Scribblenauts Caught Being Accidentally Racist

[Lord Krunk]

Whenever I hear Sambo, I think of that Australian T-shirt designer known as Mambo. I don't know why.

But I had no idea that it was a racial slur. Are they going to have to remove the word 'Curry' now as well?

 

[Amarok]

How can anyone possibly not know that "sambo" is offensive?

By not being American I guess... We Brits only have the one racist term, as far as I know.

 

[DeathQuaker]

"Sambo" as in "Little Black..." was known and used as recently as the 60s and 70s (see its use in the musical Hair (in case you don't get the context, the racist terms are being decried and satirized): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovkk7XpOfyo (now, please don't run around calling people the names listed in the song).

"But that was a million years ago!" You say; yep, a lot of people here are quite young. And it's heartening to know that in recent generations, most racist terms have lost their use and meaning--and that IS a good thing.

But I'm sorry to inform you that the Escapist's most frequent users are not representative of the world's population, and not even the entirety of the world's video game playing population. You're mostly very young, and very male (with obvious exceptions; I'm one of them being a woman in my 30s), and I would guess, majority white, and mostly middle to upper class. Your world experiences, I'm sorry to tell you, are a bit limited on certain things, and you are not experts on an issue like this.

But you see, kids--people who were alive back then are still alive now, and there are people who live in areas where certain phrases are still used derogatorily. Some of them EVEN *gasp* play video games!

So there is a legitimate concern here, that someone might get the wrong message from the game. I trust it was indeed accidental, and I don't think the makers of the game should get into any kind of trouble for what I'm sure was an honest oversight (again, thank goodness the word is largely out of use in its offensive role), but it just behooves them to be more careful and do some more cross-checking when/should they produce another game.

 

[warbaloon]

You make some good points some of which I disagree with others I don't. I think that personally I am jaded by the P.C. culture of my area of the U.S. because it is full of hypocracy.

As an example.

I had lost my job a year ago due to the company down sizing. I hadn't worked there long enough to qualify for unemployment so I opted to try and go on welfare just so some money would be comming in to pay bills while i was job hunting. So I went to the welfare office and asked for an application and this is what the person told me. "Here is your application sir. Now I am gong to be honest with you. You can apply but the chances of you geting welfare are very slim." To which I replied, "Why is that?". She responded with the following. "Because you are white." It didn't matter that I actually needed the money or anything. Because I was white that would pretty much exclude me from welfare in my town. By the way the person I talked to at the office was also white.

Now this is just an example as to why I am jaded on the topic. I know there are people that would read this example and go "See now you know how we feel." To which I would reply, "I'm not the one you actually have to convince on the subject." It's the assholes that think that they are better then some one else just becasue they have less melonine in their skin (or how ever its spelled) or think they are better because they were born with blonde hair and blue eyes that are the ones that really need the realization that racisim is seriously idiotic.

If I might add to this subthread, when I was growing up I lived in a...less than savory neighborhood and my mother was having difficulty making ends meet living by herself (with some assistance from her parents (once she took some money from my collection of quarters to pay for gas, that king of poor)) and she applied for welfare as well.

They turned her down because her assets were too great. In order to qualify she had to sell her car a.k.a. make herself unemployed.

More on topic, usually I like to hate people on an individual basis, but this thread makes me hate black people. (that might have thrown my credibility out the window but whatever)

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

so through this bit o' news they just taught people a new way to be racist?

I'm kidding,it sounds like an accident man.

 

[Nieroshai]

Before people get too much deeper into this, can anyone say DISNEY? =D

 

[Amnestic]

Before people get too much deeper into this, can anyone say DISNEY? =D

DISNEY!

Apparently I can.

Whenever I hear Sambo, I think of that Australian T-shirt designer known as Mambo. I don't know why.

I immediately thought of Mambo as well, but rather than the Australian T-Shirt designer it was the Music/Dance originating from Cuba.

Probably because there's also a music/dance style called the Samba. Mambo+Samba=Sambo.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Excuse my naivete, but how is a watermelon tied to afroamerican people?

It is said that blacks LOVE watermelons. And I am sure that many do, but so does a lot of white people.
OT- This is just stupid, I have never heard of that word before, and probably nor have most people. Something is only racist if the intent behind it is racist

Google "Little Black Sambo." I assure you, this is a well-known term in the States.

i guess it's a testament to how dumb some Americans can be if a story about an Indian boy can be attributed to black people

however on topic i've never ever heard the term sambo referred to black people. the only thing the comes to mind when i hear sambo is the Russian martial art

 

[StercusCaput]

Well I guess I better go buy this today before they recall it.

 

[Ariosona]

And yeah, somebody already did a riff on the Kanye West meme [http://i32.tinypic.com/2jgmts.png] with this. So just don't even fire up MS Paint guys.

I don't get this at all, anyone care to explain?

To cut a long story short, read it all here! [http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/09/13/kanye-west-storms-the-vmas-stage-during-taylor-swifts-speech/]

Apparently he's apologised to Ms. Swift according to the local fishrag.

Aha, now it makes sense, I should probably keep up to date with this stuff.
Thanks for explaining it

 

[Lord Krunk]

Whenever I hear Sambo, I think of that Australian T-shirt designer known as Mambo. I don't know why.

I immediately thought of Mambo as well, but rather than the Australian T-Shirt designer it was the Music/Dance originating from Cuba.

