Gears of War: Blantantly Racist?

Now, I may just have been completely dense over the past few years that GoW has been out, but how reacistly they treat Cole in this game goes deeper than I recognized, at first. Like, okay, Cole is a GIANT setryotype, that's obvious, but not necessarily racist, and then I watched The Royal Tenenbaums by Wes Anderson:

There's a scene where Roal (played by Gene Hackman) is having a conversation with Henry (Danny Glover)... Well, anyway, they're talking and Royal is getting upset and he calls Henry "Coal Train", and it's probably one of the funniest moments in the entire movie, but I never realized how racist it sounded to call a black person Coal Train, and yet that's almost all that Cole goes by throughout all of GoW. Now, I seriously doubt that that was unnintentionaly done, and I just found it kind of suprising how racistly they do treat Cole Train.

I'm also surprised that Resident Evil, a game made completely by Japaneese people, got such flack for having a white man, in Africa, killing black zombies, and Epic didn't get anything over this game when that's just flat-out racist!

Dude...his name is Augustus Cole...hence the nickname ColeTrain. Where in the heck did you get racist stuff out of that? You need to start playing the game and stop over analysing crazy stuff like this. I seriously doubt when Epic made this game they were trying to throw out some racist stereotypes. Oh, and Cole Train is an ex pro footballer so that explains his size. After all, most football players whether they are black or white are farely large. Nuff said.

What exact racist actions were taken against Cole Train? Cite specific examples, and keep in mind most of the cutscenes are readily available on youtube as well.SteveTabernacle

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this: Like a scene where Dom and Marcus are held up in the mansion, and Cole and Bard bust in, Cole screaming and shooting and having an awesome time, as usual, and he yells "Nothin' can stop the Cole Train!" And then Dom whispers in Marcuses ear, "Yeah, becasue he's black"? No, there's nothing there like that. The Idea is that the term itself is racist. It'd be like if Dom called himself The Wet Back because he can slip around cover so well.

Now, also, upon realizing this, I didn't immediately burn my copies of GoW and GoW2 because I'm white. But I simply found it surprising that the term that Cole reffers to himself as is a racial slur, and no body made a big deal over it.

I was also drawing a parellel to the RE5 controversy, which was obviously not racist on any level and yet such a fuss was made over it that Capcom went out of the way to un-racist the game, and yet not a single person mentioned this Cole Train thing, even though it has quite a bit more significance behind it.

And I already said that steryotyping wasn't racist, so thank you for repeating me as if it was an argument, but when everyone refers to the black character as Cole Train, it goes a little deeper than that.

I thought it was just a video game.

And I already said that steryotyping wasn't racist, so thank you for repeating me as if it was an argument, but when everyone refers to the black character as Cole Train, it goes a little deeper than that.

vadicta

Now, I seriously doubt that that was unintentionaly done, and I just found it kind of suprising how racistly they do treat Cole Train.vadicta

Just as someone else said...stereotyping isn't racist...it's just generalizing and I think it's safe to say that "MOST" people have enough dam sense not to judge an entire race based off of a few stereotypes.I'm an Afro-American and I've been playing Gears for years...I can honestly say that I've seen "NO" mistreatment to Cole at all. Even though they have made him stereotypical, I'm surprized thathe is so well liked by most gamers. lol

[QUOTE="vadicta"]And I already said that steryotyping wasn't racist, so thank you for repeating me as if it was an argument, but when everyone refers to the black character as Cole Train, it goes a little deeper than that.

SteveTabernacle

Now, I seriously doubt that that was unintentionaly done, and I just found it kind of suprising how racistly they do treat Cole Train.vadicta

Okay, apparently people don't read the second paragraph of posts, which contain the exposition, so I'll break this up.

Ignore this...

When in the context that GoW creates around Cole, it's seemingly unracist, but, when you hear a person call a black person Coal Train, no matter how funny it is, it's a pretty racist thing for a black person to call himself, and it just seems like a wholely irresponsible thing to do in a game.

TC, you have no idea what you are talking about.

