Scribblenauts Caught Being Accidentally Racist

[SomeUnregPunk]

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

It's an old stereotype that African Americans love chicken and watermelon.

Not just chicken. Specifically chicken of the Fried variety. Often it comes in buckets in drumstick form.

The More You Know.

Someone sees something that could loosely be connected to a loose affiliation of a well-known-to-be-shit stereotype and that's construed as Racism? Am I the only one who sees a problem with this train of logic?

Furthermore, it's rather silly how quickly people are willing to jump on the "RACIST!" bandwagon at the first sign that something even loosely connected to racism is detected.
What, I don't flip out whenever I see a shop of club sandwiches because it just so happens that me, and pretty much all of my Caucasian friends like them.

[small]Let the record state that I am quite fond of Club Sandwiches [http://midnightsnack.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/club-sandwich.png]
and that I merely used those as an example. I do not claim that the consumption of said sandwich is for the use of Caucasians and Caucasians alone.[/small]

But really, it's quite silly that people still flip out about something as stupid as racism at all.

i will find the following to be true if I drive down one street called "Northern Boulevard" :
One end, where the "poorer" people live {lot more brick building style apartments} there are fried chicken stores aplenty but few if any delicatessens. On the other end where the "richer" people live { a lot more garden style apartment buildings} there is the reverse.

From this I can theorize that racism exists and people are numb to it.

 

[GyroCaptain]

I've seen, read, and loved the original, with the stereotype coal-black skin, the red lips, and the pancakes. I was very small (we had it in some collection book out of the 50's), and since the story was all about the ingenuity in defeating the tigers and his mom's wonderful cooking, nothing seemed offensive whatsoever. The story itself was in no way a put-down, and was merely illustrated that way by (stupid) early 20th century convention.

If you set out to find racism, particularly white-black, you'll find it. Whether it exists in a situation initially is irrelevant. I'm white (mostly), and don't agree with Obama, so as the debate is usually framed, either I'm racist or I don't understand him. No, I don't agree with his policies, and it makes me sad that someone with so much charisma and the air of the common man doesn't think anything like I do. That's all.

 

[lizards]

as President Obama (the new greatest president ever) said about kanye west "hes such a jackass"

 

[bushwhacker2k]

I don't even know what scribblenauts is.

 

[VeX1le]

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

It's an old stereotype that African Americans love chicken and watermelon.

Not just chicken. Specifically chicken of the Fried variety. Often it comes in buckets in drumstick form.

The More You Know.

But that sounds delicious how is it racist?

Someone sees something that could loosely be connected to a loose affiliation of a well-known-to-be-shit stereotype and that's construed as Racism? Am I the only one who sees a problem with this train of logic?

 

[Hazy]

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

It's an old stereotype that African Americans love chicken and watermelon.

Not just chicken. Specifically chicken of the Fried variety. Often it comes in buckets in drumstick form.

The More You Know.

Someone sees something that could loosely be connected to a loose affiliation of a well-known-to-be-shit stereotype and that's construed as Racism? Am I the only one who sees a problem with this train of logic?

Furthermore, it's rather silly how quickly people are willing to jump on the "RACIST!" bandwagon at the first sign that something even loosely connected to racism is detected.
What, I don't flip out whenever I see a shop of club sandwiches because it just so happens that me, and pretty much all of my Caucasian friends like them.

[small]Let the record state that I am quite fond of Club Sandwiches [http://midnightsnack.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/club-sandwich.png]
and that I merely used those as an example. I do not claim that the consumption of said sandwich is for the use of Caucasians and Caucasians alone.[/small]

But really, it's quite silly that people still flip out about something as stupid as racism at all.

i will find the following to be true if I drive down one street called "Northern Boulevard" :
One end, where the "poorer" people live {lot more brick building style apartments} there are fried chicken stores aplenty but few if any delicatessens. On the other end where the "richer" people live { a lot more garden style apartment buildings} there is the reverse.

From this I can theorize that racism exists and people are numb to it.

You have just aptly described quite a few sections of Florida. Anyway: How racism affects others can very well be more regional, if anything.
For example: A black man living in the North might not think much of the subject, whereas the same man in the South might think rather critical of the subject.

But then again, that's merely a guess at the topic.

 

[oppp7]

Feh, it was an accident. They didn't mean it to be racist. I'm Italian and I'm not offended by Mario.

 

[GamingAwesome1]

I read the whole article and I still don't get how a watermelon being summoned by the word "sambo" is racist. I think it's just exaggerated.

