Op/Ed: The Confederate Flag and Video Game Censorship
- Published on Friday, 26 June 2015 10:12
- Written by Brandon Matsalia
The video game industry is no stranger to controversy or censorship. In fact, the history of this burgeoning medium is rife with conflict over the inclusion of objectionable content. Gamers around the globe are still recovering from last year’s dust-up over Game Gate, and without skipping a beat, a new controversy has arisen, this time, because of the rebel flag of the secessionist states, otherwise known as The Confederacy.
For those whom avoid political news, on the evening of June 17th, an insidious man by the name of Dylann Roof entered the historic Emanuel African Methodist Church of South Carolina and proceeded to murder nine church attendees that had met that night for a prayer meeting. After Roof was captured by police, a subsequent investigation revealed that Roof’s motivations were solely based on race; Dylann Roof is staunchly and openly an anti-Black racist.
Roof’s actions, as expected, spurned a conversation about the state of race relations in The United States of America, but the conversation swiftly turned to the Confederate flag that flies above the capitol in South Carolina. In said state, the Confederate flag is protected by state law. Part of the enforcement of said law requires the confederate flag to be flown from a staff that lacks a pulley so that it can’t easily be lowered without state consent. While many states around the country lowered their flags to half-staff, a common sign of grieving in our culture, the Confederate flag remained at full-staff in South Carolina.
As one could imagine, the refusal to lower the flag during a time of nation-wide grieving was seen as disrespectful. Community activists and political pundits alike called for South Carolina to lower the flag. What started off as a matter of flag protocol during a period of grieving quickly turned into a discussion about the legacy of the Confederate flag itself, its use by hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and whether or not anyone, let alone a state government, should fly the Confederate flag. Subsequent revelations about Dylann Roof’s social media photos, which show him proudly waving the Confederate flag, only exacerbated the argument.
Ultimate Generals: Gettysburg
The fervor of that debate set off a chain reaction that led to popular retailers such as Walmart and Amazon pulling all Confederate merchandise from their stores and sites. Even Annin, the country’s most venerable flag maker, has ceased production of the Confederate flag in light of the controversy surrounding the matter.
Many have celebrated the response of the aforementioned retailers, while others still view it as an attack on history itself. Protests on both sides of the debate have sprung up across the nation as opponents and supporters of the flag become embroiled in a contest that will surely become a historic moment in U.S. history.
So what does a political debate on racism, history and the Confederate flag have to do with those of us firmly ensconced in the world of gaming? It turns out that as of yesterday, Apple Inc., the firm behind the ever popular iPhone and iPad, has removed every Civil War game from their popular App Store. According to a report from our distinguished peers over at Touch Arcade, Apple has offered the following reasoning as justification for their actions;
We have removed apps from the App Store that use the Confederate flag in offensive or mean-spirited ways, which is in violation of our guidelines. - Apple
The claim raised by Apple seems reasonable enough until you begin to explore the titles that have been removed from the App Store based upon this decidedly knee-jerk reaction to a national debate.
The well received strategy title, Ultimate General: Gettysburg was among the titles that Apple put on the chopping block. If you are unfamiliar with the title, think of the popular Total War series but with an American Civil War setting. And just how is the Confederate flag featured in this title? As the symbol of one of the belligerents in the war: the Confederacy. Players may freely choose to play as the Union or the Confederacy, so the title is without any noticeable bias that would make the use of the Confederate flag seem like anything other than a contextually appropriate and historically accurate representation.
You may be thinking “perhaps that title just got caught up in the sweep of more offensive content.” If you had such a sentiment, optimistic though it may be, it would miss the mark. Apple also removed a similar title called Civil War: 1863, yet another RTS that allows players to play as either the Union or the Confederacy. The names of the games may change, but thus far, the context remains rather uniform across the many titles that have been removed from the App Store. It seems that Apple is unconcerned with the nuance of whether or a not a game is presenting a scenario in a truthful, historically accurate manner. For Apple, the Confederate flag seems to be problematic regardless of context.
This development is particularly troubling because it sets a dangerous precedent for erasing history. To that end, this discussion is far broader than video games, though video games are now being entangled in the debate. It was just last year that a Colorado school board in Jefferson County had attempted to alter an AP history course so that it would only discuss the positive aspects of America’s past. The school board felt that the existing curriculum would undermine patriotism.
