Right... because that statement in and of itself isn't racist.Krantos said:
[HEADING=1]NO SHE ISN'T![/HEADING]
For God's sake, I know I promised myself not to get riled up but DAMN IT. Ashley is concerned about allowing aliens onto the Normandy because they are foreign nationals who don't even have military history who you have known for all of one hour and now they are aboard and have free access to all the inner workings of the most advanced warship the human race has.
Also I never saw her being openly hostile to anyone with the exception of Liara, you know, the Daughter of the Big Bad Guy's second in Command? Otherwise she's very aggressive and to the point with the alien crewmembers during team meetings but here's the clincher:
She behaves that way around humans to.
When talking to Udina, she scowls and is repulsed, when in the presence of Terra Firma she's visibly shaking with anger listening to them. She's aggressive to the survivor on Eden Prime for surviving due to laziness. There are countless examples of this all over the place.
Ashley is a soldier and she is aggressive, this is something soldiers need to be. And her aggression and determination transcend issues like race, she's no more aggressive or defensive towards aliens as she is towards humans.
(Which is not to say she doesn't have a compassionate side as well, take her to meet Samesh Bahtia sometime in regards to his wife who died on Eden Prime)
Plus as I have said, many, many, many times she has a right to distrust aliens. Her Grandfather was the first human ever to surrender to an alien race and as a result her family name has been blacklisted and her career has been unfairly pushed through the dirt. That, combined with a lack of personal experience working with aliens or even much in the way of contact with them, gives reason and justification as to why she might be uncomfortable around them.
Similarly she has the capacity to grow as a character and change her mind about this whole thing and grows to be proud to fight alongside aliens.
Also for what it's worth:
On Virmire Ashley happily volunteers to assist the Salarian team. She's seen talking to Kirrahe in the beginning and subsequently volunteers to aid the Salarian team in the battle ahead. If you listen to her on the com chatter you can tell that even though she is the lone human in a team of aliens she is having no difficulty working with them and is even demonstrating a degree respect towards them.
If you take Ashley to the Citadel and to the Terra Firma rally, she will oppose their attitude to human and alien policies. She'll say that she believes the party once had noble goals but are now being run by racists and that citing Shanxi as a justification to hold onto hatred of aliens is insensitive and to completely militarily oppose alien governments is just 'looking for a fight'.
During an elevator conversation between her and Tali, Ashley will point out that some humans are angry at the Quarians for the attack on Eden Prime given that Quarians made the Geth. She will then add that hopefully seeing Tali assist in the mission against Saren will change people's minds about the Quarians.
Also on the Citadel, Ashley will note that she would quite like to live in the wards. Tell me, would a xenophobic racist actually WANT to move into a place populated by all kinds of different cultures and alien races?
Also after Benezia dies, Ashley suggests to Shepard to go and talk to Liara and comfort her. Telling her that she just lost her mum and 'that's gotta hurt'. She says it in a very sympathetic tone which implies that she is empathizing with Liara's current situation.
Likewise if you pick Ashley in the romance conflict scene and Liara walks away Ashley will note that she feels sorry for Liara, arguing that 'no one should have to feel like they aren't good enough to get what they want'. If Shepard then points out that Ashley a moment ago was very vicious towards Liara, Ashley will admit that her anger was actually aimed at Shepard.
Point is, Ashley might have issues with aliens due to the bad family history and lack of personal experience but she's also a far cry from being a true racist.
Anyway OT:
Little Oly from Psychonauts. He absolutely ruined the last level of the game and was frustrating as hell to try to defend and his voice made me want to rip my ears out. The character himself doesn't even need to be deleted just that one section of the level in particular that he was in.
Seriously though, Little Oly has caused many an angry night's worth of screaming as a result of that one part of the level, if we could remove him there'd be a lot less pain in this world.
