Comments | bad_rpers_suck: because gypsies are totally magical mystical creatures and it's not racism guiz

angstysock in bad_rpers_suck

because gypsies are totally magical mystical creatures and it's not racism guiz

Jan 03, 2012 14:54

So I'm cruising for affiliates and this one game looks great. Active, long-lived, nice. Except I notice one thing.

There is a race called gypsies.

From the info:

LIFE SPAN: SAME AS HUMANS ( Read more... )

if this isn't on sf_d yet it should be, over 200 comments!!, what the fuck is this shit, wank ongoing, charge of the white knight brigade, calling all white knights, next up on the c_w: wank unexpected, i didn't read the rules, racewank in my brps

Comments 372

megumi_kitten January 3 2012, 23:33:36 UTC

How hard is it to come up with your own name for a species/race?

I wanted to make an elf race, so I looked up "lust" in different languages, then modified it to make the Lusara.

It's NOT HARD TO BE CREATIVE PEOPLE! NO NEED FOR SLURS!

canidsock January 3 2012, 23:58:28 UTC

Somewhat unrelated to original rant, but, uh. Am I the only person who was made kiiinda uncomfortable by that one scene in the newest Sherlock Holmes movie?

I mean, I understand that Romani fortune tellers were an actual thing that happened in history, much like conjoined twins in sideshows and minstrel shows in blackface. And I understand that Watson (being a man of his time) and Holmes (having the approximate social graces of an overripe potato) would have no reason to object to the stereotyping within the context of the movie. But... uh. Yeah.

pullthestars January 4 2012, 00:58:50 UTC

What would you have preferred to see there?

canidsock January 4 2012, 01:18:42 UTC

I... honestly I think if they'd just removed the scene where they steal EVERYTHING WATSON AND HOLMES HAVE THAT ISN'T NAILED DOWN, I wouldn't have been quite so dismayed.

The rest of it was not unproblematic, but more or less fell within acceptable bounds of "oh, Hollywood, you and your cultural appropriation lol"

pullthestars January 4 2012, 01:23:23 UTC

That leads me to a question, then (not regarding the stealing part -- I think I must have dozed off during that part) -- if you have a movie/book set in a time period where they regularly indulged in what we know now as racist behavior, do you try and stick to what might be historically accurate, or do you steer clear of that by tweaking something w/in the story to make your chars appear more "modern" in their behavior/beliefs?

(this is an honest question, btw -- I'm not trying to troll or anything, I am genuinely curious. )

Thread 10

blot January 4 2012, 00:15:58 UTC

Shit man. I mean, I know there are people like me who didn't even know they existed anymore {because for some odd reason in my brain 'Gypsies' were like dinosaurs. They just up and died.} But like, once you find this out, you don't continue to be an ass about it.

This has a huge 'it doesn't affect me so I don't care nya nya' feeling to it.

xiphias January 4 2012, 01:43:14 UTC

90% of them were killed by the Nazis, but, yes, they're still around.

blot January 4 2012, 01:49:50 UTC

I think that's where I got the whole 'They are extinct' thing. I know somewhere down the line I have Romani blood, but it's like.. way down there. But my family tends to be a huge mishmash of bloodlines and such. So I'm not surprised XD

xiphias January 4 2012, 01:51:15 UTC

Well, it's not for lack of trying on Hitler's part. But, fortunately, he didn't quite succeed.

Thread 7

dv8nation January 4 2012, 00:24:55 UTC

There is a race called gypsies.

That's also true if you ever play old school Ravenloft.

nekomata January 4 2012, 15:33:54 UTC

And a certain LARP... or two, or three.

koshkabegemot January 4 2012, 00:36:25 UTC

Oh my God, these people.

(Not you, people who don't "get" that gypsy is a slur)

they tell fortunes

Ugh, no. Stereotypes, WAT R THEY.

Also, this post just jogged my memory on something. Where I work on the weekends during the Hallowe'en season (from the beginning of Sept. - Nov.), they have "gypsy fortune tellers" in various places around . . . where I work. Would it be appropriate for me as a non-Romani to bring up a name change to the appropriate officials and explain to them why we should just be calling these workers "fortune tellers" and not "gypsy fortune tellers"? I don't want to overstep my bounds / speak over anyone which is why I'm asking.

rodentfanatic January 4 2012, 00:41:16 UTC

If no one else has spoken up, and no one who is Romani has told you NOT to speak up, I think you should speak up. However, I myself am not Romani so I don't know if I'm qualified to have an opinion on this at all (please tell me if I am not)

alryssa January 4 2012, 01:03:03 UTC

Telling someone that 'gypsy' is totally not cool isn't inappropriate, what *would* go into inappropriate would be assuming that you know what they would prefer to be called instead, as though you're speaking for them or think they all share the same view on self-identification. Does that help?

koshkabegemot January 4 2012, 01:05:17 UTC

Yeah, it does, actually.

Thread 16