@yyninja: To be fair, at no point did anyone here ever say Dan was being intentionally racist. In fact it was quickly specified otherwise, but everyone just decided to strawman the argument anyway.
@spindini:Gita has written a lot about social issues, particularly regarding race, in gaming, including for this site, while Dan was on staff. Not knowing who she is doesn't make someone a bad person, but it can be evidence that they're not especially aware of the more nuanced politics of systemic racism.
And, I mean, Dan's not really known for his sophisticated grasp of politics in the first place, yeah? So why is it difficult to believe he might have said something offensive without meaning to?
(Huh, it looks like you deleted the post asking who she was which I was responding to. Oh well, I might as well go on anyway.)
The dogpiling in this thread is shameful. The irony of so many of you accusing someone of "looking for reasons to get offended" is the eagerness with which you look for opportunities to parrot the same anti-social justice, "go back to your safe space, snowflake" rhetoric of the actual worst people on fucking Earth.
Reacting with hostility to someone pointing out insensitive behavior is how toxic communities form. You want Giant Bomb to be better than other gaming sites? Learn to empathize with others and not take every opportunity to bellow out "The opinions I formed about humor, offensiveness, and race relations when I was fifteen are inarguably the correct ones!"
There is someone in this comment thread who literally said, in their own experience, that the reactionary bullying on display here explicitly makes the community less inviting and accessible to an Asian-American. None of you responded to them. None of you read that and thought, hey, maybe hit the fucking brakes on this one?
Instead, you asked why "Richard Head" and "Seymore Butts" aren't offensive. I'll answer that for you so you can move on with your life. They're not offensive because traditionally white European names have never been the basis for racist caricature against white people. They're considered ordinary and default, whereas mocking Asian names and language is a method of othering and perpetuating implicit racial bias.
That's why, @toshi0815, this isn't just about Dan making a "dick joke," just like if he'd made some offhand comment about the size of someone's dick related to their ethnicity. No one's objecting to dick jokes, people are objecting to the countless, seemingly innocuous dick jokes which, combined, reinforce the systemically racist hellscape of dicks that is society.
None of you have the authority to say something isn't unintentionally insensitive. Meaning is subjective and part of living in a free society is the responsibility of having your words examined and challenged. Good people take this as an opportunity to listen and broaden their perspective.
There is no such thing as "political correctness." If you find yourself complaining about something being "too PC," you are complaining about the concept of having concern for other people and the way our actions potentially contribute to wider marginalization.
Finally, a rule of thumb: if someone says something is offensive and you don't agree, obstinately digging your heels in and attacking that person doesn't make you any more correct. (It makes you an asshole.)
Curious how much people in here saying this game is in poor taste have allowed for critical discussion over games like Shadow of War and South Park. This culture allows so much to go unchecked in big games, I'm not really seeing the problem with a contemplative take on funerals.
I like how the defense of South Park is either "it's incredibly smart, cutting satire that insults everyone equally" or "it's a show/game with this ridiculous fart gag, how could it merit political analysis?"
South Park is bad and this review and comment thread are disappointing.
I wish we could put a moratorium on giving advice.
It's practically impossible for them to improve at the game in this format, playing a third of the time and with Backseat Vinny giving his Bad Backseat Tips. Just enjoy the misery, especially the Dan episodes.
@syncretic: Do you (or does anyone) actually have any recommendations of people who are good at this game to watch? I've looked for Impossible Ironman playthroughs on YouTube a lot but I never know who's actually good and who's just a YouTuber doing it to fail entertainingly.
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