Support NeoGAF

[LegendofDragoonLives]

the "KEK" logo featured on the Kekistan flag,

this is a real thing lol?

 

[DrROBschiz]

Alt righters think its funny to play wolf in sheeps clothing and spy games or something

Who knows

Fuckwits need to find a new outlet

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

I suppose this could be true as well. They could have just been a temporary hire who was given their papers regardless and not an employee of an outside contracted studio.

Couldn't Bungie spread the word about that person to discourage other companies from hiring him/her?

 

[shamanick]

Why is everything turned into a white supremacist thing? Wasn't kek translated lol in WoW when you were the other faction? How do we go from that to white supremacy? And who decides who owns something? Who makes the most memes?

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/05/08/what-kek-explaining-alt-right-deity-behind-their-meme-magic

 

[Gestault]

On a serious note, any artist who would compromise a mass-market product they contributed to like this is a serious liability for any business. If they were a contractor, I'd red flag them, and if they were staff, I'd fire them. I'd never trust this person's output again.

Don't try to pull "creative freedom" on what's almost definitely a work-for-hire context, and I can't even pretend I don't expect "it was a joke" as an impotent, stupid explanation. Anyone in this thread who acts as though they can't comprehend how this is a white supremacist symbol (caring enough to post but not to do a cursory look at the evidence (a) before their eyes, and (b) embedded directly in the article) is acting in such bad-faith, it should be unacceptable.

 

[Nerd_Incognito]

Can someone post the full flavor text?

 

[Pinko Marx]

Yeah they even use the same font for the K. Can't just be coincidence.

 

[Sephzilla]

yeah thats too close to be coincidence

 

[Marcel]

Couldn't Bungie spread the word about that person to discourage other companies from hiring him/her?

Of course. I mentioned that earlier. It's likely there's a digital trail as to who worked on what asset and Bungie/Activision can use their long reach to aid in blackballing the racist prankster from the industry.

 

[CannonFodder52]

Why is everything turned into a white supremacist thing? Wasn't kek translated lol in WoW when you were the other faction? How do we go from that to white supremacy? And who decides who owns something? Who makes the most memes?

Kekistan is an imaginary nation coined by Sargon(I believe) to parody identity politics.

It's been snatched up by the alt right, not that it was worth anything before hand.

 

[Samus4145]

Can someone post the full flavor text?

An artist sneaked in a logo on a gauntlet that looked like the flag of some fake nation or something that is being tied back to White supremacists and is being removed from the game.

Hope Bungie announces that the person responsible has been removed from the company.

 

[ZOONAMI]

Someone is getting shit canned.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Why is everything turned into a white supremacist thing? Wasn't kek translated lol in WoW when you were the other faction? How do we go from that to white supremacy? And who decides who owns something? Who makes the most memes?

this is a real thing lol?

Again, it's mentioned in the article linked to in the OP:

Without going into the long lineage of bullshit memes that are the signs and sigils of modern white supremacy's public face, the "Kekistan flag" combines a popular internet shorthand that became a symbol of white supremacist sympathies with the German military flag of Hitler's Third Reich. Drawing an explicit connection to Nazi violence was of course the point of the flag, allowing white supremacists to reskin the classic symbols of Nazism in a way that would fly under many people's radars, providing a bit of camouflage to their efforts to reassert themselves into public spaces and modern political discourse.

Which is why the flag was so prominently on display at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a white supremacist aimed a car into a crowd of protesters and murdered one of them and injured dozens of others.

After those events, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit advocacy organization which monitors hate groups in America, offered analysis about the flag's purpose in these groups:

The "national flag of Kekistan" mimics a German Nazi war flag, with the Kek logo replacing the swastika and the green replacing the infamous German red. A 4chan logo is emblazoned in the upper left hand corner. Alt-righters are particularly fond of the way the banner trolls liberals who recognize its origins.

