Lately I have been thinking about the recent accusation of racism about Resident Evil 5. The extremists seem to think that just because the zombies are black it's racist. First off, let me say that anyone can become a zombie, Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Turks it doesn't matter what color you are anyone can get bitten. Second: this game would be slightly racist if it took place in America and all the zombies were black but it just so happens that it's set in Africa, where black people come from, meaning that if the general populous is black, most of the zombies will be, correct? Cast your vote, tell me what you think.

Grrr... the point is you're killing ZOMBIES not BLACK PEOPLE. And let's not forget that the first 3 games took place in America (and I recall the slaughter of white zombies there.) 4 took place in Spain... o the humanity.
Idiots.

EDIT:And everyone who plays ZP:S has heard "WATCH OUT FOR WHITEY" Whitey is a superzombie.

The problem isn't the zombies being black, it is that (in the first trailer) they didn't look like zombies and the premise of the game seemed to be "Tought white man kills mindless, dirty and evil black people".

I don't think the Capcop developers hate black people and the final product will prob ably be innoculous enought but the trailers do betray a lack of understanding of african (and to some degree american) cultural history. Besides, how much do American developers consider racial issues in Japan when releasing a game?

I live in South Africa and it seems that first world countries seem to think it is their duty to run around screaming "racism" so as to avoid any accusations by the people actually being persecuted.
What makes the game potentially racist is the complete lack of white Africans if anything, and that is a big stretch because the reality is that there aren't many white Africans.

(No offense to any residents of 1st world countries, I'm talking more about companies not the residents. Even then I know it is a generalization)

You Racist!

It's well known that all accusations of racism exist in a quantum state of both fair and unfair, because modern thinking tells us that if someone is offended by something, it is not our place to tell them to wash the sand out of their vagina or whatever, but rather to immediately remove the offending thing, even if it was not racially motivated to begin with. Hurting people's precious little feelings is bad for business, and no one wants their company labelled as "Racist". In short, "racist" no longer refers to feeling or intent on the part of the speaker, but rather the listener.

For example, I remember Giant Foods (my local grocery) doing an offer of money off a bunch of different foods in honor of Black History Month. However, included in these foods was fried chicken and watermellon.

The sale was cancelled the same day because someone pointed out that there was chicken for sale, and they were offended. IT OFFENDED THEM THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE TO SPEND AS MUCH MONEY ON CHICKEN. Was the sale racially motivated? No. But it was still "racist" because of how the person who saw the sale felt.

- J

well who lives in africa the french, british, and africans. so if they even it out seems good. but seeing a random korean guy would kill the immersion the genre requires.

The fact of the matter is, that some people like to PC control to retarded levels. The fact that these people are black should hold no bearing. There are tens of thousands of black people out there who played resi 1-4. Where are the PC idiots calling them racist? This kind of one way street racism happens a lot in the media. There is such a thing as being racist against white people y'know! But this entire rant is pointless, because the fact that I need to explain this means that we are thinking in skin colour which we should not be. We are humans, that should really be end of story... Unless you're an undead zombie, then you're screwed!

tooktook:
I live in South Africa and it seems that first world countries seem to think it is their duty to run around screaming "racism" so as to avoid any accusations by the people actually being persecuted.

I agree, many of Countries like my own America seem to want to keep the accusations of themselves so they pin it on someone else, whether it's a person, another Country or even the game industry(On second thought, definitely the game industry)

Kind of ironic seeing as how the concept of the zombie is african in the first place...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie

You know I have yet to actually hear anyone claim that Resident Evil 5 is any more racist than the lasst two GRAW/RSV games. Though I sure do hear people crying about people crying that the game is racist. Particularly those relatively ignorant of American history.

This game is extremely and ridiculously racist, we need less racist games and more non-racist games like 50 cent: Blood on the Sand.

