I just got chastised the other week about this when someone pointed out the image of the Virgin Mary was altered to look like something different in a Japanese video game. I pressed as to why this mattered, and I got a few replies that mentioned that it’s advisable on the internet to make not make any actual references to religion, money, or politics. “But the Virgin Mary would simply be depicted here, and not disparaged in any way(?)”. Even that would be too much, they said. I still say as a walking insensitive that this is overkill and ridiculous. 🤷♂️
You know what? As a Christian I’d actually be gassed to find a bunch of bible pages being used as set dressing - I’d be interested to see what verses they’d chosen, which translation, if they'd been clever to use something that vaguely matched context of the scene.. or if it was just a bunch of ipsom
It's a pretty orthodox position in Islam, that copies of the Quran should be treated with respect I'm not talking about the scripture, but the physical book. (Ie, a copy would be kept in a prominent place, treated with care and respect).
So it was perfectly foreseeable that pages torn from the Quran would be seen as blasphemous and disrespectful. It also calls back to old news stories about the Guantanamo bay detention centre, where American soldiers allegedly tore pages out of the Quran and flush them down the toilet!
Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing that religion is off limits for ridicule and criticism. But, is this really criticism? What message is being made by pages of the Quran strewn around a video game arena?* If it's not making a statement, the that's just set dressing!
"Oh we've got this cool level idea, where it's set in an abandoned synagogue. And it's full of farm animals including a pigsty."
"Ok are we making some kind of statement about Judaism, or…?
"No, just for the lolz."
* (That said, I'd love to hear that there's more to this. Like that the environmental artist was an iconoclastic ex Muslim who wants to burn his scripture to the ground and tread it into the mud! That would be amazing!) 😁
I mean in this case, activision should’ve known better. Leaving ripped pages on the ground can be easily interpreted as a slight against an entire religion. But I find it mind-boggling that even featuring a religion in a completely inert context can be too much, that shouldn’t require self-censure.
“ What Call Of Duty: Vanguard needs is more pages from more holy texts strewn about more areas of the game.” rofl
I just got chastised the other week about this when someone pointed out the image of the Virgin Mary was altered to look like something different in a Japanese video game. I pressed as to why this mattered, and I got a few replies that mentioned that it’s advisable on the internet to make not make any actual references to religion, money, or politics. “But the Virgin Mary would simply be depicted here, and not disparaged in any way(?)”. Even that would be too much, they said. I still say as a walking insensitive that this is overkill and ridiculous. 🤷♂️
You know what? As a Christian I’d actually be gassed to find a bunch of bible pages being used as set dressing - I’d be interested to see what verses they’d chosen, which translation, if they'd been clever to use something that vaguely matched context of the scene.. or if it was just a bunch of ipsom
I disagree somewhat.
It's a pretty orthodox position in Islam, that copies of the Quran should be treated with respect I'm not talking about the scripture, but the physical book. (Ie, a copy would be kept in a prominent place, treated with care and respect).
So it was perfectly foreseeable that pages torn from the Quran would be seen as blasphemous and disrespectful. It also calls back to old news stories about the Guantanamo bay detention centre, where American soldiers allegedly tore pages out of the Quran and flush them down the toilet!
Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing that religion is off limits for ridicule and criticism. But, is this really criticism? What message is being made by pages of the Quran strewn around a video game arena?* If it's not making a statement, the that's just set dressing!
"Oh we've got this cool level idea, where it's set in an abandoned synagogue. And it's full of farm animals including a pigsty."
"Ok are we making some kind of statement about Judaism, or…?
"No, just for the lolz."
* (That said, I'd love to hear that there's more to this. Like that the environmental artist was an iconoclastic ex Muslim who wants to burn his scripture to the ground and tread it into the mud! That would be amazing!) 😁
I mean in this case, activision should’ve known better. Leaving ripped pages on the ground can be easily interpreted as a slight against an entire religion. But I find it mind-boggling that even featuring a religion in a completely inert context can be too much, that shouldn’t require self-censure.