You're a creepy weirdo if you think Patrick's opinion in that article was "sensationalist". (also this doesn't even come close to being comparable come the fuck on)
@patrickklepek said:
You can make the argument that no one would be outraged if this was a male torso with the same lack of bodily features, but c'mon. It’s different when it’s a woman
Uhh...this is weird to say but...I agree with the Taliban, not that they're in a position to take any kind of moral stance, obviously.
Prince Harry is a dumb asshole. No, he doesn't explicitly say "war is a game" but he does say it's a "joy" and he clearly has no idea of the severity of his actions. Fuck him. Maybe this is my own ignorance but doesn't most of England agree that the royal family are pieces of shit anyway?
Also, Kotaku isn't the only place that thinks this so hold up on the Kotaku hate jerking. Or the Patrick hate, which I see is already cropping up.
I would have to disagree. I think Alex and Patrick are only agreeing due to having been given a misleading sense of what Prince Harry said. If they watched more of the interview and saw that his point was regarding the "joy" of using a well-designed control scheme, they would probably be less inclined to agree with the twisted version of his statements presented by Kotaku and the Taliban.
This was in the context of the Telegraph talking about him playing FIFA with fellow soldiers and then them being given a tour of his cockpit and its controls. Thus why Playstation and Xbox were brought up at all. It is a "joy" to use an intuitive control scheme that even includes different-textured buttons for easy use in darkness, not a "joy" to have to possibly kill people in a war.
Uhh...this is weird to say but...I agree with the Taliban, not that they're in a position to take any kind of moral stance, obviously.
Prince Harry is a dumb asshole. No, he doesn't explicitly say "war is a game" but he does say it's a "joy" and he clearly has no idea the severity of his actions. Fuck him. Maybe this is my own ignornance but doesn't most of England agree that the royal family are pieces of shit anyway?
Also, Kotaku isn't the only place that thinks this so hold up on the Kotaku hate jerking.
That I'm suddenly in a situation where I agree with the Taliban is why Prince Harry probably shouldn't do interviews. kotaku.com/5978086/prince…
It's a bunch of trivial nitpicking by a bunch of my fellow pudgy privileged people over here who probably won't ever be in a position where they have to join the military. I have heard many military men refer to the use of various weapons of war as "a joy" or "a real pleasure". This is especially so in a part of life where things tend not to be a joy to use. Where things tend to be utilitarian, but in a ridged and stodgy and uncomfortable way that gets the job done but is a real bitch while you're doing it. To construe from that some sort of glee on the part of that person is to be intentionally obtuse and disingenuous. It's turning a trivial comment into a piece of propaganda and "siding" with the taliban in their intent to use it as such is ridiculous.
Patrick, Alex, and Kotaku person -- were you similarly outraged when Obama made jokes (on two occasions that I can count, but there are probably more) in public speeches about protecting his daughters from boyfriends by using unmanned drones? Is that trivializing machines of war that are used to kill people? (And in the case of drones, hundreds of potentially innocent people, including children)? If not, why the hypocrisy? Why is it okay for the president of this free country to joke about something like that, but it's not okay for Harry to say "the control is a joy to use"?
If you think that the writer is siding with the Taliban then you really, really need to work on your comprehension skills.
Sigh.
And yes, calling a woman a cunt is sexist. You twits.
I'm sorry, but you're the twit, here [Edited to add that I probably should not have called you a twit, even though you refered to everyone else as a twit - but since I said it, I'm not going to delete it and pretend I didn't say it]. Again, calling a female a cunt is no more sexist than calling a male a dick. They're both insulting words toward people you're trying to insult. It's not being discriminatory on the basis of sex. It's hurling a mean word at someone on the basis of being mean. Even if you draw out "sexist" to cover trafficking in stereotypes, it doesn't count (though telling her to put down the keyboard and go make a sandwich would be). People need to get the fuck over this idiotic idea that any time you ever say anything that is short of praise toward a female that you are "being sexist". That is fucking offensive and dishonest on an intellectual level.
newsflash: the press punishes those of high stature for poor choice of words. political leanings are inferred, controversy flares, and a slow news day goes a little faster. film at 11.
That thread title is a pretty misleading accusation that has steered a lot people who probably didn't really read the whole thing in the OP's favor. Fantastic.
