Racism is everywhere ?

[Zonack]

Ok so.. after talking with my brother about all the racism in the world we discovered some interesting stuff.
I don't look to start trouble, I'm just sharing my viewpoints and want to know what you think of it, if I disturb someone I apologize, this is my opinion after all and it won't change anything.

So...

Everywhere you go.... you see racism and not just the racism against african americans.

Movies and TV Shows : Few movies have african american or latin actors as the protagonists.. I can only think of Men of Honor right now.
Sure they have ''important'' plays, such as Eric Foreman in Dr. House or the Scrubs one, but never the protagonist.
But.. Friends, The OC, Two and a Half Men, and many others just have white people.
And well I think thats racism, not that the Director is exactly a racist son of a *****.. no, but it's still racism.

/sarcasm on

Because people want to see guys like Ray, Roy or whatever the main guy of OC is.. not ugly dark-skinned Latins! I mean EWWW! I mean who was the wise guy that suggested that Latin or African American people should be protagonist? What a jackass!

/sarcasm off

Video Games : Well I haven't exactly played all the video games ever made... but : ¿What video game character as famous as.. Mario, Link etc that is not white? That is dark-skinned or african-american? Non
e I think... and if there are... they are not famous..

Take a look at Super Smash Brothers, ALL are white.
King of Fighters?
Street Fighter?
Soul Calibur?
And all the cool series people play..
Final Fantasy... Check Cloud... check Tidus... ''pretty'' blonde boys.

The Legend of Zelda itself!
As much as I hate to admit it : Link and Zelda are perfect for this, white as hell and golden hair, the typical pretty stereotype.

I thought about it.. and lemme ask you this question :

Would you still like Zelda overall all the LoZ characters if they or most of them were African-american? Link, Zelda, Malon, Saria... name any important character... all of them being... DARk-SKINNED... would you still love the game as you do?
And this applies for any game you like, such as Final Fantasy or Devil May Cry.

In my case? Well I would still play the game.. yeah but I would not have fanart of them maybe, and it would just be ''another game'', they wouldn't be as badass as they are now.


And of course this also applies on movies, and TV shows and cartoons... being white is the thing many people want.. and it's sad... people should be proud of what they are and not of how they think they should be... and I say this because I know friends who.. don't like how they were born.. and I have who do like how they were born and don't give a **** about stereotypes.

And I also have experimented racism, being Caucassican, I got insulted at school since I was the most white guy there... so bad that it made me quit it and can't go back.
Also being insulted in the USA for the fact we are mexicans... heh.

When did it all went to hell?

[Erimgard]

I stopped taking this seriously at "few movies and tv shows have black protagonists"
that's ridiculous.

[Zonack]

Originally Posted by Erimgard

I stopped taking this seriously at "few movies and tv shows have black protagonists"
that's ridiculous.

Hey hey wait! I don't mean 1 every 10,000 movies!
Obvious
Shows like ''everybody hates chris'' have all african-american actors.

I just mean there are more movies with white people.
Most people (at least here) rather see Orlando Bloom than Morgan Freeman.. for example.

You get my point I think.

[Mafoofoo]

Originally Posted by Zonack

Most people (at least here) rather see Orlando Bloom than Morgan Freeman.. for example.

But then those same people would rather have Samuel L. Jackson as opposed to Orlando.

[Zonack]

Originally Posted by Mafoofoo

But then those same people would rather have Samuel L. Jackson as opposed to Orlando.

Not really.. I assure you, I SWEAR that for people here... Legolas is way more badass than anyone else for example.
That and Captain Jack Sparrow are like the Gods of beauty, I'm not saying they are ugly but.. people overreact I think.

It's dumb I know.. but it happens.. at least here.
Few are the persons that actually say ''Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington etc are pretty good actors''

And even fewer say ''Martin Luther King or Ghandi were great persons''

[Erimgard]

Zonack...just curious, have you considered that in general white people will like white actors and black people will like black actors? If you surveyed a large group of black people of all ages and asked them who their favorite actors are, the majority would pick black actors. The same goes with white people.
I'm an anomaly however as Denzel Washington is my favorite actor.

[Tazryl]

Originally Posted by Zonack

Most people (at least here) rather see Orlando Bloom than Morgan Freeman.. for example.

You get my point I think.

You kidding? I could careless about that Orlando Bloom dude, but Morgan Freeman is much cooler. Heh, Morgan Freeman as God... Can't say thats racist.

Also Zues from Die Hard with A Vengence played by Samuel L. Jackson, was a awsome character. He also played that one guy in S.W.A.T. Now that was also a really cool character. Would have liked to have seen more of him then Collin Ferrel to be honest.

Both of these Characters defeat Orlando's character legolas or what ever his title is in PotC.

Then there is the George Lopez show, thats centered around a Mexican/cuban family.

If Zelda featured a dark skinned characters, I would love it just as much. Link is Link no matter what color his skin. As long as he still is the silent hero with more courage in his left pinky then the Kings Army. I could care less.

