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There are some boundaries that should never, ever be crossed in videogaming. Hell, the boundaries here shouldn?t even be crossed in human society. There are some acts beyond despicable. A murder, for one, is not to be tolerated. For the world to sit back and watch as war and starvation manifests itself across the third world as country debt rockets and spirals is not to be tolerated. The mental or physical abuse of another human being is not be tolerated. Racism in public, on the internet, or anywhere in general, is not to be tolerated.
And yet, another one of the human race?s vacuums of moral corruption, racism happens. It happens in the form of bullying the school?s only asian in the schoolyard, it happens when a stone travels through the air to hit a young black girl squarely on the back of the skull, motivated by blind, unfounded hatred and malice. And now it happens on our computer screens.
I took to the Google search engine looking for research on extremist groups of parents against videogaming, and instead I found a page from the ADL website (http://adl.org) explaining to me in the most blatant terms why some people are against videogames. Let me introduce you to Resistance Records, the distributor of racist and anti-Semitic ?White Power? music. Music that promotes the slaughter of other human beings, as evidenced by this song verse below:
"Kill all the niggers and you gas all the jews
Kill a gypsy and a coloured too
You just killed a kike
Don't it feel right
Goodness gracious, darn right"
From the hate rock song "Third Reich" by RaHoWa
Well, from the same miserable, narrow-minded jerks that brought you such distasteful music comes Ethnic Cleansing, the only true experience to be had for the glorification of mass murders of countless jews, Hispanics, blacks and Asians, or, as they are generalized in the game as, ?sub-humans.? Those of the Jewish faith are particularly subjected to a cruel interpretation ? portrayed as the root of all evil.
A first ?person shoot ?em up, Ethnic Cleansing is graphically admirable, but morally disgraceful. The plot of a New York City takeover by ?sub-humans,? and you, a skinhead or a cult weirdo, have been sent in to kill them all, bar none, is shameful. This is a review you will absolutely, categorically, one hundred percent will never, ever see reviewed on any self-respecting gaming website. And the sad, depressing fact is that it isn?t unique. There?s WPDoom - WP for White Power ? and, in development at the moment, a game version The Turner Diaries. The turner diaries, written by the president of the National Alliance, William Pierce, tells of a world where racial war is everywhere. Not a nice book for the kiddies to read, however it is popular on the extremist whites front. Just so we all establish a clear idea of how extreme, this book allegedly inspired Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma Bomber.
In short, we will not be giving this a review at all. Instead, I will ridicule it, but secretly it summarises all my world-related fears - the total, utter breakdown on both sides of racial and religious tolerance and understanding. I?d like to assure readers, if they didn?t get the message from this article, that we are in no way happy with the ideals behind this game. The prejudice that drives some to such ridiculous associations and groups is narrow minded and fashioned on old, outdated beliefs. Racism went out in the forties, people.
- Jack Clemson |