The Texas school board similarly petitioned textbook makers to have the slave trade referred to as the “Atlantic triangle trade,” to remove Thomas Jefferson from the list of important American philosophers, and a host of other changes that are easily interpreted as revisionist and statist.
As Apple Inc. follows that same path, I cannot help musing over two considerations;
1) Will Google follow suit and pull all Civil War games from the Play Store?
2 ) Is American society fated to continually deny and ignore its own history?
I find both considerations to be unsettling. The Play Store has always been slightly more relaxed than the App Store, but if Google fears backlash, they too may give in and participate in this erasure of history. Worse, many of my fellow Americans on both sides of the political spectrum seem bent on approaching difficult conversations by completely ignoring them.
Splashscreen in Civil War game HexWar on iOS
Slavery happened and its legacy exists in the adversity and disparity faced by many Black Americans to this day due to systematic racism. The Civil War happened, and for better or for worse, is an important part of American history. The Civil War shaped the country as we know it, economically and socially. So why is it that we have become so afraid to accept our shared history as a country?
Do we fear our history because manifest destiny meant the genocide of the original inhabitants of this land? Do we fear our history because the building of this country was done upon the backs of Black slaves? Are we ashamed that the same people that valiantly fought their oppressors (the British) were themselves oppressors of Blacks and the indigenous of America?
All of those matters are historical facts, and though deplorable, we should not fear accepting them as part of our American history. American history is also filled with tales of triumph, such as Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, and tales of resistance such as Nat Turner’s Rebellion and John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry. American history is filled with difficult decisions, such as Lincoln’s choices during the Civil War, and even the choice of many southern states to withdraw from the Union. History does not often reflect the romanticized re-tellings found in films such as The Patriot, or in songs about Johnny Appleseed, but regardless, it is OUR history and as such, we must accept both the positive and negative elements.
It is one thing to censor something that is malicious, but history itself cannot ever be malicious unless it has been manipulated, such as the aforementioned attempts to erase history or pretend that certain events never happened just because they make us feel uncomfortable. It would be one thing if any of these Civil War games in question were called “Plantation Tycoon” and the goal was to use violence targeted towards Blacks for the purpose of cotton harvesting, but the games in question are largely Civil War simulations that allow the player to play as either side of the military conflict, not simulations for demeaning an ethnic group as a form of entertainment.
We must face our discomfort, understand our discomfort and learn about ourselves and this country: even the ugly parts. It may be a seemingly trite axiom, but we must learn from our history so that the mistakes of the past do not become our decisions tomorrow.
History should not be malleable and based on whether or not it affirms our romantic notions of our antecedents being noble, heroic and altruistic. The truth is that like all humans, our ancestors were flawed men and women subject to the same moral failings that we are all vulnerable to. Those short comings do not absolve them for the atrocities they committed while building this nation, but it does free us to take history for what it is rather than as a feel-good fairytale meant to assuage our sense of self.
In-game screenshot of HexWar on iOS
Believe it or not, it is possible to accept that America has a rather dark past, yet still be proud of being an American because of what America has become despite its mistakes. There is still more road to travel on the journey toward being a truly equal society, but there is no denying that some modicum of progress has been made.
Make no mistake, I do find the Confederate flag to be an offensive symbol of hatred. The Confederacy fought to keep Black people enslaved. The Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis have adopted the Confederate flag as a symbol of their racist cause. That such a flag is flown over any state capitol is disheartening. However, if game developers are not free to make games about real events, then where is the line drawn? Are games about World War II also at risk of being banned? Who deserves to wield the power to decide which historical events are offensive and which are acceptable?
It is with aplomb that I assert that Apple Inc. has surely made a mistake in pulling Civil War video games from the App Store. It is my hope that Google does not repeat that mistake with Play Store. Storytelling has never been more prominent in the history of video games than this very epoch. With rich narratives flourishing across esteemed titles such as The Wolf Among Us, why not use gaming as a platform to share the narratives of history? If fear of our darker history takes hold, then these narratives may be lost to the gaming community, and that would do far more harm than allowing people to play Civil War simulations.
Sources: Touch Arcade Rueters Washington Post Huffington Post USA Today NY Times
source: droidgamers
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