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Author Topic: Are shofixty too racist?  (Read 11335 times)
FakeMccoy
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Are shofixty too racist?
« on: August 05, 2013, 02:18:01 am »

I mean Japanese culture really hasn't been like that for hundreds of years, they still have traditional Shintoism around but you really don't see that "falling on your sword" thing anymore, I mean even the shofixty font has an Asain and more specifically Japanese style to it from the sharp and simple curvature that leaks over to create small serif details, you might as well give the Yehat terrible teeth and give the Punk pink sunglasses and rainbow dyed shirts, I think they should be a little more distinct and less like traditional Asian culture, they can still have a large influence of it like having a religion that every object has some kind of soul, like rock spirits and metal spirits and stuff, but I just think it should be toned down a little bit.
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Tiberian
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Re: Are shofixty too racist?
« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2013, 07:32:10 am »

You are free to feel that way.

I merely disagree with you.
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FakeMccoy
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Re: Are shofixty too racist?
« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2013, 11:10:21 am »

Ok, but is there any logical reason at all for why you disagree? It's not like the topic is locked, other people can speak their mind.
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onpon4
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Re: Are shofixty too racist?
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2013, 04:19:26 pm »

References to old cultures, accurate or not, are not necessarily bigoted. The Shofixti are never said to be Japanese (they just have Japanese accents and some similarities to some parts of old Japanese culture) and they certainly aren't making fun of Japanese people. They're portrayed as brave heroes, albeit brave heroes that actually ended up making things worse. You might well say that the Yehat are racist because they depict Scots as barbaric tribes that kill each other.
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FakeMccoy
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Re: Are shofixty too racist?
« Reply #4 on: August 05, 2013, 04:48:57 pm »

Yeah but the Sofixty are particularly obviously trying to resemble what someone thought of as Japanese culture, and I can guarantee you that every single organized army in the entire world has brave "heros" that would also rather go out in flames than die doing nothing, not just the Japanese soldiers, so the fact that the Japanese culture was picked specifically to emulate a brave and self-sacrificing people plays into that Japanese stereotype that still get's made fun of even today. And what about Clingons from Star Trek? They are race and honorable but also brave people that also act suicidal when facing enemies, yet have such diverse and unique customs and cultures that they cannot be particularly associated with any particular race of people on Earth.
Instead, if authors want to include Asian culture in the game to not leave anyone out, a large component of Shofixty culture can be what is a large part of Japanese culture still today (as religion counter intuitively continues to grow in Asia), but not specifically stereotyped towards Japanese culture but is involved in many other Asian cultures which is Shinotism. Shintoism itself has origins in the Japanese region but has had modifications and roots from various religions, very old religions and ideas, the main principal of which is that there is a spirit for every distinct type of natural object.
« Last Edit: August 05, 2013, 04:54:49 pm by FakeMccoy » Logged
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Re: Are shofixty too racist?
« Reply #5 on: August 05, 2013, 06:51:46 pm »

So, what's the problem? Again, the Shofixti are not Japanese. Their design just has some references. How are the Shofixti more "racist" than the Yehat are toward Scots?

They're just references, that's it. You said something about giving the Yehat bad teeth to make fun of Scots, but nothing like that occurs with the Shofixti. You're just making a mountain out of a molehill. The Shofixti are a species of rodent people with some references to Japan in their design. That's it.
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FakeMccoy
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Re: Are shofixty too racist?
« Reply #6 on: August 05, 2013, 09:00:27 pm »

The only thing the Yehat seem to be in reference to is a heavy Western European accent, hopefully the lack of teeth is not an extension of the stereotype. The problem is that the Shofixty so closely resemble a stereotypical western view of Japanese culture that its annoying and the Shofixti don't seem unique enough. The self sacrificing isn't only about honor, it's also a tradition about celebrating short lived beauty in life which their architecture is suppose to also emulate. As I said before, the Clingons from Star Trek (next generation) care about honor and have that suicidal tendency but are not too closely related to any particular culture on Earth. The Shofixty should be unique enough that I cannot heavily associate them with any particular Earth culture.
« Last Edit: August 05, 2013, 09:05:30 pm by FakeMccoy » Logged
Rapajez
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Re: Are shofixty too racist?
« Reply #7 on: August 08, 2013, 07:15:00 am »

You have it all wrong! Japanese people are offensive to the Shofixi!

It's ok for me to say that. I have a friend who's 1/5 Shofixi.
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FakeMccoy
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Re: Are shofixty too racist?
« Reply #8 on: August 08, 2013, 10:48:40 pm »

And I have a friend who's 100%, and it was kind of awkward when they they learned about the Shofixy, no other race in the star control series is that heavily oriented towards a particular culture on Earth.
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Kwayne
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Re: Are shofixty too racist?
« Reply #9 on: August 08, 2013, 11:14:34 pm »

Awwww ... how didn't your intestines implode due to the sheer shock of that experience?



BTW hey everyone! This guy has a 100% Shofixti friend!
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Re: Are shofixty too racist?
« Reply #10 on: August 09, 2013, 01:54:30 am »

Because the Japanese are use to being descriminated against and facing stereotypes like "you know martial arts right?" in the US.
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danzibr
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Re: Are shofixty too racist?
« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2013, 02:04:13 pm »

The only two Shofixti (shofixty is a cute typo btw) you ever run across in game have extreme prejudices against Ur-Quan.  I guess you could call them racist.  However, saying Shofixti (as a race) are racist, just basing it off of Tanaka and his brother, seems a bit racist (then again, at that time they're the only two Shofixti left).
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FakeMccoy
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Re: Are shofixty too racist?
« Reply #12 on: August 09, 2013, 04:31:04 pm »

In the game the shofixty probably are racist, but we're talking about implications in reality. They defanitely should have toned it down.
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Re: Are shofixty too racist?
« Reply #13 on: August 09, 2013, 11:47:24 pm »

In the game the shofixty probably are racist, but we're talking about implications in reality. They defanitely should have toned it down.

If you're going to fill the boards with goofiness, please at least make an effort to spell it right.  Cry
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FakeMccoy
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Re: Are shofixty too racist?
« Reply #14 on: August 09, 2013, 11:55:15 pm »

This isn't goofiness, this is something that was literally very awkward for a Japanese friend of mine to see, and that's kind of a problem if there's a component that's so racist that someone can feel uncomfortable about it.
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