Zonack try speaking for yourself. I dont care about Captain Jack Sparrow or Johnny Depp when it comes to Samuel Jackson or Morgan Freeman. Will Smith is also awsome compared to Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom.

Give me Independence Day, I am Legend, I Robot, instead of PotC any day.

[MLNick]

Are you serious? That is not racism.

What Erimgard said is pretty much the way it is. People have preference. Not everything is racism.

People call racism where there is none these days.

[Chencheya]

Originally Posted by MLNick

Are you serious? That is not racism.

What Erimgard said is pretty much the way it is. People have preference. Not everything is racism.

People call racism where there is none these days.

Indeed, I have to agree with Erimgard and MLNick on this. It seems like sometimes, people go out of their way to look for racism where none was even intended. A lot of people have their own favourite actors; I'm sure people like them because of their acting talents or they performed exceptionally well in their favourite films, not chosen because of their skin colour.

Personally, I really like Samuel J. Jackson and absolutely despise Tom Cruise, but that doesn't mean like/hate them because of their skin colours, it means I like/dislike them because of their talents (or perceived lack of). I assume that most people are like-minded also in that their favourite actors aren't their favourites because of their skin colour, but maybe you know... chosen because they actually like them?

And what's all this about hardly any black protagonists? I distinctly remember popular actors such as Whoopi Goldberg and Jamie Foxx just off the top of my head. Goldberg is one of few to ever win an Oscar, a Grammy, a Tony, and an Emmy. She's starred in over 150 films, and during a period in the 1990s, she was the highest-paid actress of all time. Jamie Foxx was the protagonist of Collateral, whereas Tom Cruise was the antagonist, and I seem to remember that film being highly popular none too long ago. Undeniably there have been problems with racism in the past, and such problems still exist even today when they shouldn't, but today these problems are at a far lesser extent than even several decades ago. There's more racial tension going on in China/Tibet today than there is in the western media nowadays.

Black Movie Awards

To put it simply: There are awards for Black Oscars and OBE's. Can you just imagine the uproar there would be if people brought out the 'White Movie Awards' and White OBE's? There's a reason why the former examples exist and the latter examples don't. Racism against whom exactly, may I ask?

[DarKnite92]

Originally Posted by Zonack

Hey hey wait! I don't mean 1 every 10,000 movies!
Obvious
Shows like ''everybody hates chris'' have all african-american actors.

I just mean there are more movies with white people.
Most people (at least here) rather see Orlando Bloom than Morgan Freeman.. for example.

You get my point I think.

Go watch BET

[Snapdragon]

Originally Posted by Zonack

Legolas is way more badass than anyone else for example.
That and Captain Jack Sparrow are like the Gods of beauty'

what does this have to do with anything?

[bitterlime]

Racism inherently starts with the assumption that there are taxonomic differences between different groups of people.

The shows, videogames and other things you listed do in no way imply such a thing.
There is merely the fact that these games/shows are aimed at a group that consists mostly out of white people.
It's like Erimgard said most people can identify better with a person of their skin color, much like males tend to identify themselfs with male character and females with female characters.
You see more male video-game protagonists, because there are more male video-gamers then female video-gamers. (all though female gamers are increasing)
It's much the same princip with videogames and TV-shows, there are more white people watching TV then there are black people. That's why tv-producers, for the sake of moneymakeing, aim there shows at white people.
There are however also shows that are aimed at black people, and most shows/games include a black character to please the black viewers.

Like Soul Calibur had Zasalamel:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../Zasalamel.jpg

He was an awesome character and had a very deep character.

Finally I would like to say something about the Zelda games:

The Zelda games take place in a world that has a medieval feel to them. The medieval time, as it's seen in Zelda, is something that makes people think of europe. Not many black people were seen in europe during medieval times, thus it would seem strange to include many black persons into the game.

To conclude:
I don't really think that these are cases of raceism, since nothing in these shows/games suggest that white people are inferior to black people or visa versa.

[Aeffles]

Wait, did we forget Soul Train? And BET? Without all the white people?

Kevin James and his co-worker, who is an african american, are best friends on King of Queens.

Why aren't you complaining about how long The Simpsons has been on tv, it's only had about like three black characters?

Racism isn't everywhere. People WANT it to be everywhere so they can have something to get mad and upset about.

Lets face it, stereotypes are true, that's where they come from. I don't care if you've never seen a ball in your life, if you're six foot six inches, you'll be good at basketball, and I hate to break it to you, but white people aren't that tall. Catching my drift?

[andi]

Why is the distribution of ethnicities through media any sign of racism, aside from the natural "racism" that exists in the sense that "like tends to sympathize more with like".

The fact that you're expecting millions of black, latino, or any group like that to show up significantly in a medium that's made mostly in JAPAN is hilarious. The most populous minorities that exist in Japan are Chinese and Koreans, and after that I believe that it's Brazilians, almost all of whom come from a long line of Japanese ancestry. There's very little ethnic diversity in Japan, and so the odds of you even seeing a single black person in a day are probably about 1%.

