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"I Am Murloc" - irresponsible?
delroland
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Anyone d/l'd this from the WoW site? It's the new L70ETC song, and it's sort of funny, but I have one major beef (npi) with it: the unnecessary homophobia tacked on to the third chorus. I think it is needlessly offensive and a poor choice on Blizzard's part, not adding enough humor to warrant risking the pissing off of a significant population of their subscribers. Why rub salt in an old wound, considering the GBLT guild debacle of last year?
My question is this: am I off my rocker on this? I mean, I'm not homosexual, and so I feel I might be getting offended by something that is someone else's responsibility to get offended over, but I think it is just a classless move that should have been better thought out by Blizzard. Really, I feel they dropped the ball in not showing a little tact.
What do you guys think?
My question is this: am I off my rocker on this? I mean, I'm not homosexual, and so I feel I might be getting offended by something that is someone else's responsibility to get offended over, but I think it is just a classless move that should have been better thought out by Blizzard. Really, I feel they dropped the ball in not showing a little tact.
What do you guys think?
EVE: Online - the most fun you will ever have not playing a game.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
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Honestly I am not really expecting maturity from Blizzard. The game is fun but they have no idea how to deal with gay issues aside from sticking their fingers in their ears and going 'lalalalalalalalala'. Although really, if they were gonna do a gay joke they could have done so much better.
Although this post really could use a link or an explanation as to the exact line.
*Shows an Aquaman looking dude in a dress*
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
NORMAL CHORUS:
I am more than a fish,
I am more than a man.
Death will rise from the tide!
I am Murloc!
I am King of the Sea,
But I'm not Aquaman!
Death will rise! Hear our cry!
I am Murloc!
THIRD CHORUS:
I am more than a fish,
I am more than a man.
Death will rise from the tide!
I am Murloc!
I am King of the Sea,
Not a queen like Aquaman!
Death will rise! Hear our cry!
I am Murloc!
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
It's pretty gay of you to get all worked up over it.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
I just think it's offensive humor that is wholly unnecessary. Even if only mildly offensive, my opinion is that the cost outweighs the benefit.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
Much Ado About Nothing.
Blizzard employees made it.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
That's a slippery slope. I mean, if using the term "queen" is okay, what about "queer"? Or "homo"? Or "fag"? That's the problem, you have to draw the line somewhere, and if one is not careful, the line gets pushed farther and farther back as time goes on. Best to just eliminate it and write a better, funnier, less offensive joke.
Also, Harry Potter books aren't overtly offensive; the reader has to take things out of context to find offense. Blizzard on the other hand explicitly used an offensive term that they didn't have to. There is a significant difference.
Fair enough. But there is a significant difference in scope. More people visit the WoW main page EACH DAY than have heard the Cain Rap EVER.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
Wait, "queen" is an offensive term? When the hell did that happen? Or "queer" for that matter?
I mean, this is what I pretty much always say, but I personally feel it's about intent. I mean, people on this forum call each other fags all the time, but it's totally ironic, so who cares? I do it, too. If the intent to hurt someone is there, that's when it really bothers me, and it seems pretty obvious that these guys weren't out to be gay-bashing.
I think it's a dig on Aquaman's lameness. I have no problem with it. I just think everyone gets uptight about the littlest things nowadays.
If calling some one tubby, for instance, is okay, why wouldn't it be okay to call come one fat ass?
That said, I hear WoW has quite the rigidly defined gay/straight clan structure, along with religious groups like the christians self-segregating quite strongly. I'd be a lot more interested to hear about the shenanigans caused by that kind of thing than some lameass fan song.
You know that queen is neither an offensive label nor refers specifically to homosexuals, right? Is there some secondary, insulting meaning here of which I'm unaware?
I've never been completely comfortable with the "we're being ironic" explanation.
When I went to highschool, it was not at all uncommon for a group of white kids to tell amongst themselves fairly racist jokes (though they would hush down when any non-white people ventured near). I'm fairly certain none of them were extreme racists or anything, and nearly all would probably use the "irony defense." That doesn't stop the jokes from having an effect though, and creating an environment that serves to ostracize minorities, and constantly remind them that they are different.
I don't know, I'm surely overreacting. I've just never been comfortable when priveledged white middle-class kids defend their offensive comments with the whole "I'm just kidding, it's ironic! You see, it's hilarious that someone like me who doesn't hate black people would constantly say such offensive things about them!" Ha ha. The same applies to the massive number of gay jokes that are on this forum. What about the rampant use of the word faggot is funny, besides the "irony" that they use it despite not believing gay people to be inferior? How terribly clever of them.
Speaking as a fat ass, it's all in the tone.
I can't speak for anyone else in the world but myself, but there's a difference between light-hearted ribbing and outright insulting.
You're out to lunch.
Offense is subjective and personal, regardless of what limitations some of the wacky-left wants put on certain words. It's accepted that certain language isn't acceptable, the n-word, for instance is verbotten. We're not even allowed to use the word in discussion of the word.
However, despite what the majority of politically correct hetero people try to tell me, I've never actually met anyone who's gay who objected to the word "gay" when used as a pejorative. In fact, my old room-mate, who is gay, used to do exactly that.
The only thing more irritating than someone who's over-sensitive is someone who's over-sensitive on behalf of someone else.
