PewDiePie and our outrage culture - The death of journalism

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

For whatever it's worth Scandinavia (and Sweden in particularly) is kind of a racist culture:

Swedish minister in 'racist cake' controversy - BBC News
Out of fear of racism, Sweden changes the names of bird species - The Washington Post
Sticky debate over mayor's 'negro ball' rant - The Local

Not sure of the exact demographic breakdown of Sweden, but it seems likely that there are very, very few folks that live there with African heritage. Not that this excuses racist behavior, but it's easier to fear/disparage the "other" when you almost never encounter them.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

Not sure of the exact demographic breakdown of Sweden, but it seems likely that there are very, very few folks that live there with African heritage. Not that this excuses racist behavior, but it's easier to fear/disparage the "other" when you almost never encounter them.

Indeed. I remember a friend who went to visit Norwegian relatives in the '80s reporting back on all the weird 'little Sambo'/pinckaninny type advertising & images he saw at the time. Most of it wasn't necessarily directly demeaning, so much as staggeringly tone deaf, but it's certainly contradictory to the picture of the Scandinavian Paradise we are often presented in America.

[bbgunn]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

Not sure of the exact demographic breakdown of Sweden, but it seems likely that there are very, very few folks that live there with African heritage. Not that this excuses racist behavior, but it's easier to fear/disparage the "other" when you almost never encounter them.

Agree entirely. Here in Japan, it's uncommon for Japanese people to meet any non-Japanese person in their everyday life, much less an African American like myself. Therefore, ignorance about other races can crop up every now and then - stuff that would be shocking in the U.S., for example TV comedians putting on blackface in order to imitate a famous black person. A lot of the time, people here don't know what's right and wrong simply because they don't know anybody of another race and they don't see how it bothers other races.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Atocep

You're just not understanding the context of it.

or, as RainMaker can attest, no one was actually offended

[Autumn]

Whether or not this guy is really racist, or just one of those guys who thinks they're "edgy" by using language and jokes like this, who knows. But in a world where people really do want to kill all Jews, or really do use racial slurs intentionally, I understand the outrage at people doing it for laughs. Maybe this guy, and millions of his followers, are just being "funny," but at some point that helps out the real racists by creating a culture where it's normalized, and that truly harms the groups that are being disparaged, ostracized, and attacked. My children are not Jewish or black, but if they were I sure wouldn't want them growing up in a culture where you either laugh along with jokes like these, or you're on the outside. The answer isn't censorship but it certainly can include public pressure, ads being pulled, etc. Art should be able to shock us, but that doesn't mean we can't respond to the shock.

[Drake]

I keep thinking that I'm eventually going to look this guy up and figure out who he is/why he's so famous...but I never get around to it. He's sort of in that category of Biebers and Kardashians -- people who I know are famous, but I'm not sure why.

(I'm assuming that I've probably heard a Bieber song at some point in my life, but I couldn't tell you which one. Part of that is probably just being old as fuck.)

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Drake

I keep thinking that I'm eventually going to look this guy up and figure out who he is/why he's so famous...but I never get around to it. He's sort of in that category of Biebers and Kardashians -- people who I know are famous, but I'm not sure why.

Let me just say that when you do find out where his fame comes from you aren't going to feel any younger.

Spoiler

Millions of people watch him play video games.

[Honolulu_Blue]

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/...tial-to-gaming

[Atocep]

He released a very serious and heartfelt apology video so we can all forget about this until he does it again.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Atocep

He released a very serious and heartfelt apology video so we can all forget about this until he does it again.

He didn't even spend 90% of it blaming the media this time!

[molson]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Let me just say that when you do find out where his fame comes from you aren't going to feel any younger.

Spoiler

Millions of people watch him play video games.

Good lord. Could I do this with text sims and old PC adventures games? Anybody want to pay to watch me stumble through the Gabriel Knight Series?

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by molson

Anybody want to pay to watch me stumble through the Gabriel Knight Series?

I want to say that who in their right mind would want to watch someone play Gabriel Knight. But there's probably people who would.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

Not sure of the exact demographic breakdown of Sweden, but it seems likely that there are very, very few folks that live there with African heritage. Not that this excuses racist behavior, but it's easier to fear/disparage the "other" when you almost never encounter them.

FWIW, about 8.5% of Sweden's population is non-European, 14% of the population is foreign born.

[Shkspr]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

I want to say that who in their right mind would want to watch someone play Gabriel Knight. But there's probably people who would.

About 2K-5K, if previous playthroughs represent the full audience. Longform Let's Plays for FM17 seem to top out at around 10,000 for the in-depth career replays (going by arbitrary play counts 50 or 60 episodes in).

[Bobble]

I don't have time to PLAY let alone WATCH someone play. Witness a Steam backlog of {embarrassing number} games I haven't even fired up! (Don't tell my wife!)

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by molson

Good lord. Could I do this with text sims and old PC adventures games? Anybody want to pay to watch me stumble through the Gabriel Knight Series?

I don't know, but a friend and I were reminiscing about the sound effects in the Pool of Radiance PC game. Hit up YouTube and found a guy posting a bunch of playthrough videos that hit me right in the nostalgia. So I guess the answer is, yes.

[Honolulu_Blue]

The only times I've watched YouTube videos of people playing video games is for the occasional tip or walkthrough for those times I'm stumped. It's pretty limited.