WHITE GUY DEFENSE FORCE GO!

[chronobreak]

If the authors had any conviction, or any courage, they would be in here to explain their work. They will stay far away and let the click money come in, all while probably having a good laugh at the fiasco they have created. To me, that is cowardice.

 

[Moth_Monk]

Had it been an Arab kid, they would have said: "Obama mode activated!"

 

[Taunta]

Why is the White Guy Beta version holding a Twilight Plushie?? How does that even apply to this comic's joke? I don't even XD

By the time I got to this post someone has probably answered it better than I can, but the serious question posed at the beginning is actually relevant to the MLP fandom.

As great as a lot of people in the fandom are, there are a lot of people who get really up-in-arms whenever a humanized pony is portrayed as non-white. (I can post some examples if you're interested) "Why is Twilight indian?!" "You idiot Rarity isn't black!" "You made Fluttershy a muslim how dare you" etc etc.

Go to any pony image site and find an image of humanized ponies and I guarantee you on most of them there is at least one comment on race.

 

[lacktheknack]

Ok, honest question here for everyone:

Why exactly is this comic offensive? What specifically about it is insulting or demeaning or whatever else that would invite such umbrage? From where I'm sitting, there's literally nothing in it to get worked up about.

Is it the put-upon white guys taking up arms against the perceived racism with vaguely defined and poorly-quantified "facts"? Is it the Zimmerman reference? Is it the fact that the black guy dies, like in every action movie ever? Or is it... the fedora?

I can't see the reason why there's 10 pages of angry replies to this, nor why the entire first page is all about how the comic is pure flamebait. I just don't see it.

Someone explain please.

I'm pretty sure it's because it uses stereotypes to make a point, like every other topical comics.

Because SCREW topical comics, amirite?

What point is the comic making?

That people who jump in out of nowhere to make a fuss about the "retaliatory subjugation of whites" are irritating and bad.

It's the same kind of point that beloved comedy sources such as political cartoons or the Colbert Report use.

How on Earth are people missing the world's most obvious punchline? D:

 

[Agayek]

What point is the comic making?

As far as I can tell, it can basically be summarized as "Idiotic white guys who get butthurt by accusations of racism and immediately come back with bullshit responses are idiots."

That's most of the reason why I'm so confused on why people are getting up in arms over it. It's a comic about idiotic people behaving like idiots. What's there to be offended by?

I've been thinking about that myself, and although I don't see anything that's really worth getting up in arms about, I do think the Zimmerman reference is a little too soon. I mean, whether you agree with the courts decision or not, a kid is dead and a dude was hung by the media. Nobody really 'won', and thanks to the excessive media coverage and conjecture flying around it will probably be years before anyone can dig up the raw facts for themselves and come up with a personally satisfying answer.

Meh. Very few of the responses have actually even mentioned the Zimmerman bit, so I'm reasonably certain that's not the reason.

 

[madwarper]

If the authors had any conviction, or any courage, they would be in here to explain their work. They will stay far away and let the click money come in, all while probably having a good laugh at the fiasco they have created. To me, that is cowardice.

Granted, if he did enter the forums and repeat what was said in the comic, he'd probably be ban-hammered rather quickly.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/codeofconduct

Regardless of what some of our content creators may say, do or provoke within their videos or articles, this does not give members the ability to act in the same way. They are entertainers and if they brought their language or flaming into the forums, they would be held accountable, just as any other forum member of The Escapist would be.

 

[Bluelaughter]

Ok, honest question here for everyone:

Why exactly is this comic offensive? What specifically about it is insulting or demeaning or whatever else that would invite such umbrage? From where I'm sitting, there's literally nothing in it to get worked up about.

Is it the put-upon white guys taking up arms against the perceived racism with vaguely defined and poorly-quantified "facts"? Is it the Zimmerman reference? Is it the fact that the black guy dies, like in every action movie ever? Or is it... the fedora?

I can't see the reason why there's 10 pages of angry replies to this, nor why the entire first page is all about how the comic is pure flamebait. I just don't see it.

Someone explain please.

It's offensive because it casually makes fun of anyone who is fat, nerdy, short, likes fedoras or statistics, is a brony or works out, by making them negative points of the White Guy Defense Force, the obvious antagonists.

