now they aren't there have been white slaves aswell and if you're looking for racism in games then thats racism in itself.
 

fozzy360

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Oct 20, 2009
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The best course of action is to take no action. Just ignore the guy, let the story fall into obscurity, and move on. Without a doubt, this is the type of person who's incredibly ignorant and so far off base with what is, but just ignore him. Otherwise, we're gonna have to deal with the Resident Evil nonsense all over again.
 

Koganesaga

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Feb 11, 2010
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I hate people like this asshole who is either just like pissing people off or is so conceited that every time someone says they don't like dark chocolate, they call their lawyer.

My point is, when it's anyone else up there, not a peep is said, but the second a black person shows up a in a video game that you have to kill they try to organize a million man march? Go to hell, and let game developers do what will make a fun game, and I can safely say if I loved Left 4 Dead 2, and I killed all zombies equally regardless of race.