If war was a game, I wouldn't have brought this thing along
Because Patrick and Alex would know, right? After two tours in Afghanistan, I'm sure Patrick is in a position to tell Prince Harry how to draw a responsible comparison to being a gunner in an Apache gunship. And the Taliban? Don't mind them, they're just angry that they continue to lose more guys than they can replace. They'll say anything to try and downplay the success of ISAF. The irresponsible ones are the people who think they know better despite being completely out of their depth, like this Patricia Hernandez, who took his comments out of context and blew it into a sensationalized story... which, I guess, is par for the course goes these days. I'm glad Harry Wales had the balls to openly admit he's killed, because I'm nothing less than elated knowing that insurgents are either in hundreds of tiny pieces or 6ft under the ground.
This is not only a gross misunderstanding of what was said, but reeks of ignorance about modern military technology and even the kinds of people who fight our wars.
Disgusting show all around, but what else did you expect from internet journalism.
The title of this thread is a little misleading. One can find fault in Harry's comments and not necessarily 'side' with the Taliban. This isn't an all or nothing, black or white thing. I think the article is sensationalist and overly dramatic. I also think there was nothing wrong with what Harry said but also he, and all of us, should keep in mind in the future that everything he says will be picked apart. And that's fine because none of this matters. Throwing a fit about this article gives the article too much credit. Hate or love it talking about the article and giving the article page views is exactly what Kotaku and the writer wants. So ignore it and articles like this will die. All this thread will do is give the article staying power.
Prince Harry is a dumb asshole. No, he doesn't explicitly say "war is a game" but he does say it's a "joy" and he clearly has no idea of the severity of his actions. Fuck him. Maybe this is my own ignorance but doesn't most of England agree that the royal family are pieces of shit anyway?
Call me crazy, but I took that 'joy' as him referring to the helicopter's ease of use, not it's efficiency to kill people.
. People need to get the fuck over this idiotic idea that any time you ever say anything that is short of praise toward a female that you are "being sexist". That is fucking offensive and dishonest on an intellectual level.
you obviously have your own views on the matter- but here's a piece of unsolicited advice...this isn't the word to fight that philosophical battle for. it is deeply embedded in the historical and cultural context of the feminist movement. you can rage against history, but that just the way it is. again- use whatever language you like, but don't be surprised if people call you out for it.
It's not being discriminatory on the basis of sex.
It sort of is, but on a different level. Dick and cunt are gender-equivalent insults, but it's sexist that the latter is considered taboo while the former isn't. Not even really sure why. My best guess is it goes back to the "women are frail and emotionally weak" mindset that populates popular culture.
That thread title is a pretty misleading accusation that has steered a lot people who probably didn't really read the whole thing in the OP's favor. Fantastic.
In context, however, one should not necessarily expect journalistic integrity from a random poster on a random website on a random topic in a random forum while you may have a higher expectation of someone paid to perform some degree of journalism for a news site who is writing about a news item for a more or less news organization that is part of a huge corporation. So . . . . I have a hard time taking much issue with the wording chosen by the original poster. Plus, I think you'd have to be crazy to read the title and think that someone actually "sided' with the Taliban. I mean, even before I read the article, I thought how the word was intended was clear.
... or maybe I'm wrong and some of the people here actually clicked through expecting something totally different...?
Breaking news: Online writer wants you to read their sensationalist opinion. It's called click bait, it happens everywhere these days...
You're a creepy weirdo if you think Patrick's opinion in that article was "sensationalist". (also this doesn't even come close to being comparable come the fuck on)
There was also zero sensationalism in that title. It's just what happened. Deep Silver revealed a pretty disgusting edition at a time where anti-game violence sentiment was flaring and people got angry, so they apologized. But then again, you're anti-Patrick crusade is long, storied and bordering on creepy. Probably want to look up the definition of sensationalism, bee-tee-dubs.
It's not being discriminatory on the basis of sex.
It sort of is, but on a different level. Dick and cunt are gender-equivalent insults, but it's sexist that the latter is considered taboo while the former isn't. Not even really sure why. My best guess is it goes back to the "women are frail and emotionally weak" mindset that populates popular culture.
The reason is that the word Dick is not solely used to describe a penis, it is a very common first name. Cunt is only used to describe a vagina in a discriminatory fashion.
That thread title is a pretty misleading accusation that has steered a lot people who probably didn't really read the whole thing in the OP's favor. Fantastic.
In context, however, one should not necessarily expect journalistic integrity from a random poster on a random website on a random topic in a random forum while you may have a higher expectation of someone paid to perform some degree of journalism for a news site who is writing about a news item for a more or less news organization that is part of a huge corporation. So . . . . I have a hard time taking much issue with the wording chosen by the original poster.
I won't defend a poorly written article, all I'm saying is that I'm bothered by a misleading thread title.