 

[Charisma]

now i think games take so much to be made because they have to nitpick absolutely everything to make sure not to offend someone who is a little too uptight.

 

[slopeslider]

It's not a stereotype. We do. But so does everyone else on earth so I see no problem.

 

[sneak_copter]

I prefer the term "racially insensitive" to "accidentally racist," it's more refined and more descriptive of the situation and actions.

Yeah, but does it still count as racially insensitive if the guy didn't know it was even tied to race in the first place?

 

[Mullahgrrl]

For information of those who will actually read it (that is,4-5 people),"sambo" in russian is an acronym of "self-defense without weapons",and was originally designed for law enforcement purposes.

In Swedish sambo is one of the parties of a cohabitation or samboförhållande and can be any shade or colour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohabitation.

Also, my sister hates watermelons, just a fact for you people who says that everybody loves them.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

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 used to love that book as a kid (back when I was entirely ignorant of the concept of racism and offensive stereotypes).

 

[Mray3460]

I prefer the term "racially insensitive" to "accidentally racist," it's more refined and more descriptive of the situation and actions.

Yeah, but does it still count as racially insensitive if the guy didn't know it was even tied to race in the first place?

Already responded to a post like this:

I prefer the term "racially insensitive" to "accidentally racist," it's more refined and more descriptive of the situation and actions.

But they're not being insensitive. That would imply that they should have known better, that they should be sensitive but, perhaps by choice, weren't. The fact is that they just didn't know in the first place, that it was all just an accident.

I don't think there were "actions" to speak of in this situation at all. No actions were taken - in fact that's the problem, is that it was all just a bad coincidence and nobody at 5th Cell was trying to make this happen. I'm sure there are plenty of people who are racially sensitive at 5th Cell - Slaczka's quotes certainly attest to the fact that he is (at least after the fact) - so I feel like calling the game "racially insensitive" is giving it a harder time than it warrants.

The phrase "racially insensitive" certainly sounds a lot more official, but I don't think it's necessarily more descriptive here.

In my mind, "insensitive" was synonymous with "ignorant" in this context. The reason why I applied the term like this was that it WAS an accident.

As I always understood it:

"Racially Insensitive"=An accidental racial stereotype or image is used out of ignorance of the offensive connotations of a word/phrase/image, or a word/phrase/image is used in a bad context without knowledge/thought of alternate meanings/interpretations of the word/phrase/image (Example: After I watched an episode of the twilight zone when I was 14, an African American friend was messing around with me, I jokingly threatened that if he didn't "be nice to me" I'd "Make (him) go in the cornfield." He took it as "Make you go out in the field." He called me out on it, I was confused and explained that it was a reference to the twilight zone, I got an "Oh" and an explanation of what he'd understood it as, he apologized and so did I).

"Racism"=A stereotype or other offensive image/word is used on purpose, with active intent to do harm (Insulting someone using a racial slur, saying/writing/posting/wearing deliberate, racist things like "I hate Niggers," "Hymies are the Devil," "Crackers got no Culture," etc.) Because it's deliberate, "accidental" racism is impossible.

Also, by no means did I or do I think that they should have known better, I didn't even know what "sambo" meant until I read this article, but it's still racial insensitivity, not accidental racism.

 

[OniSuika]

You think that's bad, you spawn a rapper and he eats all of those 'watermelons'. Give the rapper a gun and he shoots you. And he keeps falling asleep. Seriously, those can't all be accidents. xD

 

[shadowstriker86]

wait wait wait hold on a sec I SAID STOP THE F****** BUS!!!! how is the word sambo racist?

 

[Triple G]

Dude lay the fuck off. "Ooooh, it has "sambo" in it, it's racist!!1!!!1one
I hate over sensitive political correct people. Ohh noo, it's a game in comic style that plays on stereotypes. BURN IT! /irony

 

[nash_clovis]

I live in the United States and I have NEVER heard it used before now.

 

[dalek sec]

ok, stuff like this upsets me. Just because something might appear to be racist, unless there's actual hatred behind it, its not racist. He had no idea that it was a slur, so to me, thats not racist. It boils down to: he didn't put it in the game as racist, so it isn't.

Pretty much this as well. With 22,000 words in this game I could see how one or two might have slipped through.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Slaczka, who said he didn't even know what "sambo" meant as a slur until now, went on to explain that his company is far from racist by citing the fact that many of the characters in Scribblenauts and previous 5th Cell games are black. That's kind of a flimsy defense, and an unnecessary one.

That's almost like saying "I have black friends" right after making a racist joke...