Sunday, February 17, 2013

Cyber Racism 101: Have You Played the New Christopher Dorner Video Game?



Christopher Dorner is dead. Depending on one's political, cultural, and racial perspective he can be viewed as a radical resister, symbol of the LAPD's racism, "badman" or "bad nigger," anti-hero, "despicable" murderer, or vigilante who was driven by personal hurt to engage in acts of cathartic violence (for himself).

Dorner can also be read as a mix of all or none of those things.

Ultimately, Christopher Dorner exists as a cultural object which various members of the public will invest with meaning depending on their own value system and life experiences. By implication, as a type of cultural object, the meaning attached to Dorner literally (through his racialized and gendered body as a black man) and symbolically (as a rogue cop who dared to call attention to the LAPD's long history of racism) will be circulated throughout (global) society by various types of technology.

This is not new. Historically, television, radio, TV, film, and print were used to teach lessons about political and social identity. For example, the Racial State in its various forms such as Jim and Jane Crow, contemporary colorblind racism, the slaveocracy, Colonialism, and Imperialism, were reinforced and legitimated through the use of various types of media.

These systems were/are also subverted by the "technologies of race" as well. Cyber racism is the next iteration of how technology, in this case the Internet, social media, and video games, can be used to circulate, legitimate, and reinforce racist ideologies.

To point. Only several days after his "suicide," Christopher Dorner's last stand against the LAPD has been transformed into a crude video game. It is both an excellent example of cyber racism in practice, as well as a broader demonstration of how modern technology can facilitate white supremacy.

As a textual object, the Christopher Dorner video game is a fascinating mix of elements, which if viewed as individual parts, would not not necessarily "cohere" semiotically, i.e. a superficial read of "the system of meaning" created by the various elements in the game could seemingly contradict its overall political and ideological message(s).

The narrative of the Christopher Dorner video game consists of locating him as the protagonist who fights the police which are attacking his cabin redoubt. This is accomplished though the game's first person shooter style of play.

This choice by the game designer creates a sense of emotional investment in the game by showing the events from the player's point of view, thus limiting the distance between the participant and the events which occur in this crude virtual simulation of "reality."

The soundtrack is provided by a rap parody song from the "movie" Gangsta Rap "The Glockumetary," and is used to negatively mark Christopher Dorner as a human being--in keeping with the video game as a work of cyber racism, he, and by implication black people, more generally, are "niggers" within the game's universe and its most extreme, chauvinistic, reactionary version of the white racial frame.

The white supremacist frame of the Christopher Dorner video game is also advanced through subtle interventions in the conventions governing first person shooters. Instead of "health boxes" or hearts, Dorner is "recharged" by racially stereotypical buckets of fried chicken. As a complement to the crude racism of the game, the difficulty options are listed from easiest to most difficult and include: Virgin White Ass; Live Free of Die Nigger; Nigger Ops; Gorilla Warrior; and Ghetto Holy Warrior.

The game allows a perverse white racial fantasy to play out, one that is not new: see the historical examples of race minstrelsy, yellow face, "white Negroes" and "wiggers."

Facilitated by the first-person perspective, the player can become a "black character," one that is really a "nigger" who fights the police (coded as the White establishment, White Authority, and White Power). But in the meta-narrative of the Christopher Dorner video game, the player is actually hoping that the police will kill the black character: here, suicide by cop becomes a means of reinforcing white supremacy.

In total, Christopher Dorner's defeat in the game is a White supremacist commentary and type of wish fulfillment for the political and social impotence of black people (men in particular, both literally and metaphorically). In the context of the video game, the "protagonist's" resistance is defeated by the inevitability of White triumph, and a return to a "natural" order of things in a White supremacist dreamworld wherein people of color are dominated, controlled, murdered, objectified, and submissive.

Play does political work. Pleasure, as derived from popular culture, is not politically neutral. Cyber racism, especially in video games, is especially potent because of the genre's interactive nature, and the ways that many young people across the colorline uncritically consume and enjoy it.

Mass media is not value neutral. The various technologies of race share that same quality: both advance a normative and specific understanding of the power relationship between whites and non-whites in society.

As I suggested here, Christopher Dorner's story will exist long past his time in this world. I was surprised at how fast this observation would come to be made real. In the virtual world, cyber racism has already made Christopher Dorner immortal.