I'm not going to claim to know that this was done for the purposes of baiting people to the site, but it's definitely shoddy journalism, perhaps this is one of the side-effects of having a site that tries to crank out news on any story even vaguely video game-related. To Hernandez's credit though, she does clarify in the article what was actually said by both sides in the argument, and I'm much more worried about the opening post of this thread, which repeatedly states that she's siding with the Taliban in this argument, which is just not true. I do agree with her that Prince Harry comparing playing a game to operating an attack copter and describing it as "a joy" is a pretty bad PR move though, if not downright unsettling.
I can see how the phrasing of my first paragraph could have given the wrong impression; so, I have edited it to make it clearer that my point is how she is sharing in a distortion of his words, not actually siding with the Taliban on any significant issue.
My problem is with the idea that there is even "both sides in the argument", as the Taliban is responding to a straw man. Prince Harry never said that war is like a videogame, and so, he isn't even a part of "the argument". I am bothered by the very premise of twisting his words around to make it seem like there is an argument there which does not exist, and this kind of distortion only works to aid the propaganda presented by the Taliban representative.
@Jay_Ray: It sure is, but that's a racist word you used that you shouldn't call anybody. My word is just an insult and a descriptor of this PERSONS' (see what i did there?) behavious. Don't worry about it, where I come from, we aren't crazy and use ridiculous analogies to try and prove an empty point.
Oh my. Patricia always gives me this "read my cool and DIFFERENT opinion!" vibe. I'm pretty sure she writes good articles too but man does her bad articles stick out like a sore thumb. Sore fingers. Like, more than one at least.
@Canteu said:
Kotaku is such sensationalist drivel.
Have to agree with this. I read Kotaku only because their news is pretty quick and updated, but only if they'd use less sensationalist tones for headlines i won't be bothered as much. Sometimes it's offensive, sometimes it's downright stupid.
@Branthog said:
@TheHBK said:
Dude what the fuck. Keep it civil man, you don't get have to get all sexist, you are just as bad as harry.
Wait, how was he sexist? Because of the word "cunt"? Seriously...? So if I call you a dick for being a dick, I'm being sexist? Also, being mean or throwing insults at a person isn't sexist. Saying she's a shitty journalist because she has breasts is sexist. But I don't think anyone is saying that. They're saying she's shitty because she's shitty, which is the opposite. (I'm not necessarily saying she is a shitty journalist -- just that it is the reason people are giving; not anything gender-related).
OH MY EFFING GAWD. Do we really have to go through this? I mean really? I do agree that people in general need to watch their language in the context, but this person writing shitty articles and doing shitty research has nothing to do with his/her gender. People really need to stop being oversensitive jeez.
In a rather odd turn of events today, Kotaku writer Patricia Hernandez twisted recent comments from Prince Harry on the well-designed controls of an Apache helicopter to suggest that he believes war is like a videogame, and she provided a platform for a Taliban statement sharing in that distorted view of his comments.
The article "Prince Harry, Taliban Argue Whether War is Like a Video Game" starts off with "Is war like a video game? Prince Harry of Wales thinks so." despite the fact that she links to no instance where he has stated that war is like a videogame. Instead, she links to an article from the Telegraph where Prince Harry discusses his Apache helicopter control panel and how it is accessibly designed for a younger generation, and, at one point, he states, "It's a joy for me because I'm one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox, so with my thumbs I like to think that I'm probably quite useful."
He doesn't state that war is like a videogame; instead, he talks about how the control scheme is well-designed, similar to a videogame controller. And the article links to a video of the interview where he expounds upon how the Apache controls also have different textures to allow for easy use in darkness. His point is clearly that it is accessible and his experience with Playstation and Xbox controls make the control scheme feel natural. Yet, his words are twisted to somehow be a diminishing of war as a videogame.
And then she goes a step further. Having already twisted his words, she cites a statement from the Taliban as though it were the voice of reason here. The article ends with:
"It's not a game. It's very, very real," the Taliban declared.
It should be noted that video games have been used for both military recruitment and training, but that doesn't really make Harry's statements less insensitive and possibly damaging when it comes to the relations between soldiers and Afghan locals.
Obviously, war is not a game, but Prince Harry clearly does not state that war is a game. And somehow, Hernandez agrees with the Taliban's propaganda and its twisting of his words to get a rise out of people. It's shameful and horribly disappointing. Whether one likes Prince Harry or any of the British royals, it doesn't change how absurd it is to misconstrue his words like this.
I have appreciated many of Hernandez's articles before and often defend Kotaku articles from knee-jerk criticism, but her portrayal of these comments and subsequent promotion of the Taliban as somehow being on the right side of a ginned up argument is ridiculous and beyond the pale.
