[UPDATE] So, Minecraft (Isn't actually...) racist.

[TehCookie]

A troll is a troll and you deal with trolls by ignoring them, not by making a huge deal about it. I won't deny it's racist, but the guy was obviously using that to try to provoke a reaction. He got what he wanted, instead of going "that guy is immature, report/fix it and move on" people decided to fly off the handle. To people who aren't easily offended it's hilarious to watch people flip out over something stupid like that.

 

[StBishop]

No, it's not. Racism is never funny.

I don't know how you can say that. The very idea that the place of your birth or the color of your skin changes the value of you as a human being is laughable at its core.

It does become a lot less funny (as in, not at all) when some one takes it too far with discrimination and lynchings though.

I wouldn't say laughable, I'd say despicable but I can understand where you're going with that train of thought.

I think the major difference here is personal viewpoints on the state of racism in modern society. For me, I hear people saying racist things, expressing racist sentiments and acting in a way that is generally horrible based on race on a semi regular basis, and I find it upsetting.

So to me, this is just another incident in a large pool of negative experiences. For someone who doesn't encounter racism or thinks it "doesn't exist any more" I could see how this is silly rather than vulgar.

Snip

Ugh... not another one.

Let me make this absolutely clear for you and everyone else who reads my post and flies off the handle. In fact, i'll edit the post just for you so its explained there too.

Racism is not funny. It is some sick shit that is a scourge in this world.

This incident in Minecraft however is not fundamentally racist. It is the work of a troll, albeit a poor-quality one who has bad taste, who was specifically trying to piss people off who would fly off the handle at the very mention of the word '******' without realizing that is exactly what he wanted you to do.

I do not think racism itself is funny. On the other hand, I think that people overreacting and calling this racist without stopping to think about this is funny. It is a demonstration of the fact that people give such power to certain words that they can't see this word being used in any connotation except as a racial slur to insult black people.

It is not the word itself that is offensive, but the context that it is used. In this specific case, I seriously doubt this was done to insult black people, but rather to make people like you and that other guy earlier rage like crazy. Your blind rage amuses me.

Does that make sense now?

It makes perfect sense. I just fundamentally disagree.

I'm not angry, more upset and disgusted. Kind of like hearing about a person who stomped on the head of a kitten for laughs. I'm not angry, just saddened and it makes me a little sick.

I see enough racism in my life that "small instances" like this are not a one off to be laughed at for me. They're not just trolling. They're just another arse who thinks it's funny to piss people off by saying something that is insulting and hurtful to many people.

There are people alive today who've been beaten, raped, incarcerated, kidnapped and looked down on for the colour of their skin. Until there comes a time when this is no longer true, racism will always be a base, disgusting act which should always be spoken out against.

I understand what you're saying.
I just disagree.

 

[Yureina]

This mentality of publicly decreeing any and all racist remarks is just a whole lot of wasted energy with little results since the troll prolly is laughing his ass off right now and the dude with the Rei avatar here seemed rather innocent and not deserving all that flame either.

The "dude with the Rei avatar"?

Sorry, but I am going to have to bonk you now. I hate the word dude, not to mention that it doesn't even apply.

*bonks*

Snip

Just so we are clear, I don't find physically harming things funny at all. I don't care what it is. That's just horrible.

Can I leave this thread now?

 

[StBishop]

This mentality of publicly decreeing any and all racist remarks is just a whole lot of wasted energy with little results since the troll prolly is laughing his ass off right now and the dude with the Rei avatar here seemed rather innocent and not deserving all that flame either.

The "dude with the Rei avatar"?

Sorry, but I am going to have to bonk you now. I hate the word dude, not to mention that it doesn't even apply.

*bonks*

Snip

Just so we are clear, I don't find physically harming things funny at all. I don't care what it is. That's just horrible.

Can I leave this thread now?

Interesting aside, here "bonk" is colloquial for "Make love to". So yeah, interesting.

Back on topic, yeah I get that you're over it so from here I'll stop quoting you, I think we can both agree that we have very different perspectives on the issue of racism and racist epithets which is where this all stemmed from.

 

[Yureina]

Interesting aside, here "bonk" is colloquial for "Make love to". So yeah, interesting.

Back on topic, yeah I get that you're over it so from here I'll stop quoting you, I think we can both agree that we have very different perspectives on the issue of racism and racist epithets which is where this all stemmed from.

Ack! That's not the definition of bonk that I meant! O_O

Also thanks. I wanna play games today. XD

 

[LilithSlave]

Not Minecraft fans.

I thought it was common knowledge that Notch would troll the generals a couple of years ago.[/quote]
That would explain the blatantly 4chan style of humor.

 

[Zoop]

They speak French, English and Afrikaans in South Africa.

