Quote of the Day: Hipster Racism

Quoth Shattersnipe:

So straight off the bat, anyone who says they refuse to get angry about rape culture because that’s what everyone else is doing – or, to use Tycho’s words, because they “don’t do compulsory” –  has, much like the hipster racist, completely sidestepped the issue of whether bad things are genuinely happening in order to try and look cool. Which, yeah, no.

On a related note, reddit is still shit (surprise, I know). I think my comments got in the negative hundreds in /r/games when I posted this article for discussion. Redditors were falling over each other trying to explain how not-offended they are. Ugh.

Why are black people so annoyed all the time?

The ShitRedditSays Fempire is quickly becoming the only worthwhile place to hang out in Reddit (aside from a few places that make an effort to being inclusive such as /r/anarchism). One of the classic things that happen with some regularity are the so-called “effortposts”, which are basically long text posts, meant to go into some depth into reddit depravity, or simply into a specific subject.

Such is the case with this amazing effortpost on racism in contemporary America and how it’s alive and kickin’ in the 21st century, regardless of what privilege blind white dudes think. I can say, as a white dude, that this was immensely educating, especially since I am very unfamiliar with the realities of racism over the pond.

Look through the following, save it in your bookmarks, and rub it in the face of any idiot redditor who tells you that racism in America is over.

An American Perspective: Why Black People Complain So Much.

Also, don’t forget to apply join the Reddit Gynocracy. Start gathering the required amount of foreskins for your application ASAP.

If you thought S2's racist CEO was bad enough, wait until you see their community.

Big Surprise, Heroes of Newerth fosters a profoundly racist community as well

[Trigger warnings for extreme racism]

A few days ago, I mentioned how the CEO of S2 games seems to be a blatant racist, some people who see this information, react with a “who cares” attitude, as if the behaviour of the most important person in the company doesn’t affect anything else. Well, today I noticed a thread on the Heroes of Newerth fora, titled “This game needs a black hero” and I pretty much expected what I found inside. You can take a look for yourself but I’ll post some of the “best” comments to give you an example (and in case the whole thread is taken down)

Definitely Black: , and Kongor

Probably Black:

Black because they’re in the jungle:

Problem OP?

The small images here repressent different heroes. you can probably distinguish the “race” of each if you look closely ((if you can’t see, it’s not really that important, they’re all obviously caucasian except the last one)). The last hero on the top row is an anthropomorphic simian and “Krongor” refers to the “Big Boss” of the game who is a huge gorilla. I shouldn’t really need explain this.


Looks like some kind of ape and he always steals my kills….

Self explanatory

No thanks. I don’t like heroes with base speeds of 375.

But it would be balanced because the base int and int gain per level would be extremely small.

Again, pretty explanatory (“int” refers to “intelligence”)

If Empath isnt a negro, I dont know what to say.

For reference, this is what Empath looks like.

Whoever the new black hero/alt avatar is, he or she will be the bloodlust kill every single game.

Ha ha. Get it? Because the token black guy always dies first.

A true black hero?He would need shitty skills, and be totally worthless for a team, kinda like gladiator, succubus noobs, blood hunter Brazilians.

His skills and name would of course be somewhat along the lines of

Blackster

1. Poor- Blackster is from the inner city and gets no clothes until he levels this skill up, clothes grant him extra attack damage to creeps.
2. Jump- Blackster is able to jump huge lengths at a time, does no damage, and has a %chance to twist his ankle.
3. Blackwalk- everyone knows black people walk slow as **** for some reason, probably to piss white people off, Blackster can enable blackwalk to move 150ms slower and take 50% reduced damage for 4 seconds.
4. ULTIMATE ABILITY- RACK EM’- Blackster breaks into song and dance also known as the Funky Chicken, he becomes intoxicated and flops around helplessly damaging nearby enemies with holy spirit spit.

Wow, just…wow.

they play the most important role in hon already, they dont need a hero(arguably they already have some)

try playing a game without a courier and see how far it gets you

The “courrier” is a little monkey that you buy from the shop and it serves to bring you items you buy in the map.