(I have taken down a link to the article out of an interest in not rewarding this kind of writing with pageviews; if you want to see the full article, you can still find it on their front page. Also, my intent with the title of this point was to indicate that they were siding with a Taliban representative on twisting his words. If I could edit the title, I would make that clearer.)
Aren't you, in this writeup, doing essentially the same thing you're accusing her of doing to Harry?
@TruthTellah: Regardless of what he meant, he should definitely think before he speaks in future because he comes off as a selfish, privileged dickhead, which I'm not sure is too far from the truth anyway. The choice of words when describing something as serious as this is just stupid.
That thread title is a pretty misleading accusation that has steered a lot people who probably didn't really read the whole thing in the OP's favor. Fantastic.
Yeah, I'd agree that I should have phrased that better. I wish Giant Bomb allowed for editing of titles so that I could make it less misleading.
I feel very sorry for the Taliban that an organisation with such a bad reputation has associated itself with them. Osama must be spinning in his grav.......shark belly
Prince Harry is a dumb asshole. No, he doesn't explicitly say "war is a game" but he does say it's a "joy" and he clearly has no idea of the severity of his actions. Fuck him. Maybe this is my own ignorance but doesn't most of England agree that the royal family are pieces of shit anyway?
Call me crazy, but I took that 'joy' as him referring to the helicopter's ease of use, not it's efficiency to kill people.
I'm pretty sure every human being on the planet took it to mean the same thing. People twisting this around to make it sound like it's something it's not or as if it's some affront to the status of video games (really, people?!) is just . . . frankly, I don't even know the word for it, right now. Obtuse is the only word that floats near me at the moment.
@Jay_Ray said:
@Video_Game_King said:
@Branthog said:
It's not being discriminatory on the basis of sex.
It sort of is, but on a different level. Dick and cunt are gender-equivalent insults, but it's sexist that the latter is considered taboo while the former isn't. Not even really sure why. My best guess is it goes back to the "women are frail and emotionally weak" mindset that populates popular culture.
The reason is that the word Dick is not solely used to describe a penis, it is a very common first name. Cunt is only used to describe a vagina in a discriminatory fashion.
I'm going to have to call that out as bullshit. When the duders are calling people dicks on the bombcast or you or I are talking about some dude who is being a total dick, we're not talking about how they're very much like a guy named "Richard". We're referring to them as a male genital. Likewise, when we use the word "cunt", we're almost certainly always using it in the same way. And both words are frequently applied as insults toward both genders. It's interesting, though, if you use a word like "cunt" or "bitch" on a woman, it's sexist (apparently?). If you use it on a man, that is *also* sexist (toward women). But if you use a male-oriented word (such as a word for a male genital) in the same way and toward either sex, it's probably not even worth a turn of the head. I am truly baffled at this constant and seemingly more-frequent qualm people are having (especially dudes) at how every single thing is "sexist" or "misogynist". It's just mind blowing. I mean, I grew up in a house full of women and even I'm not that overly sensitive.
Breaking news: Online writer wants you to read their sensationalist opinion. It's called click bait, it happens everywhere these days...
You're a creepy weirdo if you think Patrick's opinion in that article was "sensationalist". (also this doesn't even come close to being comparable come the fuck on)
There was also zero sensationalism in that title. It's just what happened. Deep Silver revealed a pretty disgusting edition at a time where anti-game violence sentiment was flaring and people got angry, so they apologized. But then again, you're anti-Patrick crusade is long, storied and bordering on creepy. Probably want to look up the definition of sensationalism, bee-tee-dubs.
But what if Patrick had rephrased the headline to: "SEXIST GAME DEVELOPERS SYMPATHIZE WITH ZOMBIES; OFFER UP FEMALE TORSO AS GIFT"? :P
@Canteu: Are you saying racism and sexism are unequal? Calling a person a cunt, either male or female, is outright sexist. Whether you think the term is merely an insult is irrelevant. It is a sexist term just like nigger is a racist term and neither should be used to describe a person unless you are willing to deal with the consequences of being a bigot.
I'm not going to claim to know that this was done for the purposes of baiting people to the site, but it's definitely shoddy journalism, perhaps this is one of the side-effects of having a site that tries to crank out news on any story even vaguely video game-related. To Hernandez's credit though, she does clarify in the article what was actually said by both sides in the argument, and I'm much more worried about the opening post of this thread, which repeatedly states that she's siding with the Taliban in this argument, which is just not true. I do agree with her that Prince Harry comparing playing a game to operating an attack copter and describing it as "a joy" is a pretty bad PR move though, if not downright unsettling.