10 comments:

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White Supremacist By Default said...

We all see what we want. Except you. You see everything "objectively" LOL. You have no biases, and as such should be allowed to violate the freedoms of others as you see fit. As a privileged white man, I implore you ("you people") to continue blaming your problems on me ("white people") thereby guaranteeing your limited success in life, and my relative success.


Do NOT adopt the behaviors that create and maintain successful societies (self-sufficience, work ethic, respect for private property rights) because then you just may become competitors for the wealth and power that is rightly mine (ours, white people's) and then what the hell would you have to complain about?


To a black racist, there is only one answer to every question of responsibility - "it's the white man's fault".


As we LOL at you and lock you up in prison forever. Rage on my strong black brothers. And don't EVER let anyone disrespect you. STAND UP and DEMAND respeck, and if you no get it, shoot the place up like real men. (the belief that you are owed anything by anyone is your Achilles' heel and will be forever. I owe you nothing. Not even "respect". Fact)


Peace out!

Invisible Man said...

"But in the meta-narrative of the Christopher Dorner video game, the player is actually hoping that the police will kill the black character" Care to offer evidence of this? I consider this video game simply American Capitalism in it's purists state, any thing to sell a buck. I mean check, Frantz Fanon who considers violence not just cathartic but necessary for oppressed people would dig this game, and the entertainment industry is more $ driven than racist and that's not just because of my Marxist leanings.

Invisible Man said...

p.s. your new picture is creepy, bring back Fred Sanford and Lando Calrissian!

chauncey devega said...

And "I consider this video game simply American Capitalism in it's purists state, any thing to sell a buck."

Racism is profit too. Your point. The slavers were not involved in a non-profit operation.You get that right?

The game itself has narrative and aesthetic elements that are anti-black. As such, the "protagonist" who is "black" is to be defeated. Not complicated.

This is a common theme with racist video games offered up by the white right. The book Cyber Racism would be very helpful for you in this regard.

"I mean check, Frantz Fanon who considers violence not just cathartic but necessary for oppressed people would dig this game, and the entertainment industry is more $ driven than racist and that's not just because of my Marxist leanings."



Huh? There are so many problems with theory there, readings of Fanon, and a lacking in full comprehension of the text as to be non-nonsensical. Get past a crude reading of Fanon and revenge as that is so afrocentric bookstore as to be laughable...I mean that with love.


I think I hear where you think you are coming from. As an exercise, rewrite your claims in a transparent and direct way without using Fanon or Marx in any way. Then see if it coheres. By example, a great chef can make basic dishes like Chicken Soup and it will be better than the amateur's.


Oftentimes, journeymen throw in jargon and big allusions to Marx et al. to make the meal seem more substantive. In reality it is all spices and expensive ingredients in a crappy dish.

Invisible Man said...

This reminds me of Raekwon as aka Clyde Smith, in Supreme Clientele when he had to be found low on 50 Cent for getting outta place. So I'm gone say to you what Clyde Smith said to Fifty

"I don't even know why you tried to do that "lil" bum as sh*t right there now. You a bird and Nig*as gone see you".

See, I know Fanon like you know video games. And vice versa. And I don't know jack about video games and it's clear you don't know Jack about Fanon, believe, kiddddddd. Cause if you knew Fanon you would know not to attempt to use smoke and mirrors like "There are so many problems with theory there, readings of Fanon, and a lacking in full comprehension of the text as to be non-nonsensical." With out having the intellectual weaponry necessary to even name one of the problems, goo! You're like a kid trying to show off, but failing, miserable. As Common said "Use Higher Learning"! Fanon is complicated, and best learned in prison or in the classrooms and institutions with professors qualified to handle it. Needless to say, I didn't learn it in prison. Now the fact that you never learned Fanon( and therefore reacted so superciliously) says something about the institution you went too. I'm thinking some place in the midwest, perhaps that one on the North shore, that is little more than a glorified frat school ? Now I've cancelled your "exercise" for lack of intellectual jurisdiction and reprimand you to the essay entitled "Concerning Violence” I believe it's chapter three in Wretched, which is where my original augment arises from and is well reasoned. Then maybe you can move to Cabral. "Next time you come at a King you bet not miss"

chauncey devega said...