Was it true that I heard there would be white zombies thrown in to appease all the extremists(whom are racists themselves)? I could've sworn I read that somewhere >_<

Mr.Pandah:
Was it true that I heard there would be white zombies thrown in to appease all the extremists(whom are racists themselves)? I could've sworn I read that somewhere >_<

Actually in the most recent trailer, there were white africans

tooktook:
(No offense to any residents of 1st world countries, I'm talking more about companies not the residents. Even then I know it is a generalization)

None taken. Here in the UK, we have a common phrase;

Political Correctness gone mad. It refers to the (now common) situations where the government workers (usually white, middle-aged men) feel that there is a predjudice against a group of people - when in fact they have blown the whole thing out of proportion and the actual minority takes no offence. For example, in some nurseries the nursery rhyme, "Baa Baa Black Sheep" has been banned because it might be interpreted as racist.

Johnn Johnston:

tooktook:
(No offense to any residents of 1st world countries, I'm talking more about companies not the residents. Even then I know it is a generalization)

None taken. Here in the UK, we have a common phrase;

Political Correctness gone mad. It refers to the (now common) situations where the government workers (usually white, middle-aged men) feel that there is a predjudice against a group of people - when in fact they have blown the whole thing out of proportion and the actual minority takes no offence. For example, in some nurseries the nursery rhyme, "Baa Baa Black Sheep" has been banned because it might be interpreted as racist.

It's now the law that schools aren't allowed to call their chalk boards 'black boards', even though they're black. It's all pretty pedantic and ridiculous really.

If you don't kill black zombies regardless of context then your racist.

Bowstring:

Johnn Johnston:

tooktook:
(No offense to any residents of 1st world countries, I'm talking more about companies not the residents. Even then I know it is a generalization)

None taken. Here in the UK, we have a common phrase;

Political Correctness gone mad. It refers to the (now common) situations where the government workers (usually white, middle-aged men) feel that there is a predjudice against a group of people - when in fact they have blown the whole thing out of proportion and the actual minority takes no offence. For example, in some nurseries the nursery rhyme, "Baa Baa Black Sheep" has been banned because it might be interpreted as racist.

It's now the law that schools aren't allowed to call their chalk boards 'black boards', even though they're black. It's all pretty pedantic and ridiculous really.

The ones I wass around when I was a kid were always green rather than black.

Racism is quite a loose term nowadays (Well I see it as one) and school children can't really grasp it, (School children being kids/young adults in practically anything) calling people "Racists" for pointing out that someone is white/black/asian. I wish I was kidding, I really do.
But about the so called "Racism" in RE5. It just doesn't make sense to me. What, killing black zombies in Africa is racist beyond everything, but shooting spaniards infected with a worm is A-OK? Half of the time when the media calls a game, or a movie, or a book, racist, they hardly ever mean it from what I've seen.
(JH would like to note that the above is all his opinion, and would like people to refrain from flaming him to all heck)

Why bother!?

If it takes place in Africa then ofc there will be black zombies, duh!

What i can't understand is that if someone is offended by black zombies, then why do they play the gotdamn game?! If someone's offended by anything, they should just leave it alone and don't do it.

And while on the subject, I'm 100% against censoring, if there's a tv-show and anything's censored, like for example language, violence or nudity or whatever, I instantly turn off the tv and do something else, I just cant stand it. We should be able to make such decisions for ourselves, not have someone else make them for us. If there's a movie/show/game I'm offended by, I choose not to watch/play it, simple as that. Not that I really get offended by most things, lol ^^

Here's another example of political correctness gone mad: In a small town (I don't remember which), the council decided that fishing was too white, male and middle-class. So, they had a day where white, middle-class men were not allowed to go fishing at any point for the full duration of the day. They made a huge drive trying to get lower-class women from ethnic background to go fishing on that day. Three people turned up. It wasn't that they felt excluded, it was that they did not want to go fishing.

Moral of the story: Don't decide that someone is being excluded before asking their opinion.

If you're coming to get my flesh, I could care less about the color of your skin. I aim for the head every time.