It offends people who are staunch defenders of Zimmerman and his actions.

If offends people who could make a civilized argument against the first man's point, but straw-manning the argument.

I personally only disagree with the first of these 3 'offenses'.

Racism seems harder to handle than sexism, as they do a pretty good job with this earlier strip:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/critical-miss/9116-Sexism-and-or-Racism

 

[lacktheknack]

If the authors had any conviction, or any courage, they would be in here to explain their work. They will stay far away and let the click money come in, all while probably having a good laugh at the fiasco they have created. To me, that is cowardice.

Grey's jumped in before (<link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.825461-How-to-Talk-About-Games-3?page=5#20037008>occasionally to hilarious effect), and he says a LOT about his personal perspectives, even seeding his news stories with them.

Try again?

 

[Gasbandit]

Well somebody sure wishes their comic got more hits, don't they.

 

[sageoftruth]

Can anyone explain why White Guy Omega always had his hand on his fedora?

 

[carnex]

Well, Johnatan Grey Carter never changes really. He always thinks that if accidental ball to the groin is funny kicking someone in the balls dozen times, then jumping on his balls for a few minutes and inviting everyone in the surrounding area for a round of the same fun will be that much funnier.

I really love dry, dark, nonsensical and morbid British humor, they do it almost as good as we (Serbians) do it. And yet I find even Monty Python Flying Circus extremely subtle compared to this.

Can anyone explain why White Guy Omega always had his hand on his fedora?

I guess it's to do with "cool move" of riming the hat with two fingers.

 

[Moth_Monk]

If the authors had any conviction, or any courage, they would be in here to explain their work. They will stay far away and let the click money come in, all while probably having a good laugh at the fiasco they have created. To me, that is cowardice.

Granted, if he did enter the forums and repeat what was said in the comic, he'd probably be ban-hammered rather quickly.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/codeofconduct

Regardless of what some of our content creators may say, do or provoke within their videos or articles, this does not give members the ability to act in the same way. They are entertainers and if they brought their language or flaming into the forums, they would be held accountable, just as any other forum member of The Escapist would be.

Now that is fucking bullshit. Same kind of crap as here in the UK where the average bint can get prosecuted for "hate speech" but if they're a comedian telling the same joke on stage then it's okay.

 

[EvilRoy]

I've been thinking about that myself, and although I don't see anything that's really worth getting up in arms about, I do think the Zimmerman reference is a little too soon. I mean, whether you agree with the courts decision or not, a kid is dead and a dude was hung by the media. Nobody really 'won', and thanks to the excessive media coverage and conjecture flying around it will probably be years before anyone can dig up the raw facts for themselves and come up with a personally satisfying answer.

Meh. Very few of the responses have actually even mentioned the Zimmerman bit, so I'm reasonably certain that's not the reason.

Hey man, you offered it as an option. I did try to read through the thread, but I don't have a strong grasp of what people are really talking about anyway. Mostly because I chose to read the thread backwards for reasons lost to time, but I also suspect that a number of people aren't actually arguing with each other so much as they are responding to people who aren't speaking...

 

[Moth_Monk]

Can anyone explain why White Guy Omega always had his hand on his fedora?

The joke is that creepy omega males typically wear fedoras in an attempt to look cool. And that bronies are unattractive beta males.

 

[gjkbgt]

Status euphoric and had hover mode where both hilarious.
Also it was nice to see Omega and Beta rather then the Alpha/Beta where beta is Omega.
Shame you don't know what the differences are:
Beta= second in command or someone who will assume command if ask but has no wish to be "top-dog"
Omega= follows what Alpha and Beta say would rather be populate then right, don't mind dicking people over is the Alpha tells them too.
basically you Beta and Omega where the wrong way around.

The Zimmerman comment was a bad step though, that was at best Tangential about race and Zimmerman wasn't even white.
So you're basically just giving your enemies a stick to beat you with.

7/10 better luck next time

 

[Agayek]

It's offensive because it casually makes fun of anyone who is fat, nerdy, short, likes fedoras or statistics, is a brony or works out, by making them negative points of the White Guy Defense Force, the obvious antagonists.

