Valve Responds to Racism Accusations

[AkJay]

HAHAHAHA - it would be even MORE racist if all the zombies were white!

 

[Lyri]

Whitey: The only non racist target.

 

[Erana]

The Confederate flag is not a symbol of racism, dammit!
Sure, there are some idiots, like klansmen, who misuse it, but they also misuse the crusifix, too!
The Confederacy itself wasn't about white supremacy, either! A lot of states wanted to keep slavery, but the essence of the war was about a different governmental mindset: The North wanted the states wanted a federal government with all the power while the Confederacy wanted the states to be independent, almost to the point of being their own individual countries.
Irk! Exaggerating morons!

it always bothers me when people say this. No matter what a person wants the symbol to mean or what it means to them. It is indeed a racist symbol. What it represents now is far from what it used to represent. It isn't on the majority to decide what is offensive and not offensive. If I am black and the confederate flag offends me because of the racial ties that the confederacy had and because of the way it has been adopted my modern racist and a bunch of my black friends find it offensive too....then guess what it is a racist symbol. Sorry that you can't use it as a southern pride thing or as a symbol of freedom from the strong arm of the government at the same time but that is the way the world works.

Honestly I am not black but it offends me greatly when people sport the confederate flag. It is common knowledge that the confederate flag is seen as a racist symbol and if a person rocks it then they should be aware of what kind of message they are putting out there. Offensive behavior and symbols are decided by the people it offends. Many people that are not white are offended by the confederate flag and see it as a racist symbol...there for it is a racist symbol and anyone that would say something as ignorant as they need to get over it, or they are wrong, or something else along those lines just shows how ignorant they are of issues that are still very much a live in our society.

Like I said before, the Confederate flag is like the Crucifix or even now that I think about it, like the Swastica: not bad at heart, but victims of hateful appropriation. Since when is it "common knowledge" for someone to sport the Confederate flag? Its a symbol of Southern pride, nothing more, nothing less. Some people who wish to show their pride in this manner actually believe in the sick idea of white supremacy, but its kinda cruel of you to assume that someone proud of their roots is racist.

Also, which part of the world do you live in, anyway? Your experience with it might be coloring your views.

I'm not saying showing southern pride is racist in anyway shape or form. What I am saying is it is common knowledge that the confederate flag is used as a racist symbol and anyone who is using it in another way should be aware that it is a very likely scenario that it will be misinterpreted.

and where am I from....the south....to be specific southern Virgina,then Northern Virgina, spent most every summer in South Carolina growing up, now I live in Pennsylvania and see a ton of douche bags running around sporting the confederate flag and half of them couldn't tell you a damn thing about the civil war other then slaves or some bullshit that isn't the whole picture.

I AM proud of my southern heritage. I rock it out in the open all the time and tell all of the yanks that I live around how rude and different northern culture is on a regular basis (which it is). What I don't do is use a racist symbol to represent my southern pride in some delusional state of denial.

Is my "experience" with the confederate flag "coloring" my views......I would say yes because I live in the real world where I associate/ am friends with people that aren't all white, with people that have never been down south. I can say I understand the opposing point of view. It is that point of view that makes it a racist symbol no matter what it means to the people that rock the confederate flag but don't mean it in a racist way. Because of this interpretation it is and probably always will be from this point forward a racist symbol.

Like I said before anyone that says otherwise is running from the truth, they are living in a state of denial. The swastika is the perfect example. it used to mean peace and unity....but guess what....no matter how much I want it to mean that again. No matter how I use it and how many people I tell "no, when I use it I mean peace and unity like it used to mean" they aren't going to believe me, it isn't going to change what it has come to represent...the same goes for the confederate flag.

"nothing more, nothing less" if only it were that simple my friend

It is Southern pride. Some people's definition of pride is different. No one goes waving a Confederate flag to go, "I hate black people." If they're trying to be racists with the flag, they're trying to say, "My people, me included, hate black people."
In turn, someone will always be insulted by something.
Symbols can be used as signs of hate, but that doesn't mean that they necessarily are. It all comes down to the intent of the individual who chooses to use the symbol in the first place. I mean, if you saw someone walk out of a bank, bloody and holding a gun, and it would be rational to assume that they were dangerous, and seek some sort of safety. Of course, they really could have done some sort of heroic act, like having taken a gun from some murderer inside, and saved the day.
You should prepare for the worst when you see something with multiple meaning, but you shouldn't automatically assume that the worst is true.
I mean, assuming the worst based on generalization the heart of racism itself?