And it's obviously the same with television shows and the like in the US - see the tan and pink slices here? That's the number of people in the US census who declared that they had african or mexican ancestry. Now consider - the number of good actors, for example, is very small - among any ethnicity or any population group. The number of people in any area who actively pursue this talent are even smaller. And thus, the odds of you finding a Professional Actor among a random portion of the population is... let's say... one in 10,000? About 57% of the 300million+ people in the US are white, I think? I dunno, honestly. But let's say. About 12% is black, and about 13% is latino, and another 13% is asian. The rest is, well, random stuff (native american, polynesian, arab, etc). :3

Now, let's calculate out how many of these people are likely to be good at acting and to seriously try and pursue a career in the field...
US whites - 17100
US blacks - 3600
US asians - 3900
US latinos - 3900
US other - 1500

Now that pool right there is entirely theoretical. Statistically speaking, more white people tend to go for acting careers than minorities, since they tend to have a lot more money to hurl around and parents who can and are willing to bail them out if their dreams don't come true. Admit it, it's true. It's a matter of culture, not the color of their skin.

Of course, in this case, there will be more white actors than minority... and obviously, more people will thus be used to seeing white people on screens or on stages. When this happens, it tends to draw less attention when you put a straight white guy in front of people (a majority in all cases) instead of a black lesbian (of which i've met three in my life).

If your show is not about black people specifically or about lesbianism or arranged for a particular population group, you tend to go with the sort of character that most people will be used to. If you do that, your character's weird personality shines through a lot more since people aren't distracted by something they're not used to seeing all the time (especially if your script-writing if crappy and their personality shines through it rarely). Honestly, right now, I know plenty of people who call Foreman from House a "white man in black skin" and stuff like that. :/ And they're black!

What people tend to slather with the term "racism" is not always for one population or against another, but it's always just what people are used to seeing. I am not surprised when a white kid in black clothing acts like a goth since I predict it might happen, but I am surprised when I see a black guy in black clothing act like a goth. Honestly, when's the last time you saw a black goth? :X That's right, almost never - a minority of people are black, and a vast minority of people are goths. That's not racism - that's the law of statistics. :3

Give things some time and, who knows what will happen with this sort of thing. For all I know, next month every single black person in the world will develop a thing for Alien Sex Fiend and totally destroy my awesome analogy. ^_^

[Vega]

Originally Posted by Zonack

Street Fighter?

Street Fighter has characters from all over the world - it's kind of the whole point of the game. There's a black American in there, as well as an Indian man, a Japanese man, a Chinese woman...

Originally Posted by Aeffles

Lets face it, stereotypes are true, that's where they come from. I don't care if you've never seen a ball in your life, if you're six foot six inches, you'll be good at basketball, and I hate to break it to you, but white people aren't that tall. Catching my drift?

No, actually, I'm not.

Stereotypes do not hold great truths, they're a symptom of your cognitive systems cutting corners and generalising to save yourself some effort. Why should you have to exert yourself in the environment when you can just rely on sweeping generalisations? Everybody holds stereotypes, although I'd like to think that a significant proportion see them for what they are, and do not rely on them.

I suppose I shouldn't expect too much from an American though.

[Aeffles]

Originally Posted by Vega

I suppose I shouldn't expect too much from an American though.

That's got to be some kind of discrimination :[

[Daemonius]

Zelda has had some brown characters, just look at Molida Island in PH (sadly, there aren't many more.

And SSB has Mr. Game & Watch.

[GentleArtillery]

That there are, like only white people in video games bother my, but I can't call it racism.

And I think Gandhi was a great person, better than Jesus, thank you.

[Sam250]

Originally Posted by Zonack

It's dumb I know.. but it happens.. at least here.
Few are the persons that actually say ''Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington etc are pretty good actors''

And even fewer say ''Martin Luther King or Ghandi were great persons''

Oh, this is just ridiculous; speak for yourself, Zonack. Nobody actually makes remarks, or even subconscious prejudices, on a persons acting ability or whatever in relation to their skin colour. Samuel L Jackson, Denzel Washington, and Morgan Freemen are all terrific actors, and people know that, acknowledge it, and don't think less of them because they have a different skin colour. The same goes for great people such as Martin Luther King and Ghandi. Why do you have the idea that people don't think highly of them becuase their race? That would be racism, yes, but it simply does not happen. I don't understand where you have gotten this idea from.

Originally Posted by GentleArtillery

That there are, like only white people in video games bother my, but I can't call it racism.

And I think Gandhi was a great person, better than Jesus, thank you.

Taking into consideration the time period and location, Jesus was probally Black (or so I have heard).

[Yami]

Go play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

[GentleArtillery]

Originally Posted by Sam250

Taking into consideration the time period and location, Jesus was probally Black (or so I have heard).

...And? Gandhi is still better than Jesus. I wasn't pointing out "Asian better than white", I was pointing out that "Person better than person usually considered a great saint".