Racial stereotypes

[95th Rifleman]

The recent discussions have got me thinking, how much do we subscribe to racial stereotypes? This effects many things, not the least the prosecution of war. An example is the Japanese in WW2, Americans considered them too weak and prone to poor eyesight and dismissed them as a credible threat in air to air engagements, yet the japanese proved to be some of the best and most skillful pilots of the war. Cultural attitudes and racial stereotypes play a huge part in our lives, whether we choose to accept the fact or not.

How does it play out in our games of T2K? Over the years i have been guilty of, rather unconscously, portraying NATO troops as more moraly sound than warsaw pact. When warcrimes or amoral acts have been commited by NPCs it is most often by the hand of a soviet. I was born in 1980, while Britain was not as focussed on the "Red Peril" as America we where brought up in a society that saw the communists as less moral, less "good" than we where. In the movies,literature and common perceptions of the time, this was accepted as fact.

Also common views and stereotypes regarding even our NATO allies had an effect and talking to veterans of the two Gulf wars, I've learned that they could effect relations between allied contingents. I'll list some common stereotypes that where common when I was a teenager, so you can see what I mean:

Russians (soviet): Cruel, ammoral fanatics who would willingly commit any crime for the soviet cause. Uneducated, barbaric and primitive. poor soldiers with poor equipment that is rarely cleaned or maintained.

Americans: Undisciplined, gung ho, poorly led. They have all the kit but not the training to use it. Arrogant, badly educated, convinced they won everything singlehanded.

Germans: Arrogant, by the book, no sense of flair. Poor at handling unplanned, unexpected situations. There was a general sense of distrust associated with the Germans when i was growing up.

Now when you look at the reality you notice that the stereotypes have a certain element that rings true but are overblown and inaccurate. I was wondering ow this plays out in other people's games, chcarcters and personal viewpoints.

[Fusilier]

Originally Posted by 95th Rifleman

Now when you look at the reality you notice that the stereotypes have a certain element that rings true but are overblown and inaccurate. I was wondering ow this plays out in other people's games, characters and personal viewpoints.

Not knowing a lot about a culture is probably what makes taking on stereotypes as easy or as common as they are. You'll almost always find a greater depth of different characters from your own "side" because of this IMO. When you simply don't know about them, it just makes sense to fall back on popular beliefs. It's also sometimes easy to forget that the enemy side doesn't just have to exist to be mindless drones to mow down if the opportunity to interact with them is limited - which unfortunately is often is.

It takes effort I think to break this habit. I've tried... in my game just about half of every NATO person the party has come across has been either uncooperative, untrustworthy, or a potential/real threat. I think there are a lot of gaming benefits to this and it breaks the concept that somebody is your friend just because of the uniform he wears.

I think I'm doing pretty good... this picture summarizes exactly how I think the average British person is like.


I'm just kidding of course. Britain is very awesome.

[simonmark6]

I think I might have taught that guy in the picture...

[Fusilier]

Originally Posted by simonmark6

I think I might have taught that guy in the picture...

LOL!

Notice I didn't pick on the Welsh. I know better. Nobody in the world is as hard or tough as them which is evident by the fact that they've got a freaking dragon on their flag.

[TicToc]

Here are a handful of current stereotypes that I've run into and or have subscribed to both accurately and inaccurately. I would like to note that though stereotypes are very very rarely 100% accurate I believe they exist for a reason. Enough people from one demographic showed a trait, attitude, ect ect enough times that the presumption that others from the same demographic will act in a similar fashion is a reasonably safe assumption, or at the very least a reasonable thing to bear in mind when interacting with someone of that demographic. This is not always a great idea or an accurate way to view people and can have negative side effects. However there are admittedly pros to bearing them in mind.

(as seem from an American perspective)

Russian - poorly trained, harshly led, poorly equipped, poorly educated, well indoctrinated, mostly conscripts

English - one of our three closest friends and chief most of them, extremely professional, arrogant, trusted, difficult to work with at times due to being obstinate

Australians - Tough, proficient, drunks, one of the top three allies

Canadian - The last remaining of the top three friends, poor military due to lack of size and money

French - This one is hard to describe in a list, so I will suffice to say that militarily the French are the butt of the VAST majority of jokes and jabs that involve poor military prowess

Chinese - LOTS OF THEM!!!! HOLY SHIT LOTS OF THEM!!!!!! its like an ant hill of little red commie ants, other than that we think of them as quantity before quality in every way

With a few exceptions (Germany, The Netherland, Norway, and I'm sure a couple others that I cant think of right now) most European countries are viewed as having poor militaries, with governments weak in conviction

Anything in South America is viewed pretty much the same - corrupt, poorly trained, poorly led, poorly equipped, poor education, just poor in general, not worth consideration unless someone tried to seriously rock our boat

[simonmark6]

Especially today. It's a good day to be Welsh: we won the rugby. In fact we beat all four other nations in the game so we feel really smug, at least until we get our arses handed to us by Australia, New Zealand or South Africa

I actually put down British rather than Welsh in any official documentation, independence for Wales is pretty much a one way ticket into the third world. We need to suck the English dry of their taxes to live our lives of luxury and maintain our keen abilities in close harmony singing.

[95th Rifleman]

Originally Posted by simonmark6

Especially today. It's a good day to be Welsh: we won the rugby. In fact we beat all four other nations in the game so we feel really smug, at least until we get our arses handed to us by Australia, New Zealand or South Africa

I actually put down British rather than Welsh in any official documentation, independence for Wales is pretty much a one way ticket into the third world. We need to suck the English dry of their taxes to live our lives of luxury and maintain our keen abilities in close harmony singing.

Are Wales, a fine country where men are men and sheep are scared.....