OK, I could have phrased that more clearly. I'm saying there's no hypocrisy. People disagreed with jwalk's choice of character name, but no one wrote him off as a person worth associating with purely because of it. This is consistent with perhaps disagreeing with things Gabe and Tycho have said in the past but still reading PA and posting on the forums.
Yeah, that's fine. And maybe I'm reading a touch into things, but I'm seeing a lot of what feels like "I'm better than you because I find no humor in what you did." I mean seriously, asserting that only anti-Semites would find such a joke funny in any context? I don't think I have to read anything into that.
But my point was simply that if you find OP's example truly offensive, Penny Arcade is not a webcomic/websitesite for you. Both Mike and Jerry have made far worse jokes in the past, and will no doubt do so in the future. Maybe hypocrisy isn't the word. Is there a word that describes someone who is actively seeking venues to be offended and loudly complain about said offense?
I think you are conflating people's thoughts about an ethnic fruit with their thoughts about an ethnic genocide here. The discussion has somehow diverged from the example on the comic because of one post about a different, more offensive example. They are not the same "joke", as pointed out earlier.
in Return to Castle Wolfenstein I named my nazi guy "jewkiller". they made me change it. not that I had any real attachment to the name but I mean... really? I'm on the nazi team, that's what nazis did, they killed jews. like, a ton.. it's a game about nazis and shooting and killing with guns. and flamethrowers. it's not a fantasy RPG or pokey-man card game or sci-fi space shooter...
A name doesn't become more or less offensive based on the genre of video game.
Would naming his character after an actual real life Nazi from the time period be considered offensive*?
I find context tends to matter but in general, as someone who plays a bunch of historic, grognardy games, people naming themselves after historical figures almost always do it as the 'wrong' side as a way to represent their shitty opinions in non-offensive ways or to be just on the edge of good taste so they can cause a fuss when someone takes their name as not appropriate.
Kinda like how you see people fly the Confederate flag 'to remember the history' but often there's a shittier motive about too.
So in that case is the character name offensive or do you just not like the player behind it?
@darleysam Honestly, I can totally see Gabe doing something like that, perhaps to troll others. Tycho, of course, would be disgusted, but only at how uninspired Gabe's efforts are. If you're going to do something, do it right.
I guess my counter-argument would have to be that the comic this very thread is for has Gabe wanting to report someone for what he perceives as a racial slur.
Stupid mental priming. I read your original name as Hombre Hebrew on like the first three tries.
You're not the first. Recently I've had a lot of people online call me "Hebrew", then realize their mistake, and then apologize. I'm always like "What's the apology for?"
Also fun: I used to be "Hebrew Homebrew" so all of my online friends, regardless of what Gamertag I'm currently using, just call me "Hebrew".
in Return to Castle Wolfenstein I named my nazi guy "jewkiller". they made me change it. not that I had any real attachment to the name but I mean... really? I'm on the nazi team, that's what nazis did, they killed jews. like, a ton.. it's a game about nazis and shooting and killing with guns. and flamethrowers. it's not a fantasy RPG or pokey-man card game or sci-fi space shooter...
A name doesn't become more or less offensive based on the genre of video game.
Would naming his character after an actual real life Nazi from the time period be considered offensive*?
To me running around as XxVegeta_HitlerxX or Headshot_Himmler doesn't quite invoke the same reaction as Jewkiller.
That wasn't really the question, but OK.
not?
I don't know what this response means, but let's pretend you're the first guy and work with what you gave me.
So would XxVegeta_HitlerxX or Headshot_Himmler not be considered offensive names in Hello Kitty Online?
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Stupid mental priming. I read your original name as Hombre Hebrew on like the first three tries.
You're not the first. Recently I've had a lot of people online call me "Hebrew", then realize their mistake, and then apologize. I'm always like "What's the apology for?"
Also fun: I used to be "Hebrew Homebrew" so all of my online friends, regardless of what Gamertag I'm currently using, just call me "Hebrew".
So would XxVegeta_HitlerxX or Headshot_Himmler not be considered offensive names in Hello Kitty Online?