Slashdot Mirror
Lego Accused of Racism With Star Wars Set
Ch_Omega writes "According to this article over at The Telegraph, Lego has been accused of racism by the Turkish community in Austria over a Star Wars model that supposedly resembles one of Istanbul's most revered mosques. The anger was provoked by 'Jabba's Palace,' a model of the home of Jabba the Hutt from Lego's Star Wars product range based on the blockbusting series of science fiction films. 'The terrorist Jabba the Hutt likes to smoke a hookah and have his victims killed,' said the statement posted on the organization's website. 'It is clear that the ugly figure of Jabba and the whole scene smacks of racial prejudice and vulgar insinuations against Asians and Orientals as people with deceitful and criminal personalities.'"
This objection is silly because Jabba's Palace and the Hagia Sophia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia ) don't look much alike at all, other than having a dome, in which case they'd better prepare for a lot more outrage when they start to see other photos of the outside world...
Sucks the life out of everything.
Wrong, it's politically correctness bullshit that sucks the life out of everything.
I'm still mad at the makers of Silence of the Lambs for portraying Hannibal Lecter as a Caucasian male. I am a Caucasian male and it's clear that the whole movie the smacks of racial prejudice and vulgar insinuations against Caucasians as people with deceitful and criminal personalities. Movies should stop having bad guys because it always paints some race or culture as having deceitful and criminal personalities and that upsets me.
Huh.
And here I was thinking that Jabba was a caricature of American politicians - fat, stupid, lazy, ready to kill on a whim, and unable to speak anything but nonsensical gibberish.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Too bad Lego responded to this nonsense and even offered an apology. Were I in charge of the company, I'd have offered a different reply: "We at the Lego company do not usually offer the following advice, but in this case we will go ahead and suggest that you grow up.". Seriously, some people...
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Enjoy thte story??? Are we talking about the same movie?.
Is there anything left in the world that the big bad white man hasn't destroyed through 'racism'?
...
Porn?
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
The only bad guys you can safely portray in movies are white guys. So what if Jabba's Palace borrows some architectural, decorational and floral inspirations from the Persians. Having a villain with taste Persian trappings doesn't make any Persian a villain any more than owning a Walther PPK makes you a hero.
Perhaps most villains are white, but not all villians are white. And given that Vader and Palpatine where both very white, and Lando, Chewie, Yoda and R2 weren't, if anything I think it's the corn fed Nebraskans that should be offended.
praying is part of the problem
Hokey religions and old superstitions don't compare to a good blaster at your side.
Really? Because this seems to have an awful lot more to do with race (and stereotypes thereof) than religion. Heck, the "mosque" in question has been a museum for almost 70 years! (And in the long past if was Christian rather than Islamic.) It has far more meaning at this point as an iconic and history bit of architecture that represents the region.
I know hating on religion is all the rage these day, but racial stereotyping and sensitivity (like this article and discussion are about) have basically nothing to do with it. You'll find plenty of overly sensitive or overly insensitive atheists. Many westerns that get upset about this kind of thing are anti-religion and a lot of hate groups are agnostic. So I quite fail to see where religion plays into this at all.
In Phantom Menace, the evil guys are clearly parodies of Japanese samurai, while the comic relief is given by stupid Jar Jar and friends, clearly parodies of Rastafarians. The Star Wars movies have all sorts of fodder for the ultra-sensitive.
a LEGO Jabba the Hutt as insulting asians and orientals and completely ignoring Jar Jar Binks, who is at least a *RECENT* example of racial stereotyping in a Star Wars theme. I mean shit the Lego Jabba has been around for over 10 years now (maybe nearing 15), and I imagine even Turkey, nevermind Austria, has had access to the original 3 Star Wars films for at least 20 years.
Obviously much like the fundie Christians this guy is just racism-mongering, but still.