I like you. Thus the fun. But in a real battle with pros when you do not see how racism and capitalism coexist you have dropped the mic.

I lovingly called you out for that. As I said, drop those references and state in a simple, direct way what you mean.

I never show my whole hand. Sometimes I provoke. If you read Fanon as simply some type of meditation on cathartic violence you missed much of the point. Prison negroes aka subaltern organic intellectuals miss that fact.


Moreover, in keeping with Fanon, if you cannot see the whole context of the racism at work in that video game, you have really missed the brother's point of view about systemic, cultural, psychological, and the violence of the collective consciousness against non-whites in the West.

"Now the fact that you never learned Fanon (and therefore reacted so superciliously) says something about the institution you went too."

Fun. Don't reach. I was talking to a friend about the end of Jedi. The Emperor has a deeper game going on, even not allowing for Dark Empire, than the audience and Luke is aware of. That is the case here. Never assume--as I don't about folks either--that I ever show all the skill sets. Never learned Fanon? Don't get ethered brother.

This is fun. I am not writing something here with embedded cites or footnotes. That wouldn't be good practice in working on an accessible voice. If you ever want to to the classic WCW War games Texas death match Africana Political Theory game that could be fun too. You bring your friends. I will bring mine. Or we could be the last two in the ring.

"Next time you come at a King you bet not miss""

I like your courage. I usually don't miss. Why? Because I wait till you are asleep and turn on the gas in your house and get you when you are asleep. Why sweat in a fight?



You are doing some good stuff over at your site. But you got to get a Mr. Miyagi or Blind Master or one of those masters in the 36th chamber to get you to the next level. With love. Don't underestimate your foes. You got raw talent, now you need technique and precision :) All fun. I am most certainly learning everyday.

Invisible Man said...

Respectable Negro,esteemed

I never even hinted, that
racism and capitalism( a Marxist argument) did not coexist, my only sin here was trending lightly on
this video games topic, ( my referencing of Fanon as not meant to be pedantic,
just quick sear to close out on. So yes I get “yer” point
Clearly (“video
games” ) conceptually is important to you( our you would not have wrote about
it) and in hindsight I understand the full magnitude of it, in our culture and should have provided more due diligence.
I do consider it insanity, but turning away from it, does not make it go away. How did this come to pass, ah!

Funny I have often
wondered was it racism or capitalism that was the FIRST impulse( I’m talking
the first thought over a dinner table) that sparked the creating of policy separating us from the Irish, etc in indentured servitude, sending us to chattel slavery and putting them on a path to citizen ship? Maybe to pounder such is a waste of time? i.e chicken or the egg?



But I must object to your
comment that “Prison negroes aka subaltern organic intellectuals miss that
fact” not all do. And I must applogies too as not only did I start the topic, but then immediately disassociated
myself from them in such a haughty manner, it was dumb of me.

We could certainly use their talents in this war that we find ourselves in. It’s funny I
remember being at an all "Black" “party” in Hyde Park and finally managing to get these hollowed staid souls of Negroes to finally acknowledge Blackness. it
took some doing and of course I was never invited back :-) But finally they "engaged" the Black community ( conversationally) in relationship to Fanon, Foucault, Gramsci, etc Then after I drank enough booze to get me to
the next invent,( where I could actually dance! Seriously they didn't even have background music!) I asked them what were they going to do with this
"revolutionary knowledge" they amassed to help their people??? The room went
silent. One said educating the elite about radical discourse is the best way to
bring change. I replied with snark, yea,
that’s why my school sends so many graduates to the CIA.

The WCW War Games Texas
death match Africana Political Theory game sounds fun! But you’d have to
explain the pop cultural additives as I’m a bit behind the times. But can we drop the Texas part? I had an unceremonious
parting with a winter then spring, then summer friend who is originally from Texas after I accused( indirectly) her mother of being a racist, while she was a dinner guest in my home, but such things happen when guests provoke fights with hosts.

And don’t ever even think
about rolling up into my fort unauthorized My 145 pound elderly Dogue Bordeaux may not be
the best watch dog at this point, and yes her 20/20 has diminished, but I set her snore vibrations on kill, I'm talking earth quake levels.