Honourary mention:

Game needs a kitchen for all you ladies.

Because what would the HoN community be without at least some explicit sexism.

And then of course, we have the vigilant underdog fighting against political correctness.

The multicult is never satisfied, S2. If you added a black hero who fit in the game, he wouldn’t be black enough. If you added a black-enough hero, he would ‘racist’ and stereotypical. If you carefully added a Black Superstar who is acceptably not black enough, you would now a ratio of 1:hero-count, and the multicult will complain about tokenism. If you added black alts and voices for every single human hero, you would have trolling uses of these alts, the alts would have to be free, you would be racists for defaulting to not-black.

Slam the door in the face of this proposal, at least internally, or you’ll never hear the end of it. The most rabid will already be turned away by screencaps of Maliken’s ‘racism’. The real thorn in the paw of the multicult isn’t that you don’t have black heroes, but that you have any heroes who are white, and you neither can nor want to ‘fix’ that.

You know, because respect and repressentation of other cultures, skin types, and genders/sexualities is a slippery slope…or something. Those “multiculturalists” will never be content until the white race is extunguished. White Pride!

Oh sorry, I got carried over in my in-character sarcasm there…

Some egregious comments have been deleted now that I’ve reported them, several hours later after they were posted. Unfortunately, my comment calling out people on their racism and S2 for tolerating it has also been deleted. And naturally, the reactionary bullshit is still there, as are much of the egregious racist filth that I didn’t have time to report yet. So S2 is just doing the bare minimum on this issue, putting more effort into avoiding any criticism of themselves (they’ve naturally deleted any mention of Maliken’s racism), than preventing racist shit from fermenting in their fora.

The kind of filth posted in there rivals the bigotry one finds in 4chan boards but from what I’ve seen, it’s par for the course given the nature of S2 senior staff, the people they try to market to, and the environment they foster through their (lack of) moderation practices and implicit support.

Honestly, I can’t recommend this game to anyone anymore. If you are not a straight white cis male without disabilities, you will be insulted and marginalized routinely. You will be reminded constantly that most other players of HoN consider you a sub-human, while S2 will  ignore you at best, or join in the denigration at worst. You have been warned.

Some reactions from HoN neckbeards. Racist Apologia Gallore!

Ah reddit combines with the HoN community. You can count on them to consistently defend bigotry

Racism happens ALL THE TIME. it's just that people are making a huge deal about it because it's S2 So my post about the racist CEO of S2 Games grabbed the attention of a lot of people in /r/Heroesofnewerth. Unfortunately, the reactionaries had by far the upper hand in the comments, forcing most of my comments to be downvoted to oblivion. The amount of racist and sexist apologia there was stupefying and betrays the classic shitty consistency of the HoN community. Below I’ve gathered some choice comments of the ShitRedditSaid for your enjoyment. I’ve compiled comments from the three threads on the subject. [1], [2], [3]

First of all, the argument that was repeated in some form over 9000 times: “He didn’t really mean it!”

EDIT: I also think maybe it’s worth acknowledging that using a racial slur, and being a racist, are two entirely different things altogether. Using a racial slur in a derogatory way is something entirely dependent upon context, that is, it must be used with intent and directed at somebody who can be demeaned by it, to be an act of hatred. Saying nigger, or kike, or spic, or any of these words, without context, and without this intent, is not a locutionary act worthy of being called a racist act, I think.

Now you know people, feel free to start calling black people “niggers”. If you really really don’t mean that they are an inferior race, it’s OK.

Racist? What has he done to suggest he’s racist?

NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER

There, I said that, does that automatically mean I think black people are genetically inferior to white people?

This is sensationalist bullshit.

People on the internet say shit like queer, nigger, fag, cunt, whatever; all the time. It doesn’t mean they’re homophobes, racists, or misogynists.

Ooh, that reminds me…

b.) Are you a minority or something man? I’m Hispanic too, and apparently we were raised differently. Everyone calls us spics and wetbacks all the time dude, they’re just words man. Half of the time, they don’t even mean what they say. Maliken calls this guy a nigger, does he really think that dude’s black? Or has nigger just become another insult in videogames like faggot and cocksucker.

