I ranted about this. Then I thought it would be better served if I delivered it right to Greg Goodrich himself, and so it was.
EDIT: ...Or, at least, so I tried to make it. I can't find this guy's contact information ANYWHERE where I could have a reasonably complex discussion with him (Twitter doesn't count).
For the rest of you, here's a short(er) version:
What's in a name? That which we call a Taliban, by any other name, would still look, talk, shoot, and die just the same. Let's call this for what it is: EA doesn't *really* want to respect the memories and committments of those who have been killed or wounded in action against the Taliban. They're just afraid that any civil outcry at all would hurt their reputation and profit margins. In masking their boogeyman-motivated back-out as fearing it would be 'disrespectful' rather than 'harmful to our profits and reputation', they inadvertantly insult the memories of the very people they were supposedly trying to avoid disrespecting.
The only way to rectify this, in my opinion? A public apology, and either keeping the Taliban in, or removing them, the American forces, and all of the images therein, replacing them with generic, fictional groups...like TF141 and the Militia, for instance. If they're going to reference a conflict that *really* happened, then they should either tell it like it is, or change all of the names, instead of just some of them. To go halfway isn't fair to either side, and is certainly unfair to the audience.
EDIT: Especially with the whole 'stir up easy controversy' thing. There are only so many buttons you can push before I start looking for your contact info, Mr. Goodrich...if it's out there, I'll find it, and we'll discuss this issue.
