R
Roo Stercogburn
Guest
This is not intended to be an aggressive post and I'd appreciate anyone who posts any thoughts afterwards keep them civil.
This is something I've noticed around here from the start and I finally decided it was time to post my thoughts on the subject with the intention of making people look at themselves.
I once heard someone define a racist as someone who when they see a person enter a room notices if they are black. I disagree with this because it is human nature to focus on any difference in an area. So if you have a bowl filled with green apples and there is one red apple you tend to notice the red apple. However it did make me think long and hard about the subject and it made me wonder about people unknowingly being racist.
If you ask someone if they are a racist they always say no. However, a rather frightening number of people will say "I'm not racist, but I don't like <insert ethnic group here>" which if they thought about it by definition it makes them a racist.
Nobody likes to be called a racist and people will invent all kinds of reasons to justify possibly the most insidious form of bigotry a human can be guilty of. Racism is one of those things that creeps in by degrees; its rarely at the fever pitch of Hitler style hatred.
Racism is possibly one of the most divisive issues of modern times. It can start with something as simple as a few careless comments that cause someone pain then that person in return becomes racially sensitive and begins to harbour animosity back at the source and so the spiral begins.
Also, one of the things that makes racism sometimes harder to pin down is the fact that you can get racial humour, especially between friends and it becomes a murky grey area defining when that becomes outright racist.
Racism has got to be the ultimate no-win situation.
So to link this into DAoC...
I've noticed a rather disturbing trend on the European forums where people are lashing out at players from other countries quite openly and thinking they are justified in doing it for one reason or another. They manage to throw racial slurs in left and right, saying that they are making a point about opposing opinions yet to anyone even half awake its obvious there is a very pointed piece of racism being flung about.
If someone else is racist that doesn't give YOU the right to be racist in return. Rise above it, be bigger than they are.
I've seen people making anti-race posts thinking its perfectly alright since they claim certain countries like America are themselves anti-this or anti-that. The same people that make the comments make out that they are better simply by being European.
The hypocrisy is staggering.
I realise that the range of ages of people that post on forums is very large so you can be dealing with immature uninformed opinions thoughtlessly posted or someone who is cold and calculating merely trying to get a reaction from other forum users.
I also realise that this is a 'fluff' place, not somewhere for serious world shaking discussion but sometimes you have to lift your head up and look around.
I have purposely not quoted from threads or things I've seen in game, this is a general discussion of the subject, not an attempt to point fingers or blame.
Be aware of racism and try to make an effort to tolerate other people of other ethnic groups and nationalities even if individuals from these other places are less than ambassadors for their own countries. You don't have to be watching for racism in every comment and every word, that can be even worse in its own way.
Try to keep a balanced view of everyone you meet and talk to, do not judge them because of where they came from.
We all come from the same place.
Earth.
This is something I've noticed around here from the start and I finally decided it was time to post my thoughts on the subject with the intention of making people look at themselves.
I once heard someone define a racist as someone who when they see a person enter a room notices if they are black. I disagree with this because it is human nature to focus on any difference in an area. So if you have a bowl filled with green apples and there is one red apple you tend to notice the red apple. However it did make me think long and hard about the subject and it made me wonder about people unknowingly being racist.
If you ask someone if they are a racist they always say no. However, a rather frightening number of people will say "I'm not racist, but I don't like <insert ethnic group here>" which if they thought about it by definition it makes them a racist.
Nobody likes to be called a racist and people will invent all kinds of reasons to justify possibly the most insidious form of bigotry a human can be guilty of. Racism is one of those things that creeps in by degrees; its rarely at the fever pitch of Hitler style hatred.
Racism is possibly one of the most divisive issues of modern times. It can start with something as simple as a few careless comments that cause someone pain then that person in return becomes racially sensitive and begins to harbour animosity back at the source and so the spiral begins.
Also, one of the things that makes racism sometimes harder to pin down is the fact that you can get racial humour, especially between friends and it becomes a murky grey area defining when that becomes outright racist.
Racism has got to be the ultimate no-win situation.
So to link this into DAoC...
I've noticed a rather disturbing trend on the European forums where people are lashing out at players from other countries quite openly and thinking they are justified in doing it for one reason or another. They manage to throw racial slurs in left and right, saying that they are making a point about opposing opinions yet to anyone even half awake its obvious there is a very pointed piece of racism being flung about.
If someone else is racist that doesn't give YOU the right to be racist in return. Rise above it, be bigger than they are.
I've seen people making anti-race posts thinking its perfectly alright since they claim certain countries like America are themselves anti-this or anti-that. The same people that make the comments make out that they are better simply by being European.
The hypocrisy is staggering.
I realise that the range of ages of people that post on forums is very large so you can be dealing with immature uninformed opinions thoughtlessly posted or someone who is cold and calculating merely trying to get a reaction from other forum users.
I also realise that this is a 'fluff' place, not somewhere for serious world shaking discussion but sometimes you have to lift your head up and look around.
I have purposely not quoted from threads or things I've seen in game, this is a general discussion of the subject, not an attempt to point fingers or blame.
Be aware of racism and try to make an effort to tolerate other people of other ethnic groups and nationalities even if individuals from these other places are less than ambassadors for their own countries. You don't have to be watching for racism in every comment and every word, that can be even worse in its own way.
Try to keep a balanced view of everyone you meet and talk to, do not judge them because of where they came from.
We all come from the same place.
Earth.
