r/Competitiveoverwatch • u/ituralde_ • Apr 05 '18
Discussion Racism vs Racial Insensitivity in Esports
[EDIT 2] adding more explicit commentary because reading comprehension is hard.
The esports community has failed at this distinction and it has caused a lot of drama and consternation.
Racism is believing awful things about some group. [EDIT] Think of this as a measure of Character.
Racial insensitivity is saying something about a group that is offensive. [EDIT] Think of this as characterizing someones actions. You could also call this "racist actions", describing the actions a person took. I chose the phrasing to make a distinction between actions and character, not to pretend that this made the actions not racist.
[EDIT 2] The phrasing doesn't matter here and it's a shame I can't edit the title because people are caught up on this. The important distinction (again) is character judgement vs actions. Neither racist actions no racist character are something the community should tolerate. The distinction only matters in that someone who does not want to be known as racist will be willing to reform their racist or otherwise offensive behaviors when given the opportunity. That's why it's important to remember that, when it comes to Actions and Character:
These are not the same thing.
Both are incredibly important. Impact is more important than intent; it's important to be cognizant of how your actions are interpreted by the world around you. [EDIT 2] This means that being racially sensitive is a terrible thing and merits the punishments that have been getting given out.
That said, it's similarly inappropriate to always assume racism in the presence of racial insensitivity. [EDIT 2] This means that not everyone who says something awful and punishment-worth is doing so out of outright racism. Young, dumb kids say and do dumb shit for reasons above and beyond being a terrible person.
The important behavior we want to teach to players and fans is that sensitivity matters, and we undermine that by accusing everyone who makes a mistake on the sensitivity front of being immediately racist/homophobic/etc.
Racial and other insensitivity is and should continue to be punished by the Overwatch league and its constituent teams. The important result of this should be that lessons are learned, not that players are crucified.
Take a look at EQO's case - he made a mistake. For a lot of us, it's an obvious mistake but clearly not one he thought of. Both he and the Philadelphia Fusion made sincere responses to the mistake. This is a perfect example of how this shit should be handled. We as a community should also treat it as such, and while we should be harsh on players who do make these mistakes, we should also encourage these young people from various backgrounds to learn from such mistakes. Let them be examples to their fans, don't bury them in negativity.
This is really important.
[EDIT 2] For clarity since this has been all over the comments, EQO not only fucked up bigtime through his actions, he made it worse by trying to play coverup. The good response absolutely was at the behest of some authority figure in the Fusion, and that's exactly what we should expect of organizations in the league. We, as a community, should take a trust-but-verify approach - give the Fusion credit for their swift response and give EQO the benefit of the doubt that this was a lapse of judgement, but also keep an eye out that the final statement was sincere.
Take a look at XQC for another example.
In full disclosure, I don't like XQC. I don't like the majority of his fans. I'm probably naturally biased against him.
However, I don't think he's a racist, and I sympathize with the guy who is broken over being saddled with this label by the powers that be.
He made a mistake. Sure, he hasn't really shown that he understands this but at the same time, how the heck could he? He's being told he's racist which isn't something he's capable of identifying with. He doesn't share the beliefs he's being accused of, so how could he get anything from this?
He's not a racist. He made a huge fuckup and has been hounded by the community as if he's evil. He's not evil, he fucked up. He displayed poor judgement, that doesn't make him a bad person - it makes him human.
[EDIT 2] I thought this was clear from context but the important distinction is that he doesn't see him as a racist and continuing to accuse him of that worldview doesn't help anything. His actions WERE racist. You could say he was "acting racist" or "being racist" in reference to his actions if that terminology fits it better. Does he have a racist worldview? Only insofar as he clearly doesn't understand why it's important to be sensitive about how you show up publicly.
XQC isn't the first and EQO won't be the last to make these mistakes. So let's learn a lesson as a community and give these players the window to improve themselves and how they show up in public. Condemn the action, not the person - give them the window to reform. Let them acknowledge the difference between intent vs impact and use these examples to teach the community about why this matters.
Demonizing the people only undermines the opportunity for a lesson to be learned by the players and the community as a whole.
Let's maintain our standards, but enable our players to rise above careless behavior to those standards. Let's not saddle them eternally with the baggage of a mistake made of youth, ignorance, community-driven habit, and/or carelessness. Let's not make accusations of a person's character when they yet have the opportunity to grow from a poor choice.
[EDIT] This has gotten way more traction than I ever thought it would, so I'd like to clarify a few things in simple terms.
The punishments were good and appropriate. I think the first reaction to negative behavior would be to stop it and punish. Only after should we look at how to rehabilitate bad behavior.
The distinction I'm trying to draw here is the difference between Actions and Character. I think a redeemable Character can perform reprehensible actions. In the case someone does something reprehensible, we shouldn't shut the door on them redeeming themselves if they choose to accept responsibility and reform. That's really all I'm trying to say.
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u/yungr33zy Apr 05 '18
I kind of half agree. Racism used to mean discrimination based on race, which none of these players is guilty of. Making jokes about a race is no different from making jokes about a person being fat - yeah it’s mean but it’s not racism.
As a black person when I see the black emotes whenever monkey is mentioned that grinds me up but it ain’t really RACISM. Racism is when your resume gets thrown in the trash because your name is ethnic. When service is denied to you, you are excluded from a membership, or you are disqualified for a loan because of the color of your skin. Shit like that.
But much in the same way that “literally” has come to mean “figuratively” in the dictionary because of colloquial use, the same thing has happened with the definition of racism. Nothing these players did was really racist, but with the new way the world works today, even insensitivity is a big red no-no.
So I can see why they were punished, but I’m not in the camp that thinks the punishments needed to be this harsh.
Believing horrible things about some group is prejudice, not racism. You can be prejudiced against any group- women, Mexicans, Black people, dog owners if you want.