(You were warned....)Anyone who tells you that racism in America (or anywhere else, but mostly America) doesn't exist hasn't played online video games.
Let me set the scene for you: It's early AM... wife's fast asleep in the bedroom across the house, you get up to let the dog piss in the yard and settle in in front of the tv, fire up the Xbox and log into your game (or my purposes, Call of Duty: Black Ops).
You enter a game lobby, this area where gamers congregate while we wait for the next match to start. No one's saying anything.
The screen goes black, and then the load card... a screen that shows what map you and everyone else will be playing on while the game gets itself ready... comes up and that's when some ignorant asshole starts sputtering hateful shit.
"NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER!"
Not exactly the most articulate thing, mind you, but it's affect is purposeful. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here writing about it hours later.
This happens more often than you'd think. See, these racist fuckfaces wait til this load screen to speak, because during this screen everyone's mic (a microphone one wears to communicate to other players in the game) is on, but no one can see anyone else's screen name, in order to give attribution to who's speaking. It's like picking up a phone, dialing a random number and shouting into it.
As soon as the game starts, and people can see each other's screen names again, the racist goes quiet. He's a coward who will not stand for his convictions and beliefs, because in his heart he knows they're wrong, he's wrong, and will be judge by others for it.
The reason why he does this is two fold: he wants to fuck with people (and he's largely successful, again, because here I am writing about this experience) and he wants to spread his racist agenda (again, successful) I only wish he would do it where I could see his screenname so I could put his mic on mute (an option) so I won't have to deal with his bullshit.
So if you're an ignorant, hate-filled son of a bitch with a high speed internet connection and a love of First Person Shooters, and you're not too busy finger-raping your little sister, please make your racist, inbred comments in the game lobby, so I know who to mute in advance. Also, so I can track you down in game and make your playing experience a fucking misery. I don't care if there's an objective to hold or defend or attack... I'm coming for you, every time I spawn until you Rage Quit.
I consider it my way of fighting racism where it exists in the digital world.
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