I never thought I'd say this but...

[Ack]

Dude, your mom's got good taste.

[crux]

A quick note of the usage of "colored" versus "African-American" and "black." In America "black" is predominately the preferred nomenclature. If we want to take the time-line back far enough all black people are from Africa, which is why the term was coined and why it was embraced by civil rights activists like Jesse Jackson. However, so many black people are so far removed from their African heritage that the term is an inaccurate description for those who may identify more closely with other cultures. Nonetheless, the word "colored" is somewhat antiquated (it was the non-derogatory term in the colonial era), but isn't inherently offensive.

As for Call of Duty 4, I don't see the game creating a problem so much as giving a public forum to those that have already been instilled with racist values. The topic creator claims that these children don't watch the news, but that implies the news itself would brighten the perception of these woefully ignorant adolescents. We're talking about a media that can scarcely distinguish Sunni from Shī‘ah. If nothing else, these children learned these values from a skewed media and equally ignorant adults around them. All Call of Duty 4 does is give them a target to aim their hatred, which could just as well be aimed at real people than at fictional video game characters.

As for Grand Theft Auto, that's just another example of how much parenting is needed. I have two three-year-old sons and they're increasingly growing interested in video games (how could they avoid it with me around?). It's a constant struggle to figure out what I'm comfortable with them playing. But what makes a difference more than anything else is simply sitting down with them and talking about what they're playing. If they play a game with cartoon violence, I have to explain to them the difference between that game and the ramifications of real violence. They don't watch a single questionable movie or play a potentially offensive game without me sitting with them to carefully deconstruct what they're playing and explaining to them the difference between fiction and reality in a way they can understand. If I can't do that, they don't play the game or watch the movie.

The problem is, what about the parents who fail to do just that? GTAIV most certainly is a piece of satire on American culture, but that doesn't mean that the children playing it treat it as satire. Censorship isn't the answer and Rockstar certainly isn't to blame, but unfiltered children will see, in any offensive game, the values they are already instilled with. Half of our personality is environmental, so what chance do children have when the people around them are as ignorant as they are? As someone said earlier, the solution isn't censorship but education. As stereotypical as it is to say, knowledge is power and it will spread when just given the chance.

Speaking of stereotypes, the notion that "some stereotypes are true" is irrelevant and no less offensive. Whenever we place a stereotype upon an entire group of people we are making assumptions on every individual. It's a useless practice. A person should always judge on an individual basis and never give stereotypes a chance to grow into a bias.

Lastly, someone mentioned the notion that humans are invariably instilled with hatred of what's different and humankind consequently cannot prevent racism. While I do believe that humans have inherited through mere evolution a fear of the unknown, I do not believe that this is a chain that cannot be broken. Humans have evolved as a culture just as we ourselves evolved. The progression of technology has created a world where cultures cannot hide from one another. We become more and more integrated every day and as we continue to integrate we will have no choice but to adapt or to destroy ourselves. Civil rights in America has been a slow progress in America, but it has had exactly that: progress. Racism will never disappear, and I don't believe that true "peace" will ever exist, but I do believe that we live in a world where progress will continually be made towards equality.

Oh, and have you ever seen a toddler play Toe Jam and Earl? They fall off the edge 90% of the time. And a game that involves slashing with a sword doesn't inherently make me more comfortable than one with a gun. They have closer access to knives than they do alien weapons. Go, go Ecco though. As for the Xbox 360 only family, I'd recommend Katamari.

[lordofduct]

Dude, your mom's got good taste.

I taught her well...

what happened was she didn't like me playing videogames when I was a kid. As games were getting more and more violent, my mother finally sat down one day and started discussing with me the issues she had with me playing the games. The largest point was I could be outside getting fresh air. But when it came to the violence I chimed in quickly with the fact I didn't like the super violent games and demanded she see what I do play.

I had just got a copy of Ecco the Dolphin CD and made her watch it. Then I followed it up with TJ&E, my brother and I's fav game in our catalog.

She thought Ecco was so pretty and TJ&E was hilarious childish fun that she had no problem with my choice in games from that point forward. She even tried to join in, but had horrible hand eye coordination that she could only play for a short time before getting frustrated.

I still was limited to the amount of time though, because I should be outside doing boy things like building tree forts and playing in the woods.

[MrPopo]

Lastly, someone mentioned the notion that humans are invariably instilled with hatred of what's different and humankind consequently cannot prevent racism. While I do believe that humans have inherited through mere evolution a fear of the unknown, I do not believe that this is a chain that cannot be broken. Humans have evolved as a culture just as we ourselves evolved. The progression of technology has created a world where cultures cannot hide from one another. We become more and more integrated every day and as we continue to integrate we will have no choice but to adapt or to destroy ourselves. Civil rights in America has been a slow progress in America, but it has had exactly that: progress. Racism will never disappear, and I don't believe that true "peace" will ever exist, but I do believe that we live in a world where progress will continually be made towards equality.

Oh, I fully agree that we will make more and more progress towards racial equality. However, I think this will just shift which types of groups the racist style feelings will be directed towards. Humans have a large predisposition towards projection. When something bad goes wrong you look for something other than yourself to blame. Right now the convenient group is members of another race. All the tech jobs are going to India and the illegal immigrants are takin er jerbs. You see the same thing with the class divide. It's something that I think will never go away, and I think the best we can hope for is equal protection under the law. Education does help people overcome racism, as they start to think critically instead of just parroting the mob mentality. But there are some people who just can't bring themselves to do that (perhaps due to upbringing).