To be clear, the iconography on the Road Complex AA1 gauntlets is not identical, but its green coloration, and the shape of the KEK lettering are obvious signals. Doubtless there will be people who refuse to acknowledge the very clear symbolism here, much in the same way that the Kekistan flag itself was designed to give overt symbols of Nazi allegiance an ironic cover story. The entire cartoonish nature of modern white supremacist symbolism is to make clear, sincere statements of belief that believers can then turn around and masquerade as an edgy joke.

But that's a shell game where in the name of fairness someone can be asked to provide endless proof of what is evident to the naked eye. It's a way to make victims and targets seem ridiculous while their abusers and assailants are portrayed as mere jesters from the court of internet dadaism, with no connection to real-world harassment and violence.

 

[MayMay]

And suddenly everything was a white supremacy symbol

 

[AntraxSuicide]

The contract work would be considered finished though. I'm sure the outside studio would be pressed to terminate the employee to maintain a future working relationship with Bungie and Activision obviously. They've been made to look foolish so I'm sure they want the prankster to pay and not work in the industry anymore.

I think that was their point. Acti/Bungie are big clients and they can easily say, "Fire the person who did this or you'll never land a contract again."

 

[Deku Tree]

.

 

[LegendofDragoonLives]

No I saw. I'm just surprised something like that exists. It seems I'm living under a rock hidden in some forgotten cave when it comes to some of this stuff.

 

[shiba5]

Might as well jump to a conclusion then.

It happened with uncharted using assassin creeds map or something like that, no one caught it. By the looks of this thread most didn't even know it was a thing.

An Uncharted 4 trailer used Assassin's Creed Black Flag concept art in a painting on Nate's wall. They obviously changed it by launch.

 

[Gestault]

And suddenly everything was a white supremacy symbol

Things that are explicit symbols of white supremacy? Yes, those things are.

 

[DrROBschiz]

And suddenly everything was a white supremacy symbol

Again Context matters

The intent behind slipping this in is abundantly clear if you follow the recent actions of the groups that push this shit around the internet

Sorry but shitty people spoil things that you might consider inert

The right thing to do is to push back against shitty people

 

[shamanick]

Things that are explicitely symbols of white supremacy? Yes, they are.

but it was just a joke, bro

 

[Obliterator]

No I saw. I'm just surprised something like that exists. It seems I'm living under a rock hidden in some forgotten cave when it comes to some of this stuff.

To be fair I don't think this particular symbol is very mainstream known at all. I'm on GAF all day every day which is pretty in tune with this sort of thing and I'd never heard of it before today

 

[ZOONAMI]

Couldn't Bungie spread the word about that person to discourage other companies from hiring him/her?

If Bungie was cool they would publicly release who done it. Blackballed for life.

Not sure on the legality of them doing that though. Probably would result in a lawsuit, so I imagine they won't.

 

[Dynomutt]

Things that are explicit symbols of white supremacy? Yes, those things are.

According to MayMay they may be or they may not but in this instance it's more likely than not.

 

[Marcel]

Might as well jump to a conclusion then.

It happened with uncharted using assassin creeds map or something like that, no one caught it. By the looks of this thread most didn't even know it was a thing.

Explain how would you "accidentally" run into the Kekistan racist meme flag on the internet and then be so inspired that you would borrow the iconography for your gauntlet design.

 

[LycanXIII]

My hunter is wearing these right now. I had no idea. Yuck.

Same, I liked the blade on the arms, didn't know about the logo. Guess I'll shoot for the pair that Shaxx can give now. They look better anyways.

 

[killatopak]

kek would always be lol to me.

 

[ZOONAMI]

but it was just a joke, bro

I'm not racist I just wanted to see if anyone would catch it...

Sure bud.

 

[DrROBschiz]

To be fair I don't think this particular symbol is very mainstream known at all. I'm on GAF all day every day which is pretty in tune with this sort of thing and I'd never heard of it before today

Oh I didnt know it till today either but Im not about to advocate giving Alt righters an inch after the shit they have been pulling for the past several years

Screw em all

 

[bizzarewars]

And suddenly everything was a white supremacy symbol

I don't know if you know this, but white supremacy symbols typically tend to be white supremacy symbols.

Crazy, I know.

 

[Slayven]

Bungie should sue him to recover costs of fixing his fuckery

 

[GlitchyDegree]

Disgusting. I'm glad Bungie removed it.

