Ugh
Here are two disturbing stories.The first comes from Next-Gen:
A leading sociologist says videogames have become the scapegoat for violent acts perpetrated by white middle-class criminals, pointing out that crimes committed by African Americans are rarely blamed on games.
...Writing in the American Sociological Association’s journal Contexts, USC’s Karen Sternheimer says, “Blaming video games means that the [criminals] were set aside from other violent youth, frequently poor males of color. The video game explanation constructs the white, middle-class shooters as victims of the power of video games, rather than as fully culpable criminals. When boys from “good” neighborhoods are violent, they seem to be created by video games rather than by their social circumstances. White, middle-class killers retain their status as children easily influenced by a game, victims of an allegedly dangerous product. African-American boys, apparently, are simply dangerous.”
Touche.
Seriously, has the "video games are the devil" defense ever been used for anyone who wasn't white? Has Jack Thompson ever run to the parents of minority kids and loudly proclaimed that they're victims?
Not that I can ever remember.
Sternheimer's statement is razor sharp. Apparently, if you're a white kid and murder someone, it can't be your fault.
The second story came to me from reader Bill Cuthbertson. To start, you need to go view this image:
JPEG.
Wow. That reminds me of how Japanese soldiers were portrayed in WWII-era propaganda cartoons, with outlandishly exaggerated buck teeth and giant glasses. There's an infamous Bugs Bunny Cartoon called "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips," surely eight of the most regrettable minutes in cartoon history, that features this kind of grotesque, mocking caricature.
The JPEG, by the way, is a screenshot from a game in development called Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle. I have no idea what role that character will play in the story, but there is no excuse for such an offensive portrayal of an Asian or Asian-American character, and the character model should be changed.
[Update: I found an online link to the full version of "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips" at I-Film here. If you look at the depictions of the Japanese soldiers, you'll see the unsettling resemblance to the Runaway character. Also, please be warned that this cartoon is remarkably offensive.]
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