[The Apprentice]

I'll post in this because I fall withen the mentioned age bracket of 8-15, but just barely.

I haven't heard the game's name mentioned since the game first came out. Since I just about know every gamer in the city, it would be hard to not notce a massive shift toward CoD4, instead all my peers play Brawl or Halo. The few who actually play Call of Duty don't seem to be any worse off.

Also, in response to the original post, no, there are plenty middle schoolers and young highschoolers who watch the news and pay attention, like me. The problem is that half of all kids who are younger than the class of 2011 are hyperactive retards who spout out quotes from things like Brawl Taunts and Dr. Tran. Everyone assumes that kids my age just aren't smart enough to pay attention. Honestly though, I hate stupid people, I watch the news, I avoid the idiotic trends of the middle schoolers, I try to be as little like them as possible.

The problem is, a lot of kids at my school are racist just because it's becoming a disgusting fad. And it's not the freshmen either, it's mostly the juniors and seniors. It started up around the Obama craze of the election, I was afraid to admit to people I wanted Barrack to win because people were getting in fights, cars were getting vandalized for having bumper stickers, and sometimes you could hear people in the hall shouting things like Nobama and some song about why we can't have a black president. On top of that, half of them thought Obama was a muslim, which brought in all kinds of hate.

So in my school at least, there are a lot of racist creeps, but I don't think CoD4 had much to do with it.

[Ack]

Yes, the election did bring out a lot of racism on both sides. A good friend of mine was labeled racist by his African American coworkers because he voted Republican based on his thoughts on abortion. I also don't really want to think about all the times I heard somebody say "I'm going to vote for Obama, because if I don't it'll upset the black people." I'm disturbed because I consider that giving in to the stereotype of the "angry black person." Instead of doing an act that some considered enlightening to our society, they were doing it for the wrong reasons.

I also got tired of all the people who walked up to me on November 5, laughed at me and then taunted me with "Your president is black now, your president is black now" like they were ten years old.

[the7k]

Yes, the election did bring out a lot of racism on both sides. A good friend of mine was labeled racist by his African American coworkers because he voted Republican based on his thoughts on abortion. I also don't really want to think about all the times I heard somebody say "I'm going to vote for Obama, because if I don't it'll upset the black people." I'm disturbed because I consider that giving in to the stereotype of the "angry black person." Instead of doing an act that some considered enlightening to our society, they were doing it for the wrong reasons.

I also got tired of all the people who walked up to me on November 5, laughed at me and then taunted me with "Your president is black now, your president is black now" like they were ten years old.

Yeah, I got a lot of that too. I have two black roommates, as well as probably more black friends than white, but it still annoyed me. I usually like to bring them down by telling 'em that my president is half-white.

Of course, as annoying as it is, it's all in good fun with them. We all say overtly racist things about each others, and even our own, races. For instance, I love saying "Where's ya skis? CHALKY LOVE TO SKI!" while they'll blame poor service at a restaurant on the black people working there.

I think that's probably the best way to combat racism... make it seem completely ridiculous. Of course, most people are complete idiots that continue to breed more idiots, so racism will never die.

[Mozgus]

I sense this thread getting locked soon, but I'll say it anyway. Black people have been acting like we elected Snoop Dogg, when in fact, we elected a man who's about twice as white as Tiger Woods.

[RCBH928]

In all honesty
i don't think cod4 is an issue of racism,
even if it is, it is against Arabs which are far away

What?

WOW!

So you're saying it is OK to hate against someone very far away?

Ok, well kingmohd84 I think you're a biggot fucker and I'm gonna burn your town to the ground if I ever get the chance... is that ok? Cause you know... you're really far away.

I am not saying that. I am saying that COD4 is just one game and people are going to forget about it. GTA is in its fourth edition that is not counting the upcoming DS game. It is more wide spread and it deals with America here and now and it has been going on for almost a decade now? Plus it is much more racist than COD4.

COD4 moved on something else on their next game in the series, GTA still pushing stuff like violence and racism dealing with current day lives of Americans.
I am NOT saying it is ok to hate someone far away, I am saying COD4 is not as big of an issue as GTA because GTA is widespread, being doing the same thing for the last decade maybe, deals with violence and racism in a direct way, and it deals with stuff here and now in the middle of the American society. People will forget about COD4 but GTA is here to stay.

As for it being a joke of the American society, I am not sure what you mean exactly by a joke but we understand it is taken to the extreme.

For the guy who said Mario does not make you want to kill turtles. It doesn't, because mario is supposed to be in fantasy land. You don't jump on turtles and hold them. There is no Bowser, no princess to save, and no Yoshi to ride.
In games like GTA it is real, real cities, real guns, real missions, real cars , and real roads, it is supposed to be real, it is supposed to be believable .

I am not saying playing GTA will turn you into a mafia member, but it is a fact that people are affect by their surroundings. GTA makes violence looks cool and it might stimulate such ideas. For us adults, it has no major effect, but for kids we know kids and teenagers copy their favorite celebrity, wrestler, and maybe videogame character. Of course, no body younger than 18 should play that game in the first place, isn't that what the labels is for?

[lost_within]

ok ...3 things....
new president = whiter than tiger woods HA
blame the parents for letting these young kids play these games, i can think of MANY other games that are "racist"
my fav would be...a one off dreamcast game with a black guy that is a ghetto ass black dj...hmmmmm, anyway. This thread should be locked...was worth a good laugh though....or maybe it was only funny at 3:30am...