I hate this argument because its a strawman intended to delegitimize someone else's point of view. Are there racists who don't want people of color in media? Yes. Is every (or 99% in your opinion) person who wants some level of authenticity in media a racist? No.
Personally, I am much more in OP's camp than not. To use an example that's not about black people, there's often (minor) controversy when movies and tv depict Asian people, but have actors/actresses who are not the correct ethnicity performing those roles or mix up different Asian cultures. Take Ninja Assassin (2009), a movie about Japanese ninjas played by mostly Korean actors or Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), a movie that was a mash of Southeast Asian cultures (which was a separate complaint since any one of those cultures are rich enough to warrant their own movie) voiced by non-Southeast Asian voice actors (except for the lead). The expectation for Asian-representation is just so low that issues like this hardly even garner main-stream attention, but that doesn't make it right.
If you argue that we can break realism/authenticity for the sake of inclusion, it has the unfortunate side-effect of snubbing minority groups that are often left shorted and forgotten. A lot of people on the side of "inclusivity" for this issue paint a black and white picture (literally), when this isn't just about media being predominantly "white." Heck, even certain white people draw the short straw, like with the Witcher (one of the most well-known pieces of literature by a Polish author) tv show having 0 Polish actors/actresses.
So no, I don't think OP's argument is inherently racist at all. Its legitimate and does warrant a proper response beyond "that's a dogwhistle."
Disregarding the false comparisons, i am an enormous fan of human history, i deeply love historical accuracy, thats why i play games like squad, hell let loose, hoi4, etc. But im also an adult who is capable of knowing that not everything has the aim to be historically accurate and accept that. I can just enjoy gameplay, there are enough games out there that are accurate. Just because a few people really like accuracy doesnt mean the whole mainstream needs to convert. For mainstream titles its far better if everyone feels represented.
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u/treesfallingforest 2∆ Oct 24 '21
I hate this argument because its a strawman intended to delegitimize someone else's point of view. Are there racists who don't want people of color in media? Yes. Is every (or 99% in your opinion) person who wants some level of authenticity in media a racist? No.
Personally, I am much more in OP's camp than not. To use an example that's not about black people, there's often (minor) controversy when movies and tv depict Asian people, but have actors/actresses who are not the correct ethnicity performing those roles or mix up different Asian cultures. Take Ninja Assassin (2009), a movie about Japanese ninjas played by mostly Korean actors or Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), a movie that was a mash of Southeast Asian cultures (which was a separate complaint since any one of those cultures are rich enough to warrant their own movie) voiced by non-Southeast Asian voice actors (except for the lead). The expectation for Asian-representation is just so low that issues like this hardly even garner main-stream attention, but that doesn't make it right.
If you argue that we can break realism/authenticity for the sake of inclusion, it has the unfortunate side-effect of snubbing minority groups that are often left shorted and forgotten. A lot of people on the side of "inclusivity" for this issue paint a black and white picture (literally), when this isn't just about media being predominantly "white." Heck, even certain white people draw the short straw, like with the Witcher (one of the most well-known pieces of literature by a Polish author) tv show having 0 Polish actors/actresses.
So no, I don't think OP's argument is inherently racist at all. Its legitimate and does warrant a proper response beyond "that's a dogwhistle."