Islamic Phrase Removed from Capcom's Zack & Wiki

:shrug:

Meh no big deal really, it's not like the phrase was actually important to the game. The game looks pretty weird though.

ya....and........how is this offensive?

what is mroe offensive is that PCnazis where black boots and march across the world bashing common sense everywhere they go.....

You know, CAIR aren't the only ones who caught this. In fact they probably noticed it when it was posted on GoNintendo a little over a week ago.

http://gonintendo.com/?p=21676

IF I were Capcom, I would have told CAIR that they don't listen to organizations that fund terrorism.

@Jeremy:
"...I know its probably hard not to flame a person whose only response on these boards are Muslims suck and Islam blah blah blah."

I've found that people who already hold such negative, ignorant opinions are vehemently fond of keeping them, so I generally don't even bother to argue. It ends up amounting to little more than a waste of time on my part.

@JC

The fire temple music was offensive to them, true. But they also got annoyed with the Guerdo's symbol, which was a cresent moon and star.

Ohma:

Well, it boils down to the fact that there were major differences between the content and style of this and the RE5 complaint. First off, this is actually somewhat offensive - allahu ackbar plays as primitive monkeys drink soup out of bowls shaped like human skulls? - although I agree it was probably accidental. By contrast, when you consider that:

- The past ten or so RE games contained almost exclusively white zombies

- The player character in one of those games was black, and no-one cared about a black character killing white zombies

- RE4 features almost exclusively Spanish zombies, and the basic reaction of Spanish people to the whole thing was "Hey, cool, Spanish zombies!"

- Zombie mythology does, in fact, *originate* from Vodou, which originates from Africa. So setting a zombie-themed game in Africa makes perfect sense anyway

RE5 really seems pretty tame by comparison.

You also have to look at the scale of things. CAIR are asking Capcom to alter a background tune. Crazy RE5 lady is asking Capcom to revamp the entire plot of the game - which realistically means changing most or all of the textures, and probably a significant part of the gameplay - pushing a release back by at least a year.

Let's also look at decorum. CAIR sends a private letter politely asking if Capcom could maybe see their way to making a change. Crazy RE5 lady denounces RE5 as KKK propaganda or worse (from her article: "Start them young… fearing, hating, and destroying Black people"). She also demonstrates pretty much every single misconception of video games that endangers the legal status medium (she says RE5 is marketed to children, and in her followup she calls us all crazy Columbine-shooter types).

Finally, when the crazy RE5 lady's website always capitalises "Black" and never capitalises "white", and says in comments that “Yes… I am more comfortable with the zombies being white. In fact, ALL zombies should be white from this day forth”, questions are pretty much bound to be asked about her racial objectivity.

Hence, I feel totally happy with CAIR's request and Capcom's response, while simultaneously calling the RE5 complainant crazy. Hope that helps explain things.

For the first few comments, I was starting to regret coming on GP today. Thanks to DarkeSworde for clearing up exactly why it's offensive in this context, and shame on everyone who just jumped to false conclusions immediately.

(I can't see the clip from here at work, but it's obvious from the descriptions here in the comments that the phrase was being used out of context, flippantly and isn't approaching a significant part of the game. It doesn't damage the playing experience to remove it, so why get worked up?)

While I am pleasantly surprised that this hasn't fallen to the depths that the last article did, I have to ask why?

The previous article, while being a critique of gaming in general, was still just someone's opinion on a *possible* interpretation of a video game trailer. This on the other hand, is about how a game was *altered* as a result of the efforts of a group fairly similar to a group that seemed to be oft demonized in the previous comments.

Now, while it would fit very nicely with the overall picture of gamer culture I've developed over the past several years, I still hesitate to boldly declare that it's because the previous article was written by a woman (though it *would* fit uncomfortably well with my prior bad experiences with...well online communities in general really).
There are other factors which could be likely as well, the RE series has a larger fanbase than this game, people are more hesitant to bash a religious group than an ethnic one, or even that the people who would be trolling these comments are still in the previous mess.

Still, the difference in the attitude between the comments on these articles it is very curious.

When it comes down to it I don't trust any of these groups that are supposed to prevent discrimination against just their people.(CAIR,JDL,ect...)

If people still believe that injustice is happening then we need one group working together to sort these issues out.For when we are united we something yous get the point.

Last thing we need is another Don Imus thing happening.

I think this was very well handeled. THe phrase in question is a very serious issue to muslims. They view it as one of the most holy words that can be used. Amen does not even come close. It would be like going into a church in the 1300s and yelling out "Jesus Christ its hot out there!" Chances are you would end up dead. So to them, it is a big deal. The fact that it was handeled without an overblown media frenzy is a plus. It was a simple problem with a simple solution. All's well that ends well.

@ Soga

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth."
Marcus Aurelius

"Truth is what works."
William James

"There are various eyes. Even the Sphinx has eyes: and as a result there are various truths, and as a result there is no truth."
Friedrich Nietzsche

Well I follow two religious belief systems and I never find insult in to anyone using sound bytes of Buddhist chants or Christian hymnals. In fact I find it neat sometimes when they are used.

And though I find it annoying that once again a Muslim group is getting involved in censorship and the stifling of freedom of speech, I have to applaud them in the approach they took. No violence, no jihads, just a reasonable hey we find this offensive would you take it out and a thank you letter when it was done. Now granted the proverbial shit might have hit the fan if Capcom had said no but at least they took the most reasonable approach I have heard of in a long time that involved a Muslim group and something they didn’t like.

Now on to the comments

@Everyone who is having words with Freedom

I noticed that many people are insulting Freedom saying he has no knowledge of Islam and what not. I hate to say it but I understand most of Freedom’s viewpoints not because I want to believe that all Muslims believe in raping their daughters and cutting off body parts but because the only time we hear anything about the Muslim community is when a group does something insane like rioting because cartoons were drawn about your religious icons and leaders. We rarely hear about the events that put Muslims in a better light, we only hear about the atrocities that are being committed in the name of Islam.

The problem frankly stems from the fact that we basically have two groups of Islamic in this world. We have the educated reasonable understanding westernized Muslims, who usually understand that people once in awhile are going to do something they find offensive and if they can get them to stop great if not you don’t necessarily strap a bomb to your chest and try to kill them. Then we have the Middle Eastern Muslims, who vilify the west (like we do them), who are taught from the day they can speak about how it is great to die in the name of Islam; that being a martyr is a great thing; and that all westerners and Jews are their enemies. These people you can’t expect to reason with as much, you have to understand that they have been brainwashed since childhood to believe a certain thing.


@DarkeSword

Thank you for your insight, its nice to actually read some view points from a Muslim. Especially since the couple of times I have seen a Muslim issue involved a suppose Muslim insulting everyone because they were having a problem with what the Muslims were complaining about. I hope you can keep the calm responses I have seen coming, I know its probably hard not to flame a person whose only response on these boards are Muslims suck and Islam blah blah blah.
letter when it was done.

As for the people that cant hear it, its right before the guy makes it to the where the chest is on the pillar surronded by fire. It happens when the flue player stops and the little guys bow down.

i am a muslin,and this our call to prayer.we dont monkeys to be depicted as us ok.