My parents we're immigrants who came into the USA in the 1980s, so I was the first American in my family. I am american, I was raised here, and I've treated my American and my Jewish heritage equally, and I have never, never heard of "the term we are talking about" being used, not once in the 21 years I've been on this earth. Surely I am not alone. I know about my country's history, including its dark past with the discrimination against blacks, Jews, and asians (just some examples), and I've never heard it before. I just IMed some friends from campus, and of the 10 I IMed with American heritage going back at least 3 generations, only 1 of them heard of the term, only 1. I honestly don't think it is that common.EternalGamer said:The cultural context matters. This is an American developer and this is the primary cultural meaning in America. In a way, it is heartening that so many young people in this thread don't know about this term. But it is also disconcerting because you clearly don't know very much about the history of racism in this country then because the term was used ALL THE TIME and that is something that is a pretty important part of our nation's history to know about.
There are a number of logical jumps that get you to that point. The game doesn't take "sambo" and give you a black man holding a watermelon.ZealousD said:"Sambo" refers to a particular type of black stereotype. A happy crazy black slave that's lazy and doesn't want to do work. It works pretty well with another stereotype of a happy black man eating a watermelon. The imagery was commonly used to during the late 1900s as a justification for slavery. Afterall, black people were happy being slaves!
Crateman said:The conclusions I'm drawing from all of this are the following:
-If you are American and somehow don't know the racial connotations of every word you're a bad, bad person and you should be ashamed.
-Kotaku is off my RSS feed.
And really: what can be done about it? Should 5th Cell recall every copy of the game and replace them with a new build of the game where the word Sambo doesn't bring up anything? And, think about it: how many of you guys would have used the word Sambo on the game? I bet that only 5% of the people who would play Scribblenauts would interact with the word... and from that 5%, the 95% would have encountered because they were trying to use every single word written on the leaked list.
Crateman said:The conclusions I'm drawing from all of this are the following:
-If you are American and somehow don't know the racial connotations of every word you're a bad, bad person and you should be ashamed.
Rest assured, millions of people know the word to be offensive although the definition in question is dated. It's tempting to think that it would be best to forget that the word "Sambo" ever had a negative connotation and simply take it to mean fig leaf gourd or Russian judo, but as the old adage goes "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."mavs said:I've lived in the US my whole life and never heard the term, either as a slur or otherwise. I've only lived in very white regions but I am obviously not white myself, so if it was "very well known" I'd expect to at least hear it. Sounds more like an obscure or obsolete slur, so if it's also an actual word that refers to an actual object (one you could play in a serious Scrabble game) then it's quite legitimate in a dictionary-based game.
A Black Falcon said:Sure, I grew up in a liberal, well-read family, and am liberal as well. But still, expecting Americans to know what "Sambo" means is not exactly difficult, to say the least. And if people don't know, yes, that is an even bigger problem, because it says that people don't know enough about the long struggles in America towards acceptance of nonwhite people... and that is definitely something that should be troubling. This is something anyone in high school in America should know, at minimum.
HUELEN10 said:My parents we're immigrants who came into the USA in the 1980s, so I was the first American in my family. I am american, I was raised here, and I've treated my American and my Jewish heritage equally, and I have never, never heard of "the term we are talking about" being used, not once in the 21 years I've been on this earth. Surely I am not alone. I know about my country's history, including its dark past with the discrimination against blacks, Jews, and asians (just some examples), and I've never heard it before. I just IMed some friends from campus, and of the 10 I IMed with American heritage going back at least 3 generations, only 1 of them heard of the term, only 1. I honestly don't think it is that common.
EternalGamer said:You guys keep ignoring that it is the PRIMARY definition of the word it is the one more people know. Should nobody ever be allowed to use the word again? Of course they should. If you are somewhere where there is a big plate of this fruit, knock yourself out by telling your friend to have some "sambo." But you should be aware of the context you are using it in and make it clear. In this context, it is not clear at all because that is not the association most people are going to make. And they clearly were trying to avoid other racial epithets because none of them are in the game. They just fucked up with this one and it's a pretty big fuck up.
