Racial Issues Alleged In GTA San Andreas, Other Games

Thanks to the New York Times (free reg. req.) for its article exploring possible racial stereotyping inherent in many videogames. The article alleges: "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas... underscores what some critics consider a disturbing trend: popular video games that play on racial stereotypes, including images of black youths committing and reveling in violent street crime." Partially, though not wholly related to a recently discussed article on 'street' videogames, it's also argued: "The issue, critics say, is not that the games' representation of racial and ethnic minorities is as blatantly threatening as the sort found at hate sites on the Web, where players are asked to gun down virtual black or Jewish characters. Rather, the racial and ethnic depictions and story lines are more subtle, and therefore, some say, more insidious."

Comments

Re:Let's ban ghettos!

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't mind. There'd be a lot less stolen DVD players.

USofAns

[hummassa]

are vastly more affected because they don't really mingle (as a rule, with exceptions).

Point in case: me.

My grand-grandparents are of the following origins: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, South American Native, Black, Middle Eastern (Nobody [currently alive] knows if she was Jew or Arab), and Oriental.

How can I be a bigot? Whatever your race is, I certainly can feel related. Many Brazilians are in the same condition as I am, maybe I am more conscious (having done some extensive genealogic research) of my multi-ethnicity. When filling forms with "race/ethnicity", I usually seek for the "all of the above" option... :-)

But USofAns, more than European people, apparently segregate much more deeply, by race, by religion, etc. They don't seem to intermarry as commonly as down here.

What appalled me in your link was the fact that this woman *is* in fact intermarried with a white guy and she fears and have nightmares with black folks. This is a sign IMHO that *she* has serious problems.