-Robert E. Howard
Tower of the Elephant
I've always found self-segregation to be more harmful than anything else. Special interest groups that have been victims of persecution in the past are their own worst enemy.
I can't speak for WoW, but I konw that occasionally someone will start a "GBTL Supergroup" on City of Heroes where the player must be gay to join the group. The rationale is that they need a place where they can "feel safe". It's horse-shit and just makes them a target and further widens the gap, making them less a part of the community on the whole.
-Robert E. Howard
Tower of the Elephant
I've heard people say this, but never really noticed it. I mean, what does God/love of cock/etc have to do with playing WoW?
I mean, I guess I could understand it so some extent on a role-playing server, assuming people are role-playing their sexuality/faith/other stuff, but largely, who you worship and who you have sex with just doesn't seem like an important uniting factor (or something that'd even come up) in a game like WoW.
From what I've heard the vast vast majority of such groups are simply homosexual/bisexual friendly as opposed too actively discouraging straight people from applying.
People talk about their personal lives all the time in games like this. It's probably more tolerable being in a guild where you're not going to get called a faggot or what have you whilst raiding. Unfortunately homophobia is still surprisingly widespread, made worse by the anonimity.
There isn't much use of the word faggot on this forum. Except in SE and G&T. But they don't count.
There's a legitimate distinction between ironical 'prejudice' and real prejudice. The former is a parody of the bigots - it's making fun of them, not of their targets. It's a matter of motive and of presentation, and I agree that shouting "fag" at each other doesn't qualify, it's just stupid.
There were a number of those, but I can think of at least two seperate occasions where the player HAD to be gay to join, no exceptions. It was ludicrous.
-Robert E. Howard
Tower of the Elephant
It really doesn't take much to tell when someone is honestly speaking ironically and when they're just saying that to cover their asses. Hell, even on a forum it's pretty easy to spot. And while simply calling each other fag may not qualify, I certainly think there are times where people've used that word specifically on D&D in an ironic and (to me, at least) humorous manner. It's about context, is the dead horse I'm beating.
BTW, Navoc, I'm not sure if you know I'm bi? Although, I'm not sure if our opinions count on stuff like this. :P Honestly, I probably do get offended less often than other people in the GLBT community, for whatever reason, but this really didn't seem offensive to me. I probably actually wasn't clear when I started talking about irony -- I'm not sure this would even qualify as "ironic," but it still seemed harmless to me.
I dunno, people whining endlessly about how others should lighten up comes pretty close.
Look: if "oversensitive people" are an actual, persistent real problem in your everyday life, and not just something you've made up in your head for the benefit of the internet arguing, then that might be a clue to take five and ask yourself if you might not be somehow complicit in this problem. If it's not something you actually encounter in everyday life, only something you hear other people complaining about, then maybe, just maybe, it's not be a problem worth spilling all this ink over.
Look, man. Adulthood 101. If someone is teed off by something, even something you personally think is trivial, you apologize and explain that you didn't mean to cause offense. I'm sure the Murloc thing wasn't meant with malicious intent in mind - but if someone's offended, then Blizzard should man up and apologize. Bitching about how "sensitive" people are when you don't have any idea why they might be that way is seriously low-class.
As I understood it years ago (and this may have changed since I stopped paying attention to the GLBT community), bisexuals were kinda the black sheep because they could "fake it" or something to that effect.
Like, all the strengths of a homosexual, but none of their weaknesses. Gaywalkers, if you will.
:^::D :^:
How is that "ludicrous"? I can totally understand why someone might want that -- barring even things like "wanting to feel welcomed," people do tend to congregate around similar people. Shocking, I know.
Trust me, it's a different atmosphere when I'm hanging out with all GLBT folks as opposed to my straight friends. I act differently, I talk differently, I talk about different things. Is there something "ludicrous" about that? I don't think so.
Just like an all-female group is bound to have a different dynamic than a mixed or all-male group. There's nothing wrong with people wanting to congregate with others who are similar to them, for whatever reason.
Hey, thanks for the little lecture, but if you knew me a little better you'd know that you're not telling me anything that I dont' already know or even touched on in the post you snipped. I said specifically that "offense" was subjective and personal. My objection isn't to someone deciding their offended for their own sake, my objection is to someone deciding that someone else might be offended by somethign and, to that end, deciding to be offended by proxy even though the members of that other group haven't said a thing about it.
-Robert E. Howard
Tower of the Elephant
I have. Since that usage of the word obviously originated from homophobia, and since that homophobia plainly still exists amongst significant numbers of the demographics who use the word in that sense, I think you'd be pretty hard pressed to claim it's an innocent word.
Stupid goddamn motherfuckers.
Except for the long period of time that "gay" didn't have a damn thing to do with homosexuality.
That's twelve different shades of hilarious.
Seriously, I lol'd so hard.
But in all honesty, I think there might be some truth to that, if only a small amount. If I want to, I can totally pass, because I am genuinely interested in the vag. No matter what gender is being objectified in conversation, I don't feel out of place. :P
I think it probably is at least a little bit easier for me, but at the same time, when I hear real hate, I doubt a straight person is affected the same way I am.
Again, is this an actual problem or something you've just sort of decided must exist somewhere?