The character is Augustus Cole 'aka Cole Train'. He has his nickname from the equivalent of american football. 'You can't stop the Cole Train baby' refers to the fact that he could not be brought down in his sport.

Making some utterly ridiculous comparison to a movie having nothing to do with this videogame and trying to draw a link based on a similar nickname is beyond the pale.

Josef Stalin was the man of steel. Superman is the man of steel. OMG, superman is a blood thirsty commie dictator!!!!

LMAO

So, you all are just willing to sit here and claim that a company made a black character, decided to name him "Coal", and they made him a big ex-football player, and gave him the nickname "Coal Train" Which just happens to be a racial slur. And they just kind of stumbled into this by accident. I know it's fun to ignorantly pretend that nothing is racist, but this just plain is, there's no way around it. And I'm perfectly aware of why they call him Cole Train; I know that you assume I didn't play the games because I said that it sound racist, but I have, and I still very much do, avidly enough, all the way through the co-op storylines on both, so I'm aware of all of this. I'm just saying that it's a fun game that's also racist, as sort-of a side thing to keep itself busy.

Of course stereotyping is racist.

Saying that an entire ethnic group is stupid, is an example of stereotyping.

It's also an example of racism.

When Obama said that his grandmother was "fearful - a typical white person.", he was saying that most white people are fearful. Since he didn't say black people were fearful, he must have been implying that blacks are more courageous than whites.

Believing that one race is superior to another - is called - racism.

When in the context that GoW creates around Cole, it's seemingly unracist, but, when you hear a person call a black person Coal Train, no matter how funny it is, it's a pretty racist thing for a black person to call himself, and it just seems like a wholely irresponsible thing to do in a game.vadicta

So, you all are just willing to sit here and claim that a company made a black character, decided to name him "Coal", and they made him a big ex-football player, and gave him the nickname "Coal Train" Which just happens to be a racial slur. And they just kind of stumbled into this by accident. I know it's fun to ignorantly pretend that nothing is racist, but this just plain is, there's no way around it. vadicta

Now you're making it obvious you have no solid argument. Yes, their is a way around it, and making a sweeping ad-hominem attack on everyone who disagrees with you as "ignorant" makes it obvious you can't actually support your original point with anything of any real substance at all. Ad-hominem attacks are just a veiled admission of defeat in debates. I know their is plenty of real racism in the world, I just get pissed off when the race card is played too liberally, as in the case of this post, because it makes it harder for people to take the REAL incidents of racism seriously because they think it's more mountain out of molehill/boy who cried wolf claims like this one.

Guess there are always people out there that make something out of nothing. RE5 took place in Africa so its racist? Was that just because Chris Redfield was white and was the main character. I do believe he had a colored partner and the people they were shooting were infected and they weren't all black. I guess 50 Cent Blood on the Sand is racist because its a couple of black guys shooting alot of white guys! When I sit down to play a game I don't give a dang what color person I shoot. I just play the game.

[QUOTE="vadicta"]When in the context that GoW creates around Cole, it's seemingly unracist, but, when you hear a person call a black person Coal Train, no matter how funny it is, it's a pretty racist thing for a black person to call himself, and it just seems like a wholely irresponsible thing to do in a game.SteveTabernacle

Do you seriously not understand why the term Cole Train is racist, and yes I understand Cole and coal are spelled differently, but some people have the mental capacity to unravel simple puns: It's because coal is black, very black, completely black, even turns other people black, which is why the term IS USED as a racial slur for black people. And trains that transported coal, when it was really being transported, were also black, not really the containers, but the train itself was. It draws up a completely racist picture, I don't understand how you don't see this, unless you're just arguing for the sake of arguing, because admiting that Cole's character is, in fact, pretty fricken racist would force you to give up GoW forever for the sake of your white man's guilt.

Stop pretending not to understand my point, admit it's racist, and go back to playing it, it's all right, I won't tell anyone.

Additionally, you make it clear in the original post that you were not aware of any connection between the term Coal Train and a racial slur. Neither was I. Yet you would have us believe it is absolutely impossible that Epic games developers were also unaware of that, can you justify that stance? Preferrably without ad-hom personal attacks?