Uhm, no we don't. We have 11 official languages, and French isn't one of them. I'd hazard a guess and say maybe about 4% of our population knows French, and 0.3% might actually speak it as a home language. Other than that, you'd be very hard-pressed to hear anyone speak french anywhere in SA, unless they're tourists.

Either way, we were discussing this yesterday, and it's actually rather sad. Nobody in SA would use ******, as it's more of an american/european word. The derogatory slur that South Africans used for black people during apartheid was Kaffir.

It's pretty lame all around. If it was intended as a 'jab' towards South Africans in general, it failed. South Africa is as culturally diverse as it gets. Not only that, but apartheid has also been dead and buried for 18 years now, where it belongs.

 

[repeating integers]

Well, this is bad trolling, but apparently it worked. When will people realise that all this arguing over racism etc. is exactly what the troll wants?

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

This mentality of publicly decreeing any and all racist remarks is just a whole lot of wasted energy with little results since the troll prolly is laughing his ass off right now and the dude with the Rei avatar here seemed rather innocent and not deserving all that flame either.

The "dude with the Rei avatar"?

Sorry, but I am going to have to bonk you now. I hate the word dude, not to mention that it doesn't even apply.

*bonks*

Woot, I have just been bonked for the first time in my life! It didn't even hurt that bad, I'm a real man now!

(sowwy, I was trying to defend your views anyhow, despite the dude mishap....cookie...lady with the Rei avatar?)

Interesting aside, here "bonk" is colloquial for "Make love to". So yeah, interesting.

It's a real high level mixup. Deny femininity, then they have to prove it, then boinking commences. Flawless really.

 

[Legiondude]

Wow, wtf. Mojang dont check these things?

Again, how are they suppose to check something that is in a language that they do not understand??

Im pretty sure that word is a universal no-no. Just skimming the start up screen would pick it up.

The slightly less-sketchy word "Negro" just means black in Spanish and Portuguese, if they didn't know that, would they order a complete revision of the Spanish translation just because of one word that has racist connotations?

So no, skimming wouldn't be helpful here. They'd need context.

 

[Yureina]

Woot, I have just been bonked for the first time in my life! It didn't even hurt that bad, I'm a real man now!

(sowwy, I was trying to defend your views anyhow, despite the dude mishap....cookie...lady with the Rei avatar?)

Thanks! Also... hooray for cookies!

*munches*

OT: *flees the thread*

 

[Zoop]

The slightly less-sketchy word "Negro" just means black in Spanish and Portuguese, if they didn't know that, would they order a complete revision of the Spanish translation just because of one word that has racist connotations?

So no, skimming wouldn't be helpful here. They'd need context.

Not really, no. Not only is ****** not anywhere close to Negro, even though negro is probably the origin of the word, but "You are a ******" isn't even afrikaans. If they didn't spot the offensive word, they should at least have spotted the english phrase in an afrikaans language pack.

 

[Legiondude]

The slightly less-sketchy word "Negro" just means black in Spanish and Portuguese, if they didn't know that, would they order a complete revision of the Spanish translation just because of one word that has racist connotations?

So no, skimming wouldn't be helpful here. They'd need context.

Not really, no. Not only is ****** not anywhere close to Negro, even though negro is probably the origin of the word, but "You are a ******" isn't even afrikaans. If they didn't spot the offensive word, they should at least have spotted the english phrase in an afrikaans language pack.

Because they're obviously experts on which is which right?

 

[Nathan Atkinson]

Words aren't offensive, people who make them offensive are. Seriously, a lot of people who are here are adults, and this isn't grade school where when someone calls us a name we start crying and whining. People need to learn to just shrug it off, it's JUST A WORD.
If someone starts adding reprehensible actions to those words, THAT'S when it's bad. But when it's just a prank played on a dev who really has about two people actually coding the game, stop going up in arms. It's not like they're starting a race war, it was just a small oversight, in a DEVELOPERS version of the game.
No, I don't like the word either, it's a rude disgraceful word no matter who says it and in what context. But it's still a word, if you're still offended by such a tiny thing, you need to grow up, because a lot worse things could happen than being called a name, and being offended by every small thing will lead to a life of unhappiness.

 

[Nathan Atkinson]

(I only posted once... this was a bug or something...

 

[Zoop]

Not entirely sure what you're getting at here. Are you referring to 1) ******/negro or 2) afrikaans/english?

In the case of 1, they should still have spotted the english phrase in the afrikaans language pack, considering it's instantly noticeable and english is absolutely nothing like afrikaans. In the case of 2, see previous reason.

In afrikaans Play would be either 'Speel' or 'Begin Speel/Spel'. Doesn't look or sound remotely like 'You are a ******' to me.