'Whore of the Orient' Takes Heat for 'Racially Insensitive'

[compl3x]

A prominent member of the Australian-Chinese community is speaking out against "###### of the Orient," the latest game from L.A. Noire creator Brendan McNamara and Australian development studio Kennedy Miller Mitchell. Jieh-Yung Lo, the deputy mayor of Monash Council, tells the Sydney Morning Herald that the "O-word is very similar to the N-word for African-American communities" and that in his opinion - the game is an ''attempt to disgrace Chinese culture, history and traditions."

''The most shocking revelation is that Team Bondi received $200,000 from Screen New South Wales to develop the project,'' Lo said.

 

''Australian institutions should be encouraged to fund projects and initiatives that cultivate mutual understanding and prosperity in the Australia-China relationship," he added. "We need to build greater trust and cultural understanding rather than promote division and negativity.''

 

Lo has vowed to file a complaint to the Human Rights Commission on grounds of racial vilification. Lo also said that he is a gamer and that he enjoyed playing L.A. Noire. He is calling on Team Bondi to ''retract the title and stop development of the game." He also said that the best outcome would be for the name of the game to be changed.

 

Announced in August of 2012, ###### of the Orient is an open-world third-person action game set in 1936 Shanghai, being developed for consoles and Windows.

 

KMM has not publicly commented on this story.

 

Source: SMH by way of Cheater87

 

 

 

 

http://gamepolitics.com/2013/09/03/######-orient-takes-heat-racially-insensitive-title

 

 

I am an Aussie and I never knew the "O-word  :rolleyes: " was considered racially offensive. If it is surely not as bad as the "N-word".

 

 

If this game was titled "The oriental ######" then I could see an issue.

[das reich wolf]

So ... saying Nazi to a german is liking calling an Afro Ameri a Nig***, and most people are happy to use it willy nilly.

 

Harden up princess is what I say to Jieh-Yunh Lo.

[Raa]

Since when was Oriental racist? :|

[vcfan]

my asian friends used to always refer to themselves as oriental. i dont hear it much nowadays, but i dont know whats changed or if its taken a new meaning.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

"###### of the Orient" is the historical term for Shanghai though, it's not referring to a person.

Never heard of "Orient" or "Oriental" being considered offensive either, there's even a flavour of noodles here that go by that term.

[soniqstylz]

I was "taught"  (I guess that's the word?) that Oriental should refer to an object, not a person; Orient, however, is the region.

 

So I sort of fail to see how this is racist, unless, you know, there's no ###### anywhere in the Orient.

[compl3x]

Me thinks Mr Lo might just be just trying to draw some political attention his way.

[compl3x]

I also find it funny no one has an issue with the ###### part. There is no context I know of where "######" isn't derogatory.

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

It's a 19th century racial-colonial conception and it's especially painful for older people in the communities. That was a very bad time in China, and people don't want or need to have that dragged up [link]

 

 

This sounds made-up. These people have been dead for a while and I too never heard of anyone using oriental in derogatory sense. But I'll reserve my final judgement till the game is out.

[Davo]

I sincerely doubt that title would have made it into stores anyway.

[Growled Member]

I sincerely doubt that title would have made it into stores anyway.

Probably not. It's bound to be offensive to someone.

[+Neyht Subscriber²]

....

 

But they had no problem with the word ######? 

[Xilo]

This sounds made-up. These people have been dead for a while and I too never heard of anyone using oriental in derogatory sense. But I'll reserve my final judgement till the game is out.

Might be made up, but there's still a lot of prejudice instilled in children over in China and other Asian countries for ###### that happened in the past even if it's been long over with.

[George P Global Moderator]

I didn't even know this game existed until now.