Ah, another topic I need to write about. Apparently some think that because the insult has been trivialised by bigots, it’s not bigoted to use it anymore. And this is so frustratingly common too…

So when fighting the war against racism, fight the war against actual prejudice and actual discrimination. Don’t fight the war against people using words they don’t actually mean… fight a war against people using racist words when they do mean them.

Because, we all know that intent is fucking magic. (Funny trivia, the last comment was an actual response to the post I just linked)

And then, there is the “don’t you have more important things to talk about?” derailment.

As long as they dont fund or support gay bashing or hate crimes then who fucking cares? Chik Fil A funds groups who are anti-gay so I don’t eat there. S2 has an employee who is a nerd rager. Big difference.

Because racism is just about curbstomping PoC (or funding curbstomping groups) amirite?

Besides, the company could be doing much worse things, as I’m sure you know dbzer0. I prefer minor racism from the founder to Valve’s destruction of the concept of owning your games.

The comparison of implicit support for systematic racial oppression with questionable business practices is what really got me.

Precisely! These are the real concerns, not bullshit like him being a racist or homophobe.

That was in reply to someone reminding them that Maliken also abused his powers. That’s the big issue here people, not racism!

That’s true, I guess you and ysondre are both right. Raging is fine, racial slurs..meh internet. But banning someone to cover it up afterwards is just dirty. And I guess you’re right that it does drive people away from S2, and thus the success of S2. Mali’s a lil bitch.

Same as above, but more cringe-worthy (emphasis mine).

There’s the all too favourite: “We’re all racists anyway”

It’s not a false dichotomy. We are all racists in some way, but I don’t shun you because you’re not a perfect person. Obviously Maliken’s behavior is inexcusable in polite society, but out of all the bad things he could be doing, calling someone a few objectionable names in a game famous, rightly or wrongly, for its rage levels, is not really that severe.

Fuck you, speak for yourself.

Everybody on this planet is racist in some minor way or subconsciously, sorry you can’t defy human nature and you weren’t born color blind.

Fuck you, speak for yourself!

Right. So let me ask you this. In the middle of the night would you be more afraid if a black man in a hoodie and sweatpants came walking down a dark alley you were in or a White man/Asian man? Yeah…I thought so.

FUCK YOU, SPEAK FOR YOURSELF!

Of course, many were stumped on why we cared so much about racism.

Some asshole was being a douche so he was trolled by Maliken? Unprofessional but I don’t really care. It’s their game, their servers. Be an asshole in the presence of the developers, what a great idea.

It’s like hating a band because the lead singer punched out a drunk that got on stage. As if a single player can have any affect on my overall gaming experience.

Yep, like hating on a band alright…

99% of the HoN community is like this. Why do we care if Maliken does it?

Why indeed.

I’m pretty aware, i don’t care and i also find it amusing. I’d rather have a game developer that plays his game and is on the same mindset as 99% of the community.

Racism is amusing y’all!

Like… what does it even matter…

It seems like all people really want is for each member of the S2 staff to have a secret subaccount

Yes. That’s why people are annoyed. Damn those smurf accounts…

Racism happens ALL THE TIME, it’s just that people are making a huge deal about it because it’s S2. I really don’t see the rage about this, their job is to make video games, what they say in games is their own business.

That being said, stay classy, S2.

Racism is normal, people, why do you make such a big deal out of it?

I agree. People care way too much about this. I’m all for equal rights for everybody regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender, etc, but damn if you can’t have some fun.

Wait, wat?

And finally, honorary mention for the “But they make good games, so it’s OK” argument.

You are trying to take down an indie video game company. 😐

Because we all know that being indie absolves one from all bigotry.

I don’t really care. S2, founded by Maliken, makes good games. Having an abusive founder is pretty minor. He misuses his power once and there’s this huge of a furor? If he’s going to mismanage his company he can do it himself. I don’t need to help him along in his demise, which I don’t actually think will be coming; he must be somehow competent, considering that S2 has released three very good games.

Combining the “I don’t care” for a two hit combo. He proceeds to make a “Don’t you have more important things to talk about?”, and later on a “we’re all racists anyway” argument. Bingo!

It “doesn’t matter” because I don’t pay these people to not be racist.

It’s like how I don’t pay actors to not be against jews. It’s similar to how I don’t care that Britney Spears got married to whoever and is now pregnant.

If these S2 staffers were my personal friends, I’d care. If they were people who I paid to keep a good public image, I’d care. In this case, as far as I’m concerned, it’s just a bunch of random guys talking shit online. It doesn’t prevent them from making video games, and I don’t care what their personal beliefs are.

So unless we personally know the one being a bigot, we shouldn’t really mind. Got it.

Depressing ain’t it. Fortunately I wasn’t alone in the storm this time and there a few other voices speaking with me, but you just can’t get through the privilege denying white dudes like that. However this is a good example of the strong correlation between a game company with bigoted tendencies and the attitude of the people who play their games.

PS; Do make some privilege denying dudes out of these quotes and distribute them. Do it for the lulz.

Kicking the foreigners out

Dret a tenir drets (8)

I had an intense argument yesterday afternoon with a friend, lets call her S. The argument started from how dangerous it is to talk back to the various immigrants when they make a sexist remark or something similar. The discussion moved to how the government is protecting them instead of punishing them, how they all know each other and how 90% of them are criminals and are only in Germany to exploit the social rights. All the while anecdotal evidence was used to back each point.

Dret a tenir drets (8)
CC - photo credit: •● planeta roig

I had an intense argument yesterday afternoon with a friend, lets call her S. The argument started from how dangerous it is to talk back to the various immigrants when they make a sexist remark or something similar. The discussion moved to how the government is protecting them instead of punishing them, how they all know each other and how 90% of them are criminals and are only in Germany to exploit the social rights. All the while anecdotal evidence was used to back each point.

During the last and most heated part of the argument, S expressed the idea she thought would resolve this issue. Kick all the immigrants which do not speak the language and are not otherwise “integrated”, out of the country.

This is a sentiment that it seems people everywhere share. I’ve seen it in Greece (Albanians), I’ve heard it from US (Mexicans) and I see it now in Germany (Turkish mostly). The idea that with by kicking the immigrants out, things will magically become better.

There’s various ways one rationalises this. Others think that immigrants are taking over the jobs while others that immigrants do not integrate into a society and thus drag everyone down. I seem to keep running into the second case.

The line of thought seems to go like this:

  • Immigrants come to our country
  • Some of them do not care to work and abuse our social programs
  • The government seems to protect them (insert anecdotal evidence)
  • All the dangerous criminal gangs we run into are foreigners. Our countrymen would never act like that.
  • Thus the solution is to kick the criminals out of the country since they do not want to be like us.

Now I understand how one can be exasperated with their government when they hear the anecdotes of how they always seem to take the side of the immigrant. I was told a specific example of a guy getting stabbed by some teen Russians because he tried to stop a fight and the government decided to not punish them  because “their life would be ruined”. The guy went into the hospital apparently and he was told by the Russians that “they would finish the job when you get out” and the Government again didn’t do anything about it. Examples like these can really make your blood boil and lead one to espouse radical positions.

The underlying sentiments people express is that

  1. The Government should be on our side
  2. Foreigners are more dangerous and thus should have less rights.

The first point is wrong, not because the government should be on the immigrants side, but because the government should be fair and neutral to where one’s parents happened to fuck in.
I wholeheartedly oppose the Government falling over itself to please other cultures or religions. If a muslim woman wants to wear a burqa in their job where business clothes are the norm, then, tough. If the business is not prepared to allow other employees to wear whatever they want, then she should not be allowed either. Just because one comes from a culture where one thing is the norm, it should make the society where they go to, to conform to it.

On the other hand, if that muslim woman did a crime then the solution is not to judge her by islamic law or to kick her out of the country. The solution is to treat her exactly the same as any other person. No entitlement because she’s foreign but no extra punishment (like deportation) either.