No it doesn't. That's like saying an episode of South Park casually mocks tall people because the target of that week's mockery happens to be a basketball player or something.

It's a bullshit fallacy at best.

It offends people who are staunch defenders of Zimmerman and his actions.

If offends people who could make a civilized argument against the first man's point, but straw-manning the argument.

Now these may actually have some merit. I'm still not really seeing why it's cause enough to rant and rave and insult people for over 300 posts, but I'm also the kinda guy who can't see why just about anything is cause enough for that, so I guess I'll just have to deal with it.

Hey man, you offered it as an option. I did try to read through the thread, but I don't have a strong grasp of what people are really talking about anyway. Mostly because I chose to read the thread backwards for reasons lost to time, but I also suspect that a number of people aren't actually arguing with each other so much as they are responding to people who aren't speaking...

I did, and it may well be what's going on. I guess I'm just looking for an answer that's more satisfying than that. /shrug

 

[Dragonbums]

That was a good laugh.

Later friends. My mind has now drifted off to the alternate dimension.

 

[Ukomba]

Why is the White Guy Beta version holding a Twilight Plushie?? How does that even apply to this comic's joke? I don't even XD

By the time I got to this post someone has probably answered it better than I can, but the serious question posed at the beginning is actually relevant to the MLP fandom.

As great as a lot of people in the fandom are, there are a lot of people who get really up-in-arms whenever a humanized pony is portrayed as non-white. (I can post some examples if you're interested) "Why is Twilight indian?!" "You idiot Rarity isn't black!" "You made Fluttershy a muslim how dare you" etc etc.

Go to any pony image site and find an image of humanized ponies and I guarantee you on most of them there is at least one comment on race.

pft, ya, those idiots. It's like people who complain about Katara from Last Airbender being cast as a white girl, or Zuko being India. If you get upset about that kind of thing, your a bad person.

For the record, as an avid fan, I have never seen a single comment like that. I recommend not visiting sites like that if that's such a common thing. It's like reading youtube comments or 4chan posts, you're just asking for trolls.

A more accurate read might just be that the internet says it's acceptable to hate on Bronies right now.

 

[EstrogenicMuscle]

They killed the black guy.;_;

All of this Escapist content is ruining my innocence. I'm too young to be exposed to all these horrors of the world.
Did you not already see what that stuff about veganism did to my poor mental health? How I responded?

Give my poor innocence back, Escapist. You heartless monsters.

Also, as a My Little Pony fan, I'm not sure how to feel about this. But the making fun of racism was pretty funny.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

Well it's just lazy to make fun of white people. It's easy because of all the horrible things associated with them, but it's just plain lazy and a real cop-out in terms of writing.

This comic is just about on par with every "stupid husband can't figure out how to work a gadget" commercial ever made in terms of effort.

While it is true that yes, race shouldn't matter and protagonists should be allowed to have any amount of melanin in their skin, we just don't have enough developers/writers around in this industry that can identify with not having less melanin to properly portray a character without their melanin level becoming their defining character trait in most cases.

It's a chicken and egg thing, there aren't a lot of lead characters with skin tones other than 255 red, 255 green, and 255 blue around, so people without those mixes of color feel ostracized and don't get into the industry, and because they don't get into the industry, the tones stay the same color levels because the developers/writers can only personally identify with those color combinations.

The same goes for almost every entertainment industry, that's what creates idiots like Tyler Perry and all that misogynist, generic "gangsta rap", because they are the only ones filling a niche, so they get all the money and praise from their respective communities. It's like if Silent Hill was the ONLY horror game, naturally it would make all the money, and it's why indie games are so successful right now, because they fill niches that no one else is filling.

It's just going to take a long time until things balance out in such a way where characters lacking more sunburn/skin cancer-friendly tones aren't dominating all of our media (especially games), but in the meantime, making lazy comics like these just to provoke rage and be click-bait is doing nothing to further us to that point. No, we shouldn't just sit back and "wait" for things to change, but comics like these will not incite positive, natural change. It just creates pressure and unnecessary rage.

We need rational, grounded advocacy groups. Not trolling.