Oh, and to the majority of the population of the world, the Swastika is still a symbol of peace.

 

[DirkGently]

The confederate flag is not a symbol of racism. It's a symbol of different governmental ideologies. Godforbid a game that takes place somewhere near the time the Confederate States of America actually existed. Seeing a Confederate flag brings "silly southerners" rather than "racism". I, mean, christ, the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard had a Confederate flag on the roof.

Nor is the swastika a symbol of anti-semitism. A black swastika, set in a white circle on a red background, maybe. Y'know, like the flag of Nazi Germany. Otherwise it's a just a bunch of silly lines. Over sensitive jerks who have a need to feel self righteous and get angry at things are the only people who get upset over a swastika. Well, them and holocaust survivors, and most of Israel, probably, but they've got a reason to be pissy about it. But, I mean, seriously, it's the Confederate flag. It's like being bothered by red delicious apples because they're red, like communists.

 

[cowbell40]

So it would be less racist if you were only allowed to kill white zombies?!

 

[Falru]

How dare they stick to genuine history, they should've used some imaginary faction's flag to shield our delicate eyes!

I'm sure these people are parents. They've got to be parents. Parents who never play games but found a screenshot of them and had a fit.

Boggles my mind that no one ever throws any hissy-fits about any Medieval-themed games that represent it with historical accuracy. i.e. Massive religious intolerance.

 

[Naeo]

Well, fuck, this makes my own damn city look bad.

I like the point about "because SOME of the zombies are of a certain race and because you HAPPEN to be shooting at them it's RACISM". Well, making them all white would b racist against white people, ne? Making them all black is one thing, but if you make some of them black and set the damn thing in fucking New Orleans then having a lot of black people would be, I dunno, geographically accurate? God damn I hate how no one in this country can do anything or say anything about anyone who's black, Mexican, or whatever without being called a racist unless they're complementing their good looks or something.

Fuck the guy who wrote this article, and fuck his uninformed, uneducated, bullshit attention-grabbing opinion. He doesn't know what he's talking about.

 

[matnatz]

If there were no black zombies he'd complain too. I think they call it attention seeking.

 

[sonicmaster1989]

Oh no!! I guess that just means we'll have to get on 50 cent's back about killing a bunch of Middle easterns in Blood in the Sand! What are arabic people doing there anyway?! I guess 50 cent is just lucky because he's not white and making a game about shooting other races.

 

[candybarzorz]

everyone knows that all zombies are white L4D2 is just getting unrealistic

 

[countrysteaksauce]

Please people, Don't you realize he's just trolling?


Right?

 

[AceDiamond]

I have to say that the highlight of this has to be Chet Faliszek's reaction to all this

but when two of the characters in your game are African-American, it's a weird thing to be accused of. We're like, 'how does this work'?

And really, that's all that needs to be said about it.

 

[AutumnGold]

this just goes to show how idiotic people have become.

 

[Anarien]

*eyetwitch*
"The racial makeup of the city was 67.25% African American, 28.05% White, 0.20% Native American, 2.26% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.93% from other races, and 1.28% from two or more races. 3.06% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race." - Wikipedia, on New Orleans.

The fucking majority is black.
How does including them make it racist?
If anything, the opposite should be true!

I honestly cannot fathom the stupidity that goes on in the mind of this man.
Jesus Christ. Seriously.

I keep re-reading the article to make sure I didn't make some sort of reading comprehension error.

Yep, this is the major something that writer overlooked. Very silly accusation.

 

[amazosaur]

I'm going to address a couple things wrong with your post. 1) Saying that the North was mad at the south for using slaves when they had to pay workers is ridiculous. They didn't HAVE to pay workers because slavery was still legal everywhere, the reason they didn't is because the North's economy was based around manufacturing products and where more industrialized than the south, and in a manufacturing economy slaves are useless because they don't get paid so they can't buy anything. They could have used slaves but it wouldn't have made sense. 2) If the real reason for going to war was because of slavery, then the South would only have seceded if slavery had become illegal which it didn't until after the war. 3) The south never profited from the slave trade, they bought slaves from Europeans. They used slaves for work on their plantations, so they weren't getting any more money from the slave trade than the north

 

[Xris]

That's just retarded.

The majority of New Orleans is black, and the infection won't just infect us whities. I really don't see the 'uproar' for this game, mainly because there is none.

Edit: And Call of Juarez is set in the old West, it's just history. That whole war was about racism.

 

[Generic_Dave]

Okay, lets stop such non-sense, lets make every character in every game blue. Sorted.

 

[amazosaur]

What silliness