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/[deleted] Apr 06 '18
I'm taking it in another angle because I don't agree with your framing of the issue. I'm not super interested in what the other guy said. I'm just so tired of hearing "X is censorship" whenever someone is punished for being racist. It's not censorship because these are private associations. Our society is structured to allow private entities to do more or less what they want based on what's best for their business - even if it's morally wrong. It's fundamental to our society. Now, I'm not saying this is right or wrong. I'm unabashedly a leftist, so I'm not actually in favor of this. But it's not censorship when a boss fires a worker for trying to form a union. It's wrong. But it's not censorship.
When it comes to an issue like what EQO did, he has to understand that he doesn't choose how his words are interpreted. You don't. I don't. No one does. Any communication - including body language or gestures, like the one EQO did - rely on cultural contexts. And we live in a culture - in a world - where Western propaganda meant to dehumanize East Asians has exaggerated their eyes, making them into a joke. It's spread, and it's still used to insult Asians today. Even if there's no malice behind it (and we can't know, though I'm sure he wasn't trying to be racist), he ultimately referenced this history.
Something similar happened in my personal life. I was joking with a black acquaintance in college, and I did a "YEAH BOIII" in a Lil' John voice. He looked at me, visibly pissed, and with a still, angry voice and said "Don't call me boy again." I wasn't trying to insult or offend him. It was completely incidental. But I made a joke that had me (a white guy) calling him (a black guy) boy, which is racist. Do I consider myself a racist? No. I loathe racism. But my intent didn't matter. Because intent doesn't matter. If I intend to high five you, and I slap you in the face, does it take away the pain? No. You might understand, but it doesn't undo the slap. And really, how can you know that wasn't what I wanted to do all along? So what I'm saying is, your intent doesn't matter. People usually don't choose to misinterpret or ignore intent without some serious agenda. I don't think anyone's specifically targeting EQO because if Taimou or Jake or Logix did this, there would be the same outrage. And yeah, some people will bullshit and willfully misinterpret stuff, but more often than not they're honest. And it takes a cult leader for a whole group of people to willfully misinterpret words. That's not what's going on here. I don't think anyone's out to get EQO. If I thought this was being done to punish him specifically because the owners doesn't like them criticizing them, but they can't punish him for it, so they need an excuse, then I'd agree. But it's not. I just wish Blizzard would be more consistent.
So does he deserve to be punished? I'd say yeah, he does. This has more to do with feelings. I'm personally unaffected. But Blizzard is trying to run a business, and they want OWL to be a welcoming space. Gaming has issues with inclusivity, so showing that anything racist (or broadly considered racist) will not be tolerated is critical to do this. Otherwise, people can look at OWL, look at its players doing questionable shit, look at the people inevitably pushing the line, and say "Wow, this is problematic." Or Blizzard can punish players. It's not about controlling EQO's speech as much as it is ensuring OWL is welcoming towards all. You can't do that if people are being toxic.
Besides, if we take consequences to equal controlling then you're saying speech shouldn't have consequences. And if you do, then that's you. But I just don't agree with that because words matter. They change minds, create feelings, spur action. They're not meaningless by definition. Actions demand consequences.
Yes, Blizzard could ban EQO. I should have said they're not going to ban him from streaming, much like they haven't banned XQC from streaming. Sure, they're broad, but how often do platforms like Twitter or Facebook or large social media sites - including Reddit - ban users for hate speech? Not often.
Plus, EQO still has the opportunity to learn, grow, and get better. This isn't defining him. He made a mistake. It sucks. I hope he learns and grows from it.
And yeah, the British government under Theresa May really sucks for privacy and speech rights. But that's the Brits. Plus, it's not censorship like Orwell envisioned it because he's very focused on criticizing politicians. He loathed Stalin who used censorship to destroy his enemies and keep them fragmented. It's dangerous. But even what the British Government did isn't quite Orwellian (at least with speech, how our privacy is invaded and how we're surveilled is). It's dumb and horrible, but it's not what Orwell was envisioning. I agree; it's depressing. But that's why I support Corbyn.