 

[Astral Dog]

The Swastikas were taken

 

[Obliterator]

Oh I didnt know it till today either but Im not about to advocate giving Alt righters an inch after the shit they have been pulling for the past several years

Screw em all

Totally agreed. Its clear whoever did this did it on purpose.

I'm just saying I can easily see how no one at Bungie caught it. Unless you knew what you were looking for specifically this would just look like any other random gauntlet

 

[ZOONAMI]

To be fair I don't think this particular symbol is very mainstream known at all. I'm on GAF all day every day which is pretty in tune with this sort of thing and I'd never heard of it before today

Apologies.

 

[Van Bur3n]

Someone is getting fired.

 

[Trace]

kek would always be lol to me.

It pisses me off that both Pepe and "kek" have become white supremacist shit, I liked early Pepe stuff when it was just idiotic memes, now it's been stolen by racists and white supremacists.

STOP RUINING EVERYTHING WHITE SUPREMACISTS.

 

[LycanXIII]

Can someone post the full flavor text?

.

 

[Marcel]

The idea that the person who wrote the flavor text was also in on the racist prank is a big reach and y'all should settle down about that.

 

[Obliterator]

So you think all white supremacy symbols are mainstream?

Face, meet palm (or in this case fist).

......what are you talking about?

Like literally what are you on about? I'm explaining to that user why they had probably never heard of it, and that most people probably haven't

 

[Gotdatmoney]

I'm sure the artist who did this just made an honest mistake. If the find him and he apologies that should be fine right? No need to ruin the guys life.

/s

 

[mhayes86]

I'll admit that this is the first that I've heard/seen of this flag, but yeah, that seems too close to be a coincidence.

 

[DrROBschiz]

Totally agreed. Its clear whoever did this did it on purpose.

I'm just saying I can easily see how no one at Bungie caught it. Unless you knew what you were looking for specifically this would just look like any other random gauntlet

Oh yeah I dont blame them for missing it

Most companies would

They are handling this properly but I hope they go further against the employee responsible

In our current climate this shit isnt funny anymore

It pisses me off that both Pepe and "kek" have become white supremacist shit, I liked early Pepe stuff when it was just idiotic memes, now it's been stolen by racists and white supremacists.

STOP RUINING EVERYTHING WHITE SUPREMACISTS.

Its the consequence of ignoring and enabling them in the first place

Had we known how far they would go all these years ago I would have taken a much harder stance a long time ago

I dont blame anyone for reacting slow... We were all numb to how wild west the internet is... I know I didnt take fringe elements as serious threats to every day life but here we are

 

[ZOONAMI]

......what are you talking about?

Like literally what are you on about? I'm explaining to that user why they had probably never heard of it, and that most people probably haven't

Ah my bad. Sorry. Didn't get the context. Edited post.

 

[vulva]

I just thought kek was korean starcraft laughing until today.

 

[Obliterator]

Ah my bad. Sorry. Didn't get the context.

It's all good. Lol, it can be easy to lose context in posts sometimes, no harm no foul

 

[What did he mean by this?]

Must've been a heated moment in the artist's booth

 

[Orochinagis]

Random reminder, there is a line up of the same green tinted weapons on destiny 1, mayyyyyybe thats why the design got a pass

It was, originally. "Kekekeke" was the Korean version of "Hehehehe". That spread via online games, and I assume eventually turned into the shorthand "kek" like "lol". No idea how it got attached to white supremacy via 4chan though. (Aside from it being popular on 4chan, and there being white supremacists that visit 4chan)

Yes, I associate kek with lol,

 

[KZXcellent]

Can the alt right stop stealing things I like. Poor kek didn't deserve this.

 

[The ๖ۜBronx]

Good job on Bungie for getting on top of it and fixing it. Intentional or otherwise it's close enough to draw recognition and comparison and to that extent draw the same feelings for people that are targetted by it.

If it was intentional, then I have no idea how a designer expected it to go unnoticed in a game played by millions. It's not like its hidden in a belt buckle or something.