I'll add in there :

Brainstorms (now Thoughtshowers) : Offensive to Epiletics.
Devil's Food Cake : Racist (Despite it having cream...)
Angel Cake : Racist (White being Angelic)
Manhole Cover : Sexist
Three Little Pigs : Racist (Pork...)
Black Coffee (Now Americano (With or without milk...)): Racist
'Nitty Gritty', Bulldozer, Nit picking, Poll Tax, Manilla : Racist
Dutch Courage : Racist
Bedlam : Uhhh...the PC term is "Offensive to those that have been incarcerated due to mental degradation...?)
Women wolf whistling Builders : Seriously...
nip : Racist
Spokesperson, fisherperson, fireperson : Sexist changes
Scout's Pledge : Racist, Religionist and Monarchist.
Wearing England T-Shirts/Flags during the World Cup : Racist
St. George's Day : Racist, Intolerant
Musical Chairs : Violence
Sports Day : Mental Cruelty (They might not win)
Pancake Day : Food wasting, Unsupervised, Unsafe

And here's the real kicker

In 2002, the government advised schools to replace traditional sports days with group "problem-solving" exercises. In April this year, some Scottish schools were apparently told that football matches with a 5-0 score or above should re-start at zero after half time, to prevent the losing team being humiliated.

Bowstring:

Johnn Johnston:

tooktook:
(No offense to any residents of 1st world countries, I'm talking more about companies not the residents. Even then I know it is a generalization)

None taken. Here in the UK, we have a common phrase;

Political Correctness gone mad. It refers to the (now common) situations where the government workers (usually white, middle-aged men) feel that there is a predjudice against a group of people - when in fact they have blown the whole thing out of proportion and the actual minority takes no offence. For example, in some nurseries the nursery rhyme, "Baa Baa Black Sheep" has been banned because it might be interpreted as racist.

It's now the law that schools aren't allowed to call their chalk boards 'black boards', even though they're black. It's all pretty pedantic and ridiculous really.

That's pretty outrageous, but then again, I don't live in the states so I'm not used to the high degree of censoring you've got there.
I've heard that you cant call it Christmas anymore but have to call it "holidays" instead and people dressed up as Santa cant say "ho, ho, ho" because of the resemblance to "hoe" (which is slang for a prostitute)

That's just ridiculous!
I could probably not stand living there due to all the "political correctness"

Also technically if capcom wanted to they could just pull the 1st admendment. And after that happens no matter what they do they would have no authority to ban it..Or was the consistution tore up by old white people that are complete jackasses?

Skalman:

Bowstring:

Johnn Johnston:

tooktook:
(No offense to any residents of 1st world countries, I'm talking more about companies not the residents. Even then I know it is a generalization)

None taken. Here in the UK, we have a common phrase;

Political Correctness gone mad. It refers to the (now common) situations where the government workers (usually white, middle-aged men) feel that there is a predjudice against a group of people - when in fact they have blown the whole thing out of proportion and the actual minority takes no offence. For example, in some nurseries the nursery rhyme, "Baa Baa Black Sheep" has been banned because it might be interpreted as racist.

It's now the law that schools aren't allowed to call their chalk boards 'black boards', even though they're black. It's all pretty pedantic and ridiculous really.

That's pretty outrageous, but then again, I don't live in the states so I'm not used to the high degree of censoring you've got there.
I've heard that you cant call it Christmas anymore but have to call it "holidays" instead and people dressed up as Santa cant say "ho, ho, ho" because of the resemblance to "hoe" (which is slang for a prostitute)

That's just ridiculous!
I could probably not stand living there due to all the "political correctness"

Yeah america is now so far stuck up its own ass the head has been digested.