A Black Knight said:Indeed. Words can change definition. "Sambo" took on a racist one in the late 1800s, and that remains the definition of the word. It isn't outdated and unknown, it is current. It is the only definition of the word you will find in many dictionaries, and none of them mention the one that the game is claimed to be referencing. People who defend this can try to ignore that all they want, but it doesn't change the facts.
EternalGamer said:Not knowing it shows you don't know ANYTHING about early 20th century racist propaganda in the United States.
KHarvey16 said:Just for the record I've never once heard the word being used anywhere. I'm 24 years old and I spend a lot of time on the Internet. Those claiming it's some obvious word known by everyone can only speak for themselves.
Truth.EternalGamer said:Your not a bad person, but you should not necessarily be proud that you don't know anything about your country's history. Sambo is not an obscure term. Not knowing it shows you don't know ANYTHING about early 20th century racist propaganda in the United States. And yes, ignorance is something that, in a lot of cases, if you should not be ashamed of, you should at least be humbled by.
KHarvey16 said:Oh please.
http://postbourgie.com/2009/03/02/a-brief-cultural-history-of-blacks-and-watermelons/sonicmj1 said:There are a number of logical jumps that get you to that point. The game doesn't take "sambo" and give you a black man holding a watermelon.
In a world where typing the name of an object gives you the actual object, how does the word "sambo" producing a watermelon imply this stereotype? You literally have to bring your definition of the word and plop it down next to the produced object in order to make your analysis fit. A watermelon on its own says nothing about black people in general, at least not in the context shown here.
I can see how the Native American example mentioned could be seen as reinforcing a stereotype, but if the word "Native" summoned a headdress, I'd find it to be more confusing than racist.
Htown said:Truth.
Unfortunately this is GAF, where bringing up racism is the only thing that's racist.
Again, this is not to say that Scribblenauts is racist; I don't believe it is. At all. But come ON people. Y'all really haven't heard "Sambo" as a racial term before?
lorddarkflare said:WHYYYYYYY???????
Am i the only one that sees that this fucking thread should not exist?
EternalGamer said:Sorry, but it's true. It's a very common term and it was everywhere, not just a few minor places. I really don't know how to say this without coming off like a douche, and I really don't want to but you guys really should not automatically assume that because you don't know something then it must not be important/prominent.
EternalGamer said:Sorry, but it's true. It's a very common term and it was everywhere, not just a few minor places. I really don't know how to say this without coming off like a douche, and I really don't want to but you guys really should not automatically assume that because you don't know something then it must not be important/prominent.
gofreak said:Sambo means sandwich where I come from.
If Scribblenauts doesn't spawn a sandwich when I put in sambo, I'm going to take it as an affront to my sensibilities!
EternalGamer said:Sorry, but it's true. It's a very common term and it was everywhere, not just a few minor places. I really don't know how to say this without coming off like a douche because I am completely sincere. Maybe put down the controller a bit more often and pick up a book. Many of you guys really should not automatically assume that because you don't know something then it must not be important/prominent.
EternalGamer said:Sorry, but it's true. It's a very common term and it was everywhere, not just a few minor places. I really don't know how to say this without coming off like a douche because I am completely sincere. Maybe put down the controller a bit more often and pick up a book. Many of you guys really should not automatically assume that because you don't know something then it must not be important/prominent.
Um.gutshot said:EternalGamer
I dont know how much the rest of you know about American racial relations (Im an expert)
(Today, 12:03 AM)
Reply | Quote
EternalGamer said:Sorry, but it's true. It's a very common term and it was everywhere, not just a few minor places. I really don't know how to say this without coming off like a douche because I am completely sincere. Maybe put down the controller a bit more often and pick up a book. Many of you guys really should not automatically assume that because you don't know something then it must not be important/prominent.
EternalGamer said:I sort of agree that it is a positive sign. But the narcisicism of people who automatically assume because they don't know about something then it must not be a big deal to anyone else is pretty ridiculous and offensive.
EternalGamer said:Your not a bad person, but you should not necessarily be proud that you don't know anything about your country's history. Sambo is not an obscure term. Not knowing it shows you don't know ANYTHING about early 20th century racist propaganda in the United States. And yes, ignorance is something that, in a lot of cases, if you should not be ashamed of, you should at least be humbled by.