...would force you to give up GoW forever for the sake of your white man's guilt.

vadicta

:lol:

Mayday!

LOUD NOISES!!

So, you all are just willing to sit here and claim that a company made a black character, decided to name him "Coal", and they made him a big ex-football player, and gave him the nickname "Coal Train" Which just happens to be a racial slur. And they just kind of stumbled into this by accident. I know it's fun to ignorantly pretend that nothing is racist, but this just plain is, there's no way around it. And I'm perfectly aware of why they call him Cole Train; I know that you assume I didn't play the games because I said that it sound racist, but I have, and I still very much do, avidly enough, all the way through the co-op storylines on both, so I'm aware of all of this. I'm just saying that it's a fun game that's also racist, as sort-of a side thing to keep itself busy.

vadicta

It isn't that complicated.

You are using the context of one statement from one thing, and inventing in your mind the same context for a similar, but different statement, in something completely different.

The statements are not the same and the contexts are not the same. You have invented this in your mind.

I guarantee you that if I went through every human document ever written, by every person who ever lived, and similarly every movie scene, etc, and I wrote down all the pejorative, racist, nasty things for their time and compiled it into a grand dictionary of bad phrases....I could prove to you that at least 10% of everything you have ever said is racist by the same method you are.

Here is a hint. Britons have been calling cigarettes f a g s for a hundred years. I suppose they are all homophobic, too, right?

Which is absurd. And so is your OP.

Stop pretending not to understand my point, admit it's racist, and go back to playing it, it's all right, I won't tell anyone.vadicta

[QUOTE="vadicta"]...would force you to give up GoW forever for the sake of your white man's guilt.

DJ_Lae

:lol:

Mayday!

.

Of course stereotyping is racist.

Saying that an entire ethnic group is stupid, is an example of stereotyping.

It's also an example of racism.

When Obama said that his grandmother was "fearful - a typical white person.", he was saying that most white people are fearful. Since he didn't say black people were fearful, he must have been implying that blacks are more courageous than whites.

Believing that one race is superior to another - is called - racism.

Born_Lucky

Stereotyping is a form of ignorance(NOT KNOWING)...if you've had limited interaction with a group of people, your perspective of them is going to be pretty shallow...thus paving the way for a stereotypical mindset...how is "THAT" racist??And I'm not even going to comment on what you said about the President....

.

DJ_Lae

[QUOTE="SteveTabernacle"]

Additionally, you make it clear in the original post that you were not aware of any connection between the term Coal Train and a racial slur. Neither was I. Yet you would have us believe it is absolutely impossible that Epic games developers were also unaware of that, can you justify that stance? Preferrably without ad-hom personal attacks?

vadicta

Well, I think the answer is obvious... I mentioned something I found amusing when I realized it, painted it up into a controversy, but mostly was just sort-of gloating over the fact that I found it first! And, yes, you have beaten me, but you had the easier side, arguably, and I accept that (gotta watch those controdictions). And you're right, personal attacks are a little low-brow. The only reason I'm admitting defeat now, is becasue I have to go on a date, you know, with a girl? Those things you use your telescope to stalk around after hoping to get a peak at their bobbies through a bathroom window?

Just to completely ruin your night. You weren't first. This whole absurdity was played out when Gears first came out.

the racism with cole,if any, was purely implied, most people didn't care enough to discover any potential racist implication within him, since he was a badass and rather, comical relief.

RE 5 was incredibly explicit with its depiciting of Africans and such , and that's where it got all of its controversy.

RE 5 was incredibly explicit with its depiciting of Africans and such , and that's where it got all of its controversy.Dead-Memories

Cole was probably the most badass character in the game, and Resident Evil takes place in Africa... did you expect him to be killing white people? If anything, it's kind of a slavery statement.ATastyBurger

Cole refers to himself as it though, its not like Dom and Marcus are calling him it to piss him off. And I never really got how RE5 was racist? I mean it takes place in Africa, of course they will be killing black zombies!