I can see how the phrasing of my first paragraph could have given the wrong impression; so, I have edited it to make it clearer that my point is how she is sharing in a distortion of his words, not actually siding with the Taliban on any significant issue.
My problem is with the idea that there is even "both sides in the argument", as the Taliban is responding to a straw man. Prince Harry never said that war is like a videogame, and so, he isn't even a part of "the argument". I am bothered by the very premise of twisting his words around to make it seem like there is an argument there which does not exist, and this kind of distortion only works to aid the propaganda presented by the Taliban representative.
I don't want to give the impression that I'm condoning that article, because I'm not. Anyone who read that headline would go away with a completely false impression of what happened and that's not okay. Obviously, there's no dialogue here, and intentional or not, the Taliban are misrepresenting what Harry said and their argument is moot. However, I would like to point out that within the article body there is a twisting of words in that first line, but then it basically all shakes down to reveal the truth. It clearly shows the quotes from both parties, mentions that Harry simply made a comparison, and after that simply criticises Harry of making statements that were "insensitive" and "possibly damaging".
@Jay_Ray: Well apart from the fact I'm not the Bigoted, Racist, Sexist, Homophobic, Misogynistic monster you see me as.
Sure, think whatever you like.
And no, I don't think they're unequal at all. All forms of bigotry are just as fucknuts retarded as each other.
I prefer not to discriminate. So I use whatever words I like without inferring what you see as bigotry behind them. I like being progressive and uncaring, for it is the only way toward a future without bigotry. Somebody being a cunt? That somebody is a female? Call them a cunt. That's what that word is there for. I simply do not give a fuck that they are female, merely that they are being a cunt.
In a rather odd turn of events today, Kotaku writer Patricia Hernandez twisted recent comments from Prince Harry on the well-designed controls of an Apache helicopter to suggest that he believes war is like a videogame, and she provided a platform for a Taliban statement sharing in that distorted view of his comments.
Aren't you, in this writeup, doing essentially the same thing you're accusing her of doing to Harry?
I'm certainly taking a stance on what the article says, but I'm not suggesting that she is making a completely different argument than she is making. It isn't inaccurate to suggest that she actually says that Prince Harry believes that war is like a videogame, as that's exactly what she says. While the phrasing of my title is probably not the best, I'd say the contents of what I have said give a good impression of the reality here.
While I'm not a journalist like her, I can at least see what your point is, but it isn't accurate. It may apply to my title, which is flawed, but as far as explaining that someone wrote an article twisting around the words of Prince Harry and then quoted Taliban propaganda to support her interpretation of his comments, I think that is relatively accurate. If you feel that she didn't make an article like that, we can talk about it, but I can assure you that she did. I don't claim to be a professional, but I will correct something if you believe it is incorrect.
@TruthTellah: Regardless of what he meant, he should definitely think before he speaks in future because he comes off as a selfish, privileged dickhead, which I'm not sure is too far from the truth anyway. The choice of words when describing something as serious as this is just stupid.
I can agree that one word in a long interview was probably ill-advised, but that wasn't really the point of what bothered me here. I'm just disappointed that an established games journalist would twist his words in the worst possible way and then reprint Taliban propaganda as though there is a real argument here and not just a mostly ginned up one. I think Patricia Hernandez can do some fine writing, but I would not agree with her take here.
^haha oh man- between the taliban, kotaku, journalistic integrity, the monarchy, the word 'cunt,' and sexism- this thread is going to be exemplary.
I've been trying to think of what else needs to be stuffed into this thread to really give it that final "oomph". I was thinking we need something about . . . DLC? Or does the Dead Island Riptide torso thing count close enough as being about DLC to already be covered? :D
@OtakuGamer said:
What I want to know is... who fucking cares? Is this really something that should be on the headlines?
I think that's the main complaint about it all. They are making a mountain out of a molehill. I'm no defender of Harry. All I know is he's that kid who's in the military now and before that, he was going around doing offensive shit to embarrass "the crown". But his comments were clearly anything but relating to "the reputation of video games" (and so what if they did) or "celebrating the ease and joy of slaughtering people". It is offensive, as a reader, that someone else would both take those things so blatently and twistedly out of context and then repackage them in some sort of sensationalist news piece that they think I'm going to sink my teeth into as an offended gamer worried about the association to my precious video games. This is one of those articles/incidents that isn't just about how stupid are you?! but how stupid do you think I am?!.
So, Prince Harry said something that was perhaps not the most considerate. Taliban took it out of context and said some things in order to appear sympathetic for propaganda purposes. New outlets report story without any sort of clarification.
Oh, I dunno, maybe someone should have, y'know, reminded potential readers about what the Taliban does on a regular basis in their articles.
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