Racism vs Racial Insensitivity in Esports

[u/ituralde_]

[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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

[u/dot-pixis]

I would suggest asking people if racism and racial insensitivity are the same thing, then, instead of strongly staking the claim that they aren't.

I would suggest taking a growth mindset and trying to reach out to understand instead of to be understood.

This entire post is about how the concept of racism makes you feel; try asking those who it affects how they feel about it.

There's a lot to learn using this approach.

[u/ituralde_ → u/dot-pixis]

Let me expand then a bit on my perspective.

I recently moved out from a liberal part of town to the conservative heartland that elected Donald Trump.

Within my own liberal echo chamber, these were all a bunch of racist white people who were sick of a black president being in office for 8 years and wanted their malicious sort of revenge.

Living out here - these people aren't evil. They are legitimately ignorant from a perspective of "not informed". I've had fascinating conversations with people I'd never have normally talked to and it's clear they simply - for the most part - lack the same perspective I have.

The one thing I noticed? They hated being characterized as racist. They don't think of themselves as racist because they don't think about other races. They hear shit down the grapevine of the grapevine (if not outright untrustworth information sources) and make do trying to form opinions about shit entirely foreign to their experience.

They come to conclusions to the best of their ability and are never challenged on it.

These aren't bad people, but the only contact they have with the rest of the world is to be dismissed by the ivory tower as a bunch of ignorant hick rednecks and all the stereotypes that come along with that.

You want to correct their ignorance? You talk them through it. They are honest, positive folk who are more receptive to new ideas than the stereotypes would have you think. They may have wrong ideas about more than just matters of race, but they aren't this conspiratory evil organizing to undermine progress in America.

These are people that need broadened horizons, some education, and some goddamn acceptance. They don't need to be preached at or talked down to.

When we draw battle lines on racial lines we alienate these people. We turn them away. We subconsciously reinforce the worst of the ideas they have about the world outside their community. We shut them out when we should be reaching out.

The end result? We have two and a half years more of Donald Trump because the national democratic party couldn't get its stick out of its ass long enough to do anything other than stereotype these people.

---

That's a long story but the lesson is this - we don't overcome racism by preaching to the choir who already knows its bad. We do it by reaching out to those who clearly haven't figured that shit out already and look to open their eyes.

[u/mayoneggz → u/ituralde_]

You didn't listen to a thing /u/dot-pixis said. Your response isn't you trying to grow, it's you trying to tell other people what to do despite never experiencing things from their perspective. Your post comes off as patronizing.

They hated being characterized as racist. They don't think of themselves as racist because they don't think about other races.

Boo fucking hoo. These are the same people who complain about people being too PC and oversensitive about race. And people are supposed to care if they get their feelings hurt when called out? Most people don't say racially insensitive things out of the blue. They say them because they think them. It doesn't matter if it's subconscious or out of ignorance, it's still defined as racism.

And by the way, a racist person doesn't have to be hateful. They don't have to be evil, or unwilling to change, or anything you described. A lot of racism, as you said, is from sheer ignorance. A lot of racism is erased simply through broadening their experiences or talking with whatever group the racist is prejudiced against. But sometimes it's necessary to do a little introspection. Sometimes we subconsciously think less about certain people without really understanding why, or that we're doing it in the first place.

This is why we shouldn't be simplifying the definition of racism down to something as banal as "Racism is believing awful things about some group". That's the definition people use to assure themselves that they can't possibly be racist, because it's so abstract and cartoonish that it can't possibly apply to them. Racism isn't always a conscious decision, and using narrow definitions to avoid offending people who don't want to be called racist only perpetuates the problem.

[u/allprologue → u/mayoneggz]

I just checked his initial post again and it only gets worse with the edits. Now he literally starts off telling people they can’t read if they have a problem with his post.