The_root_of_all_evil:
I'll add in there :

Brainstorms (now Thoughtshowers) : Offensive to Epiletics.
Devil's Food Cake : Racist (Despite it having cream...)
Angel Cake : Racist (White being Angelic)
Manhole Cover : Sexist
Three Little Pigs : Racist (Pork...)
Black Coffee (Now Americano (With or without milk...)): Racist
'Nitty Gritty', Bulldozer, Nit picking, Poll Tax, Manilla : Racist
Dutch Courage : Racist
Bedlam : Uhhh...the PC term is "Offensive to those that have been incarcerated due to mental degradation...?)
Women wolf whistling Builders : Seriously...
nip : Racist
Spokesperson, fisherperson, fireperson : Sexist changes
Scout's Pledge : Racist, Religionist and Monarchist.
Wearing England T-Shirts/Flags during the World Cup : Racist
St. George's Day : Racist, Intolerant
Musical Chairs : Violence
Sports Day : Mental Cruelty (They might not win)
Pancake Day : Food wasting, Unsupervised, Unsafe

And here's the real kicker

In 2002, the government advised schools to replace traditional sports days with group "problem-solving" exercises. In April this year, some Scottish schools were apparently told that football matches with a 5-0 score or above should re-start at zero after half time, to prevent the losing team being humiliated.

and that's one of the reasons i don't like America... no offense to it's citizens. (unless your the one who gets offended by other people breathing!)

you know what, we're offended by people being offended. that's a paradox for you.

So apparently it's not racist to blow the heads off of Japanese, Middle Eastern, European & South American enemies in a game; BUT GOD FORBID a white man killing ZOMBIES in Africa.

I think shit like this needs to stop, quit giving these "race card" morons a chance to gain attention or even speak. If I'm playing a game and someone or something comes at me with the intent of killing me I'm going to blow what ever the hell it happens to be to pieces without discrimination or hesitation.

Saying shit like "Capcom just doesn't seem to understand the history of blah blah blah" is ignorant. Anyone ever think about the possibility that Capcom doesn't give a shit because they know all these wankers shouting racism are just looking to whore some attention ?

Skalman:

and that's one of the reasons i don't like America... no offense to it's citizens. (unless your the one who gets offended by other people breathing!)

Problem is...I'm British.

Well, there are two perspectives here.

One is the gamers perspective. We know what the games about (sortof) and we know that the fans of the series will understand why they are shooting (it's an infection, they're not zombies they just act like it).

The second perspective is pretty much eveyone else's. They don't know what this game is about, and it will definately raise some eyebrows. for some it's unsettling to see someone killing hoard after hoard of enemies but throw in racial and cultural references and it turns people away from it because they don't want to be considered racist.

I may get pounced for this, but RE5 (even RE4 if anyone noticed >_>) half diserves the racism claims it's getting. In all honesty, yes this game is Racist in a sense, because and not because there are Black people in the game.

I can understand the cultural differences between Japan and the US (or any other contries for that matter) and Capcom obviously didn't intend it to be racist, but that isn't really much of an excuse especially for a company that sells to the US frequently and has fanbases all over the world. And c'mon, a game with a White Guy killing Black Guys, Capcom HAD to know that it would raise some eyebrows...wouldn't they?

RE5 does diserve these Racism claims somewhat, and the people who look at this game have every right to find this game offensive but at the same time they don't. They obviously don't know what this game is about and that Capcom did not intend it to be racist, but they can still feel uncomfortable watching this.

And for all the people saying "Oh, so a white guy kills hispanics but the second they introduce a black guy it's racist!" or something similar, Hispanic and Black/African Americans have two very different histories.

Black/African American's were enslaved, forced to work against their will, their families were seperated, they had to fight for their rights, and all sorts of things (sortof like women...hmmmmmm). As Stewie says "There hasn't been this much tension since the slaves were freed" and that's how it's been for a while. Now everyone wants to get on the good side of African Americans after all the things they (mainly the Americans) did to them and they don't want another uprising. When they see Chris Redfield shooting down Blacks, it's like the White man being supirior to the "lower-class" Black man (ignoring the fact that Chris's sidekick is a Black Woman, but i don't think that excuses it fully).

(The top paragraph turned out better in my head then on the screen)

So I think that RE5 does diserve some of the racism claims it gets, as it is "White Guy kill Black Guy" but at the same time it doesn't diserve the more ridiculous claims.

Try to see the other's perspective if you're dumbfounded on why people think this is racist, it helps.

*prepares for wave of people who are about to argue with him*

I think people are just looking for something to be offended by.
Quite silly, really...