The second point is the one that mostly annoys me however. It is something that passes into racism quite neatly. People do not realise what they are really advocating when they request that someone be treated differently solely because of their birthplace. When I called S out on it with “What you are advocating is racist” I got the immediate reply “I’m not a  racist“. Good thing that I has seen this video just recently

[youtube]b0Ti-gkJiXc[/youtube]

But that’s exactly it. Whenever I tell S to do something about the problems her response is that “People who complain in Germany are called Nazis.”

When your solution to the problem is racist (kicking the foreign criminals out), then people will unfortunately come just to that conclusion. When I hear stuff like “All Russians know each other” or “The Turkish don’t want to integrate” then alarm lights start flaring in my head. Generalisations like this are the precursor to more nasty stuff.

But I can foresee one asking: “If indeed the majority of criminals are immigrants, wouldn’t it make sense to get rid of them?“. Why is this wrong? Because they are basing the argument on correlation. It is not an inherent characteristic of an immigrant that he’ll become a criminal in another country but it is a very likely outcome that a poor & desperate will. The reason that so many criminals are foreign is because so many foreigners are poor.

stop poverty
CC - photo credit: Stitch

I do not know how the German society is, or how welcoming (and indeed my experience is that they can be quite hostile) but when your society does not accept someone as it would accept one of your countrymen, you lead them to povertry and desperation. Once you get a good number of such people, their mentality shifts to considering all of your countrymen as hostile bigots.
Once this happens, it starts feeding upon itself and things like ghettos start popping up. Convince a sufficiently large group of immigrants that your society is hostile and they will become an opponent. They will abuse your laws and form into criminal gangs in order to survive.

It is also because of how a society works that a class of people are impoverished and some of them turn to crime. Were you to kick all foreigners out, the same system would necessitate that part of your middle class be impoverished in order to keep the wheels turning. You would still have the same criminal elements, only now they would speak your language (in slang) as well.

When you tell me that “Germans do not always carry a knife on them” it is because all Germans you know are middle class and this is because the low class is now comprised from the impoverished immigrants. Kick them out, and you’ll start seeing Germans, Greeks or Americans in their place.

One final thing that annoys me is when I tell people to do something about the problems they have in their society. I tell them to speak, to be active, to think of solutions and I get the same response: “Nothing will ever change”. This kind of defeatism is exasperating especially because when you explain that nothing fixes itself and you have to fight against poverty or change the current system, I end up hearing “Kick the foreigners out”

Truth as a tool for immoral purposes

The Barefum Bum today used the movie Fitna to discuss the issue of wether accurate information can be used for racist purposes and I have no reason to disagree. However during the course of our short discussion, the issue of whether Geert Wilders is a racist keeps coming up.

Initially, I assumed that this was some kind of subtle Ad hominem, in effect using Wilder’s presumed racism as a way to discredit the movie but the issue at heart, I believe, is more complex.

You see, if Wilders is a racist, he deserves all the condemnation he can get; however, what I see people are trying to accomplish is to argue that because Wilders is/might be a racist, the movie itself should be labeled racist as well and thus condemned. Call me slow, but this does not follow.

Lets say that, given Wilders background, he is indeed a racist. Lets also say that he probably has his own, deeper purposes for making this movie. Lastly, lets assume for now that the movie is factually correct and also that there are no racist insinuations within but rather just strong anti-Islamism (but without any propaganda.)

Do the first two points make the truth (in this case the Movie as I defined it) racist as well? I would argue not.

The truth is the truth. The truth can be a tool.
The fact that the untwisted truth might be used for the wrong purposed does not make the truth wrong in the same sense that because nuclear energy can be used as a weapon, nuclear energy is not wrong.

Someone might argue then, that there are many types of tools and some might be inherently wrong, like, say, a pistol which has no other purpose than to injure and kill humans.Setting aside for a moment whether a tool can ever be inherently wrong, my questions are thus:

  • Is it possible that the truth might be packaged in such a way so as to become a tool suitable only for immoral purposes?
  • Is the use of truth for immoral purposes (not the purposes themselves) condemnable?
  • At the end of the day, don’t all of us have some purposes for which we use the truth to argue for?