Probably because there's also a music/dance style called the Samba. Mambo+Samba=Sambo.

I think you're right.

 

[Vect]

I really doubt they were actually trying to be racist. I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Soxafloppin]

If anyone was actually offended at this, i want to punch them in the face. Hard.

 

[Raregolddragon]

I think I read a book called "little sambo" was about a kid and his family tricking tiers to run around a tree and turn in to honey.

I am not kidding that is the plot. Though come to think of it the family was black. My mom told me it was racist but never told me how or why.

Well now I know. But I still like the story.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Um... After reading every page of this topic, I'm kind of out of things to say. So let me shoot for the "what we have learned today" South Park (Cheese made me think of it, blame him) kind of summing up from how I see things.

Racism is bad. It's still bad. It'll always be bad. When a racist word appears in a game alongside what could be seen as a racist image, that's worth noting. No cause for panic (and nobody is), but it's still something to look at. Obviously the creators of Scribblenauts do not understand "sambo" to be a russian martial art, otherwise a Zangief would have shown up. Or, you know, some other russian martial artist.

Getting stirred up over racism (which isn't really happening here) isn't good. But neither is getting stirred up over complaints of racism. Cool heads prevail. A lot of people don't see racism/sexism anymore because their interactions with others are limited to similar races and social classes. And being white myself, I'll probably never understand how it feels. Even in the event I'm discriminated against for being white, I've been raised a white man in a white man's society. It's not really the same thing.

If I remember correctly, the steriotype of black people eating fried chicken and watermelon was supposed to be negative in that it suggested those of African descent were ignorant hicks. I'm absolutely NOT saying I believe that, just I think that's why it's considered a negative steriotype today.

In summary, can we all just discuss this like civilized people? Sometimes a calm exploration of why people feel the way they feel can be much more informative and revealing than getting mad about racism/complaints of racism. I believe many young white people today aren't racist, but they don't see any racism in their lives and assume it isn't there because they don't see it (I'll include myself in that group). Other people of minority status have felt subtle pressures their entire lives and think the first group is crazy to not have noticed any racism. It'd be better if these two groups could get together more and kind of see things from the other's perspective.

 

[Pimppeter2]

This makes no sense to me

Isn't the word Watermelon in the game?

 

[domicius]

Congratulations on finding a word in a game that can be taken offensively. I suppose that triggers a sense of entitlement? A chance to feel better than the developer, to point out that he's insensitive? That he's obviously incapable of understanding your culture, your creed, your history? A chance to write a patronizing article, shaking our head and going "tut tut" at the poor, ignorant foreigner?

I do understand that our culture requires us to take a stand on racism, and to promote the inclusion and mutual comprehension of race and creed. It does not require us to seek out and take offense from every word, line and article written by anybody in the world.

It's not by eradicating every offensive word in the world that we'll eliminate prejudice, but by eliminating prejudice that we'll eradiacate every offensive word.

This article has seriously offended me.

 

[Scrythe]

Spoiler: This wouldn't be the first time with the watermelon stereotype in games.

 

[Therumancer]

*Shrugs* Truthfully I think people should avoid giving things like this ANY attention in the media at all. I am getting tired of the constant accusations of racism in video gaming. Especially anti-black racism. If Black America has an issue with the lack of black video game characters and the like, all I can say is that perhaps more of them should become educated in computers and go into game design.

"Sambo" is also a political hot potato. As I've heard the story it's pretty much a referance to an old children's story which allegedly came from Africa. Basically there was this little black kid named "Sambo" who was being chased around by a Tiger. He overcame it by running around a tree until the tiger turned into butter, and then he took the butter and put it on pancakes and ate it. That's a simple version of the take, and apparently the original version is a bit differant since for example it's not "pancakes" but some African bread in the original version. Butter and cheese also apparently having been fairly highly prized at the time period when that was written.

At any rate, back in my parents day, the civil liberties movement was looking to pick a fight, any fight it could to get attention. Sort of like you know... what people are doing with a lot of video games nowadays. There was a series of pancake houses called "Sambo's" inspired by the story and who used little Sambo as a mascot. Somebody decided that the simplistic story (meant to appeal to children) was inherantly racist, as was showing a (gasp) Ethnic character as a mascot for a chain of resteraunts owned by white people, would be a good thing to get upset about for attention. So basically the chain of resteraunts was attaked and driven out of business for no good reason and "Sambo" became a racial slur because someone decided it should be one. The situation is so messed up that most people wouldn't even be able to tell you it's supposed to be a racial slur unless they are
basically looking for a problem.

I only know this because once I had a "WTF" moment and my parents/grandparents had to explain it to me, and also why very few people would even know it was supposed to be a slur unless they were around when that whole thing went down.

I know many will disagree, but this is how I learned it.

Now the big issue we have here is how someone figured this out. I mean did some black guy in the media decide to sit down and type in every obscure racial slur he could think of to find something to get angry about publically? I mean how do you go about discovering something like this and then making the connection? I can't see anyone doing this by accident, and honestly if the person was actual from Ecuador or whatever and trying that word I very much doubt they would have made the connection.

Really, I think this whole thing falls under the catagory of "stirring up trouble where there is none for 30 seconds of attention".

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I seriously laughed out loud when I read that article. There is no way that was put in on accident.