Ok, so let's get this straight to the core : a couple of people have been profoundly harmed by what another couple of people have said on the main chat a couple of days ago. Those comments have been marked as "racist" by the harmed people and while the "harming" people could argue that, it was indeed
technically racist.
While nearly nobody here must have heard of this and don't have a clue of what I'm saying, here are my conclusions on this : people are narrow minded. Now, if you are part of this story, read on before hitting the reply button to flame me.
Why am I not defending one side or the other? Because while I don't agree with those "racicst" comments, I do not agree with the victimisation of the denfenders part.
First off, joking about slavery is not necessarly wrong. Joking about another race to
some extent is not necessarly wrong. Joking about children is done everyday by everyone. But combining the 3 of them in a back and forth discussion on main about a sale of them is not what I see as fitting for a multiracial online community. What I am saying is : don't joke about
selling young [insert race here] slaves when other people can see it!
I have a twisted sick sense of humor. I can undestand how people can find it funny to exchange absurd comments. But I do care enough to keep it between me and my close, non threatened, friends.
What I find was a mistake from the part of the offenders is the fact that they did not thought theses jokes could affect anyone. People on heRO comes from anywhere in the world. A player's joke could be another player's living hell. Joking about young children slavery might not be a hot topic in western culture because we have laws against these situations and have the ability to have them enforced. In other countries, like the one the offended people came from, do not all have this ability. Joking about children slavery affect these people as much as joking about hitting your prostitute mother while being drunk over here. It's not cool. Don't do it.
What I find a mistake from the part of the defenders is the fact that they ignore the way the offenders did not meant that to be a serious offense. The defenders did not accept the apologies from the offenders on the basis that they were "not sincere enough". Let's think about it shall we? If children slavery is not rampant in our culture and we joke about it, how far can we be sorry for it if it is not important? If I joke about the size of the nose of a person and this person is sensitive about it, how should I know and why should I make a federal case out of it? It's a given I should not have offended that person but why should I have to yell at everyone in the restaurant about how I am sorry about it? How far should I get the sincerity of these excuses if, at the beggining, this was never meant to be overly offending? Ignoring a cultural state just to try to enhance the victim status is not cool.
What am I going to do about it? Right here, right now, about this particular occurence of the offence : nothing more than what I have already did. I talked to the offenders, asked them to contact the victims. The offenders did offer the apologies that they saw fit for the gravity of their offence and the defenders did not accept them because "they were not sincere enough". Well, I'm sorry, but the offenders walked over their pride and over the fact that in their heads this was a mindless joke, and did offer their apologies with the degree of sincerity it deserved for them, which is more than the usual "f*** you assface" you would normally get from many other persons on the internet. The fact that the defenders rejected those is sad but it's their choice.
Now, for the future, an advice : don't do it anymore. There is a rule on the server that we enforce and it's :
Code:
Be respectful to everyone
Insulting, the use of swears, discrimination, [b]racism[/b], sexism or [b]any other offending comments[/b] will result in jail or ban.
The jokes you could find funny and non threathening MAY be so for someone else. heRO is not a USA-Only (or any western country) server and the laws that protect your "Freedom of speech" are not viable here. Sick humor can be used in private chat, guild chat, party chat, whatever chat. But if someone else finds it offensive enough to report it, you will get it coming, sorry.
That is all.