Thank you for the
compliment about my efforts. It means a lot. But it is hard work and not just
because I’m doing other things as I’m sure you are too. I’m assuming from the staggering amount of literally product you produce, that it gets easier? Yes any assistance you can
provide, I would be most indebted to Sadly news papers becoming more and more passé. Funny all this talk makes me want to read Wretched again. That book I I think is very important in these times. The anger is there a you note it's chocked in every thing saturated. Black people need to begin to processes it in the progressive cathartic way. Oh what its to be done.

chauncey devega said...

Always fun to dialogue.

"But I must object to yourcomment that “Prison negroes aka subaltern organic intellectuals miss that fact” not all do."

You are right, there are lots of great minds in prison. This is a waste of human capital which will haunt this society for decades/centuries. It would be great to start up an outreach program that works both ways--they teach us something/we learn a great deal as well.

"I asked them what they going to do with this"revolutionary knowledge" they amassed to help their people???"

It isn't "their" job to help the people. Sorry. Hard truth. Higher ed is part of the establishment. If anything it fulfills a safety valve function.

Capitalism and racism? Start with the classics you likely read years ago--Eric Williams and Alexander Saxton. Current stuff read Theo Goldberg's new book on neoliberalism and racial formation.

"Thank you for thecompliment about my efforts. It means a lot. But it is hard work and not just because I’m doing other things as I’m sure you are too. I’m assuming from the staggering amount of literally product you produce, that it gets easier? Yes any assistance you can
provide"

I don't know if I have any wisdom per se. One thing I would say is that our public discourse is fractured and the rise of Twitter is one more threat to deep thinking and dialogue. Utterly ephemeral and what can you say in a few characters which will have any substance?

Blogs are dying as a genre. Folks are going to Twitter, and other mediums. Blogging is now almost reserved for longer form writers. The trick is to stay relevant but not judge quality of readership by the number of comments. Many sites are turning off comments because folks are discussing the content elsewhere. Perception is reality though--no comments can be perceived by some as a lack of quality and relevance.

You have good stuff. My thought would be to find ways to write shorter pieces, with fewer photos. Also write something every day, even it is a found news item. Writing everyday is also good practice because when you do write there isn't the pressure to pour out your soul and to come up with something amazing. The pieces you expect to "hit" and get traction rarely do.

Do your own thing because you like it and not for praise or attention because in the end it may all be for self-gratification.

"And don’t ever even think about rolling up into my fort unauthorized My 145 pound elderly Dogue Bordeaux may not be the best watch dog at this point, and yes her 20/20 has diminished, but I set her snore vibrations on kill, I'm talking earth quake levels."



I hear you, my 17 year old semi-retired watchdog mutt just passed away...fighting to the very end. I wouldn't have wanted to test him even in his old age.

Invisible Man said...

I use to go into the Lorton Correctional in D.C. to work with improving reading skills with our people. It was indescribable, just getting "in" took 45 minutes.

And when you say
It isn't "their"( Blacks in Academia) job to help the {our} people. We are working from different polls of operation. I say it's not a luxury or favor, but an emergency necessity for our race as a whole. Often we forget that we are but 12 percent of the population and there is no "guarantee" for us. I do not alarm easy,( but I am now) nor am I a Black Nationalist conspiracy theorists. And I didn't spend as much time as you think at the "Underground Afro Red Moon Rising Zulu Nation African Bambata Last of the Hotep Tribe Spelled Backwards Book Store" in Harlem. Though I wish I did, but I was always running late and by the time I got there it was assassinated by property taxes, with the crime scene cleaned up by a Starbucks.
.
And I'm sure no book can ever answer the first original two second thought "Capitalism or racism" that formed what would be the decision that diverged carved chattel slavery from Indentured servitude. But most certainly that next proceeding second thought did merge the two for all time.

Oh yes you are so right about twitter and text speak is terrifying

You nailed it with writing every day, a frighting proposition, and not just because of the "time commitment" as there is, the recognition of death in it, or learning to die. But it would also most certainly help with shorter pieces. So consider it done.

Wow 17 years! My pup should not have lasted to ten. The bigger they are, the younger they leave us( she is my first dog) but she is still spry for her age at 11. but she is my first dog, so. Life is but a dream. Any way, thanks again, I am committed