My apologies. I should have said we aren't talking about your friends... I guess I shouldn't jump to conclusions about who is playing Madden.
But wait how is the word crusade NOT comparable to the word jihad? Are they not both words adopted by religious extremists to use religion to justify armed conflict.
Crusade should really be MORE offensive, because it always meant religious military action. The word Jihad was around before Islam was a thing.
The meaning and reaction to words change over time, and Jihad has a strong popular connotation in
both the East and West of religious zealotry and
typically religious war. That doesn't mean it can't be used in another context and that when using it in the correct context it is not evocative of that same strong reaction, but since at least the 1980s, Jihad has come to denote something more extreme.
Other words have changed over time as well, the word "holocaust" has existed for centuries, but since the late 1940s, the word has come to refer to "
the Holocaust." It can still be used in a different context ("a holocaust" or the provocative movie "Cannibal Holocaust") but used out of context, it still generally refers to Nazi atrocities against Jews, Poles, and other 'unworthies' during World War II. Words might have been used for centuries in a legitimate way, but they can come to mean something else quickly... THere has been the debate over the word "niggardly" when it's used, and plenty of people will bemoan "but it's a legitimate word that has nothing to do with the racial slur!" but that's a tough sell, and in the wrong context (or even the right context...) it's usually used to be provocative
because of that strong immediate negative reaction.
Now, 'Crusades' generally refers to
The Crusaders, a series of historical events that were terrible that happened 1,000 years ago. While the events were terrible, there has been a lengthy passage of time that has softened the visceral reaction that many people will have to them. Still, I wouldn't be against Sony banning the name if enough people are offended by it... I'd understand their perspective, but the recency of 'Jihad' -- which has a much more immediate reaction for people
all over the world, not just the West (perhaps ESPECIALLY not the West) -- makes it more justifiable that the word bubble up as a banned word for Sony. Heck, I'd be curious to ask people who strongly identify with the restorative, closer-to-God connotation of the word Jihad whether they think it's an appropriate word to use in a videogame... I think I'd suspect that somebody who strongly identifies with the peaceful religious meaning of the word might find it inappropriate in that context.
Companies in this space have a precedent with not allowing names that have a social or religious connotation as well. Videogames are still a community where words and phrases are generally used in crass, provocative way and it's much easier to ban a word than to try to justify that the context it's being used in is right or okay.
(but, still, I don't think the user should lose his content... I think that's insane. I just get that the name could be inappropriate for a videogame network)