Cole refers to himself as it though, its not like Dom and Marcus are calling him it to piss him off. And I never really got how RE5 was racist? I mean it takes place in Africa, of course they will be killing black zombies!

bigboss1203

[QUOTE="bigboss1203"]

Cole refers to himself as it though, its not like Dom and Marcus are calling him it to piss him off. And I never really got how RE5 was racist? I mean it takes place in Africa, of course they will be killing black zombies!

DJ_Lae

Cole was probably the most badass character in the game, and Resident Evil takes place in Africa... did you expect him to be killing white people? If anything, it's kind of a slavery statement.ATastyBurger

White people do life in Africa, you know this right?

I'm pretty sure that was Adam Sessler's logic, another good reason to not take him seriously. Ever.SteveTabernacle

Cole is a massive stereotype, that can't be denied, but at the same time I wouldn't go as far as to say he's a racist caricature. He's loud and provides the series comic relief (which are the stereotypical traits} but to counterbalance it he's a highly competentsoldier and is arguably the mostskilled of the characters.

So yeah, he's got some stereotypes of black people, but I personally (being black myself) don't see Cole as crossing the line of being offensive. No, crossing the line was those two annoying transformers in Revenge of the Fallen.

So yeah, he's got some stereotypes of black people, but I personally (being black myself) don't see Cole as crossing the line of being offensive. No, crossing the line was those two annoying transformers in Revenge of the Fallen.Lionheart08

I think white people are oversensitive about racism, I never heard a black gamer complain about any gaming stereotype. Sure, calling the black guy Cole Train may sound a tad racist, but he's one of the coolest characters in the game and he was designed to be so. I don't know about you but i think Cole makes black people look cool. I find Luis Sera, the spaniard from RE4 immensely more offensive and ridiculously stereotypical than Cole Train. Still, what's the big deal? Stereotypes are fun and people should develop some sense of humor and laugh about them. I think the funniest jokes in Family Guy are when they mock my people (italians).Black_Knight_00

Doesnt matter how "cool" the character is. It is absolutely no excuse for his nickname to be a racial slur. And I heard that he is mostly in underground tunnels in the game. Its like they went out of their way to make it an insensitive character. And I hear you about family guy (even though they have even gone overboard with their jokes), but there is a difference between making a joke (by having him speak ebonics or something) and then being flat out racist. And GeoW decided to go with the latter.gaming25

You "heard" wrong. Cole goes where the other guys go. Yes they do all go into tunnels at some point, and their is a reason for that in the story. You'd know these kinds of things if you bothered actually playing the game (you can get it used for nine bucks) or doing even a rudimentary level of research on it before judging it based on hearsay as racist and terrible and what have you. But Bob forbid you should take the time to actually know what you are talking about and be able to have an informed opinion on the matter. That would be just awful.

:roll:

For reasons outlined very clearly already, it's very easy to see how this could have and likely was simply not intended that way. Your claim of Gears being flat out racist is erroneous, and has absolutely no backing in reality beyond something you can't prove isn't a coincidence, aside from the fact you willingly wish for it to be so and want to push that on the rest of us..

I think white people are oversensitive about racism, I never heard a black gamer complain about any gaming stereotype. Sure, calling the black guy Cole Train may sound a tad racist, but he's one of the coolest characters in the game and he was designed to be so. I don't know about you but i think Cole makes black people look cool. I find Luis Sera, the spaniard from RE4 immensely more offensive and ridiculously stereotypical than Cole Train. Still, what's the big deal? Stereotypes are fun and people should develop some sense of humor and laugh about them. I think the funniest jokes in Family Guy are when they mock my people (italians).Black_Knight_00

Most of the guys at work who are black that I know who have played it love the series, love Cole Train, and have never once mentioned his nickname was similiar to an outdated racial slur. We've gotten together many times to play the game, on and offline. Apparently, they've never heard of it as such, and neither have I until this thread was made. Oh but Epic totally had to have known and was being racist. Just you watch, I bet Cliffy B. wears a Klan hood to E3. :roll: