MS will ban Forza players who add the confederate flag to their digital cars

Post by serf » Thu, Jul 02, 2020, 11:52 PM UTC

snowwrestler wrote: post #493

donmcronald wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the first time I've heard of that. I can just imagine being somewhere loud and giving the ok / perfect symbol to a friend across the room and then being called a racist. Damn, that's scary.

That won't happen; context matters. If you're posing with the confederate flag and a bunch of guns during a BLM protest, and flashing the OK hand symbol, it's going to be taken very differently from just using that same gesture to a friend in a random grocery store or something.

Post by tw04 » Thu, Jul 02, 2020, 11:54 PM UTC

soraminazuki wrote: post #221

While it's emotionally pleasing to see racists being kicked out of online platforms, another side of me feels wary of these tactics. For starters, being deplatformed from major online players today would have serious consequences. Although it's true that these platforms are "private property," the entire society has become too reliant on them to be seen that way. I think it's dangerous when platforms function like a…

Post by hayez1 » Thu, Jul 02, 2020, 11:56 PM UTC

dan-robertson wrote: post #668

tomp wrote: post #640

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the motivations are completely different. Xenophobia is a pretty normal human condition, and very reasonable as well (“strangers” carry germs, which is being amptly demonstrates right now). It could also be motivated be preservation of culture, nation, etc. - basically same reasoning as makes you prefer your children vs other children, just extended a bit to the whole nation.

The reason you prefer your children is that they are much more likely to contain your genes than other children, and your main purpose in life is, to some extent, to ensure that those genes may propagate to later generations.

Post by uoylj » Fri, Jul 03, 2020, 12:02 AM UTC

jeegsy wrote: post #358

rsynnott wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume Microsoft never allowed, say, swastikas. There's no reasonable expectation that you are able to spread racist propaganda in a car racing game (or for that matter in an actual car race; I think those tend to have very strict rules around decoration). I can see an _argument_ that Twitter, say, should be forced to pander to racists. I don't buy that argument, mind you, but I can at least see the thought process…

I'm assuming that swastikas have much more universal unpopularity than the confederacy flag. Heck, in 2020, MS just voted to remove confederate symbol from the state flag. SO I dont think the comparison is all there. My concern with these sort of deplatforming moves while understandable, is they tend to drive these bigoted ideas underground. So maybe they cant express it publicly but boy, do they find other ways to d…

Post by ies7 » Fri, Jul 03, 2020, 12:04 AM UTC

bastawhiz wrote: post #666

Rebelgecko wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's a good faith claim that everyone using one of the banned symbols is a racist 1. The current flag of Japan is based off of one of the banned symbols 2. Probably the most famous car in pop culture uses one of the banned symbols. Microsoft has gone as far as banning parodies of the General Lee that have none of the controversial symbols[0] If the flag of imperial Japan was banned due to its associatio…

The origins of a symbol are mostly pointless, it's the intent of its use. It's a hard argument to say that everyone form Japan is a racist because their flag is based on a banned symbol. The confederacy existed _because of racism_. Its only purpose (and continued purpose) is to identify with a movement founded solely on the basis of hate.