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!) 😁
Now I absolutely agree, that we shouldn't call this islamophobia!
Let's be clear. Plenty of Muslims (and non-muslims of middle Eastern and south Asian descent) get subjected to horrendous abuse, indistinguishable from racism, because of their perceived muslimness! That behaviour is shocking, rightly condemnable, and has no place in a democratic society!
The problem with "islamophobia" as a definition, is that it conflates that kind of " anti Muslim racism" with legitimate criticisms of scripture, doctrine, and cultural practice!
Several civil society groups find the definition unhelpful for that reason. And there are myriad examples of reactionaries and Idealogues crowing islamophobia as cover. For example, one Muslim scholar here in the UK, claimed that criticising his openly homophobic views was islamophobic!
Back to call of duty. Let's call it what it is. Tone-deaf. Insensitive. A statements in want of a message, dare I say, blasphemous!
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
Haha glad you liked that
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. 🤷♂️
Yeah man, it's absurd.
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!) 😁
Now I absolutely agree, that we shouldn't call this islamophobia!
Let's be clear. Plenty of Muslims (and non-muslims of middle Eastern and south Asian descent) get subjected to horrendous abuse, indistinguishable from racism, because of their perceived muslimness! That behaviour is shocking, rightly condemnable, and has no place in a democratic society!
The problem with "islamophobia" as a definition, is that it conflates that kind of " anti Muslim racism" with legitimate criticisms of scripture, doctrine, and cultural practice!
Several civil society groups find the definition unhelpful for that reason. And there are myriad examples of reactionaries and Idealogues crowing islamophobia as cover. For example, one Muslim scholar here in the UK, claimed that criticising his openly homophobic views was islamophobic!
Back to call of duty. Let's call it what it is. Tone-deaf. Insensitive. A statements in want of a message, dare I say, blasphemous!
Islamophobic? Not even close!
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.
Yes you would think that they'd be aware of the backlash by now...but nooooo