Damn Internet Nonsense
I’ve been in a pissy mood with part of the internet community for the last week or so… namely the younger gamers who frequent popular review sites and act like macho jackasses. Let me preface this by saying that this type of behavior normally doesn’t phase me. In fact, I find it pitifully funny.
It’s when these idiots start spewing racist/bigoted/prejudiced nonsense that I wish I lived close enough that I could drive to their respective (parents) homes and slap each kid squarely on the back of the head.
Now, I bet you’re wondering what prompted this angst (this time). Well, it was an ad by Sony for their new ceramic (white) PSP. In their infinite marketing genius (and let’s be brutally honest, this was no mistake), Sony placed one billboard ad in the Netherlands (of all places).
Only one formal complaint came out of the Netherlands. The rest of the world however was up in arms. Gaming related sites everywhere opened up the floor to discuss this ad… and if you sift through the mountains of garbage, you will find the occasional intelligent comment.
docwoo:
First of all, I do agree that the NAACP sometimes needs to pick better battles to fight, but I also think that Sony should have seen this coming. Either Sony created this ad on purpose, or they’ve got some really DUMB people running their advertising department! After looking at the ad, I can definitely see how the ad could be perceived as offensive. Certainly, Sony was excercising its freedom of speech, but this freedom works both ways: people are also free to disagree and speak out AGAINST it! We all seem to forget that it was only about 40 years ago that racism and segregation were at the top of America’s political agenda. I, for one, know PLENTY of people who personally experienced the turmoil of that time. Think about it....that wasn’t very long ago.
Secondly, I know this may be a shock to some of you, but just because you don’t see people wearing white hoods and burning crosses, it does not mean racism doesn’t still exhist. Racism is sublte and very real! For example, only about 2% of the CEO’s in the United States are African American. Do you really think it’s because an entire population of 35 million people simply have no dreams or aspirations of being CEO’s? Or could it be that there are certain other “hidden” factors involved?
Finally, despite the controversy, the PSP is still a waste of money. I know several people who bought PSP’s but they were disappointed and ended up selling them on eBay. Even a crude, tasteless ad can’t change that!
jalmodov:
To GAMEGEEK1 “it speaks volumes of the true biases in our society that except for the people that looked it up and posted it here u hear almost nothing of the pic of the black lady on top of the white lady looking like she is attacking her.”
So what if there’s another pic with the black woman on top? Last time I checked, white people were not an oppressed minority for hundreds of years, so it’s not the same. Besides, as somebody posted before, two wrongs don’t make a right. I don’t believe in reverse racism either. By the way I’m hispanic, and my wife is caucasian. If you don’t feel offended by the ad, or it doesn’t remind you of many other racist images, maybe it’s because you’ve never been on the receiving end of racism. Images like this were used for decades in this country, as late as the 80’s with very racist attitudes. And if you think that we are overreacting, and that racism is only in the eye of the beholder, just read 3 or 4 pages of this thread. At least among Gamespot readers racism is alive and well, thank you very much!
jemini12:
“Jemini!!! Look at the pic. I believe there were billions of variations of these ads when they were shooting it. But there were only a few available so far.
So from the pic, do you believe this is reverse racism then? Or anyone of you?!!!
Why can’t Gamespot debunk this and include the rest of the ads?!!!!”
I saw all of the Ads FFVII! And I clearly stated in my rant sony was wrong, “no matter what race you belong.” Look I can see where certain people do not find the ad offensive...but me, being African American, we will always find things like that offensive no matter what the “other” picture shows. You’ll never understand why because you’ll never “feel” how it is to be a minority in this country, or anyplace. Now Im not saying we are treated like Sh** all of the time. But every now and then there are “moments” when we run into situations where you can arguably say racism was invovled. So was racism intended in the ad? Probably not. Is it offensive? To most people of color...yes! Is Sony crazy for running the ad? Absolutely!!
The thing that struck me right away was the multitude of “stop whining, racism no longer exists” comments made, one would assume, by young, white males who have never known racism but to (perhaps inadvertently) contribute to it.
My wife was part of a national employment equity committee for the federal government a couple years back and some of the information/statistics she worked on were staggering. I was able to help this committee by developing web-based training tools for them and I too could not believe everything which I read.
I am by no means implying that any of this work has made me an expert in the subject of racism. Though having an ounce of intelligence, I understand that it is not only still present, but even prevalent (especially right here on the good ol’ internet).
