If I learned anything this past week, itâs that some people will find any context in which an ethnic slur is not an ethnic slur, or will find some justification for its use, from the name of a video game to that of a football team.
Really, the reactions were almost swappable. In Washington, rumblings that the Redskins might relocate to a stadium in the city limits sparked a city councilmanâs call for the team to reconsider its nickname of obviously racist originâand the usual backlash against it. In video games, a student project out of the Netherlands billed itself as âStarcoon,â borne of an understandable language disconnect but one that still invoked a top-five racial slur in the company of âspade,â âspook,â and the big N.
https://lastchance.cc/what-not-to-name-your-spacefaring-raccoon-video-game-484304024%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
âStarcoon,â however, changed its name, recognizing the embarrassment it would inevitably suffer if the game became a success in an English-speaking country. Yes, right, the protagonist of the platformer is a raccoon. Unless the truncated word is preceded by âMaineâ or followed by âhoundâ you will have a problem on this side of the Atlantic, and in this case, it sounded like a ridiculous sci-fi blaxploitation film starring Bull Connor as the villain. Wisely, the creators bailed on the original name, rebranding it as Curioâs Starquest
The reaction was depressingly predictable. Weâre told all the time that the average age of gamers is getting older, but their emotional maturity and concept of life in a pluralist society seems to be stuck somewhere around the freshman year of high school. On average, itâs a demographic no more sophisticated than meathead sports fans. âEver wonder why racial slurs for white people never caught on?â said this commenter in one of our posts on âStarcoon.â
âBecause white people have higher self esteem in regards to their racial identity.â
Yes, thatâs it. After everything theyâve gone through, for all for which they have stood, and suffered, ethnic minorities are simply insecure. Once they get over that, hey, racial equality.
No, racial slurs against white people never caught on here because white people, through the laws, textbooks and periodicals they largely control, have a demonstrable, centuries-long head start on deciding what words get used, and how.
One of those uses is in professional sports, where white people have such âhigher self esteemâ that thousands identify themselves, as fans of Washingtonâs football team (or of other teams in high school), with a straight-up racial epithet.
https://deadspin.com/washington-redskins-proudly-defend-their-name-in-the-5983475
âRedskin nation.â âRedskin pride.â They smear on warpaint and wear headdresses and go to the games. Then, when someone points out how childish all this is, the official newspaper of white people writes a hoary defense of the right to use the word, a vortex of circular logic that reads like an email from your grandfather with FWD:FWD:FWD:FWD:FWD: in the subject header.
https://deadspin.com/this-editorial-defending-the-redskins-name-is-just-so-g-487610424
It doesnât matter if the entirety of an ethnic minority is or isnât offended by a word and it doesnât matter if you say you knew a black guy or a Native American who has no problem with it. Good for you; I doubt he really exists.
It doesnât matter if a majority in a poll say theyâre fine with the name, and it doesnât matter that the word is inoffensive if it describes peanuts or potatoes. And âpolitical correctness,â the âliberal media,â and every horseshit straw man you construct has nothing to say here.
https://deadspin.com/espn-headline-poll-majority-ok-with-redskins-487547322
What matters is that a billion-dollar business and its loyal consumers, in the year 2013, identify themselves with a racist insult. It matters that a term of derision, inferiority and hatred is being directed at the product on the fieldâby those who sell it and buy it. How is it different from âWashington Shitheads?â How is it even dignified?
That is why âStarcoonâ changed its name. That is why the Washington Redskins should change theirs.
Stick Jockey is Kotakuâs column on sports and video games. It appears Sundays.
To contact the author of this post, write to [email protected] or find him on Twitter @owengood