EternalGamer said:Sorry, but if you have never heard this term, you are proving you DON'T really know very much about the history of racism in the United States. It is that simple. This term and the iconography associated with it was everywhere. Warner Bros (the company that publishes this game) even made "Little Sambo" cartoons and Sambo was even a character in Bugs Bunny cartoons.
And yes, there are a lot of people that don't know as much about American history as they should.
Hopefuly in your college career you'll get around to taking a course in American history. And I'm not trying to be condescending when I say that. You're young and still have a lot to learn. I wasn't exactly all that aware of history and culture when I was that age either.
louis89 said:Topic aside, regarding the OP's rant about Americans, it's an offensive word here in the UK as well. Wouldn't be surprised if the entire English speaking world (i.e., the only place this game exists in) was the same.
All of the ones I encountered from tenth grade up did, actually.LiveFromKyoto said:By your own explanation the word is obscure if you didn't even know about it until you took a college course. It's a stretch to say somebody doesn't understand much about the history of racism in the states without knowing it, this is a relatively obscure slur and isn't even particularly relevant to the history of bigotry in America. I can't imagine most American history courses, even those on the black struggle for civil rights, would bother to bring it up.
It was an extremely common caricature.LiveFromKyoto said:Sambo was a black cartoon character and some people used his name as a pejorative, that's it. There were a ton of epithets that were more common, and an uncountable number of facts more relevant to understanding the history of racial oppression in America.
Yes, I have.LiveFromKyoto said:People don't know the term because it hasn't been in common usage in that context for generations; once the cartoon faded from collective memory it lost meaning as a cultural reference. Can anybody here honestly say they've heard a racist use the word in their own lives? Like yourself, I've only seen the word written, and even then only in a historical context.
Log4Girlz said:it wouldn't surprise me if someone said hey, what about sambo its a kind of fruit...and they just didn't catch on.
+lilljolle said:Racist people will find racist stuff, the rest of us will just enjoy the game.
Zep said:I can totally understand a lot of people not knowing about the word but don't use it as a defense for the company. I can't imagine how this got through when they went double checking the word and creating a drawing for it.
EternalGamer said:It' is NOT a deliberate attack. But that doesn't excuse it. As I said, intentionality isn't everything. I know some of the posters here may be younger and therefore not know the connection between this word and a watermelon, but it absolutely exists. And not only does it exists I can guarantee you that ALOT more people know of "Sambo" as a racist term and know of the sterotypes of watermelons and blacks than know about this "gourd." It's not a minor secondardy meaning, it is the most well known meaning of the word.
Htown said:The thing that actually offends me isn't Scribblenauts, it's the fact that nobody here seems to know that Sambo is a racist term.
Korey said:That's the weird part. I was somewhat peeved by the sensationalism from the blogosphere, so I checked the online dictionaries.
Dictionary.com defines "sambo" with the racist definition.
Webster.com defines it as "an international style of wrestling employing judo techniques".
A wikipedia search doesn't yield the gourd definition as a search result.
So, the gourd definition is apparently pretty obscure.
Ca1amity said:Notice how you didnt know shit all about this word until just now? Notice how you probably dont give a shit about that history lesson. This is the rest of the world looking at you.
Zep said::lol Coooooooome on man.
I can totally understand a lot of people not knowing about the word but don't use it as a defense for the company. I can't imagine how this got through when they went double checking the word and creating a drawing for it.
And I don't give a fuck how old the word is, or it's usage in this day in age. It still holds a place in our country's history and can't be ignored.
That's ridiculous. The law is a set of hard and fast rules and if ignorance of it were a defence, it would have no use. Language is fluid, ever changing and highly regional. I'll bet I could come up with half a dozen racial, sexual or otherwise obscene terms from my region that have innocent meanings elsewhere, pop them into Scribblenauts and find that some of the results are rather coincidentally connected in some way. I won't be writing any articles cryptically suggesting that this was a deliberate act of racism though, because I'd be realistic enough to realise that perhaps those terms just aren't all that important on the world scale.A Black Falcon said:Being ignorant about the law does not mean you don't have to follow it... same applies here.