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We've heard quite a bit about racism in the past year, between the campaign, election, and new Presidential Administration. The racism card is being played from numerous sides, and quite often as though it will trump any and all rational discourse on any given issue. Sadly, it seems it's turning into a real-world example of the old story about the boy who cried wolf, such that when real racism occurs, few will take it seriously because we've all been jaded by the empty accusations bandied about, but I digress. The purpose of this column isn't to take any person or group to task concerning racism. The purpose is to explore how we, as writers and gamers, can make the most out of racism in our various pursuits.
This might sound strange, since few of us would consider racism anything to be held up in any positive light. The truth is, though, that we all have various levels of racist tendencies, and how we deal with those has an effect on who we are as individuals.
Racism is easy to understand, at its most basic level. People tend to gravitate towards that which they are most comfortable with. We find it easier to deal with the familiar, and have a natural instinct to be more guarded with the unfamiliar. Such tendencies are the foundation for racial or culturally centric neighborhoods. Immigrants from a given country will find an area surrounded by other such immigrants familiar, because they all come from a very similar cultural background, and this new enclave feels more like the old home than a generic, highly diverse area.
In such cases, it's mostly harmless, much as preferring one style of church because it's what you grew up attending. You don't have to think another style of church is wrong; it's just not as comfortable for you.
Where the problem occurs is when groups or individuals take racism to greater extremes. It's not just comfort levels; it's suspicion, anger, or oppression. It's feelings that being one is superior to being another, and that hatred of another is justified solely by differences in skin color or ethnicity.
All of it, though, is fodder for our stories and games. Differences, and the reactions they foment, create an entire spectrum of scenarios for us. There's drama and comedy, triumph and tragedy, in every potential conflict. We don't have to celebrate human vice to recognize the power it has for plot embellishment.
Tolkien played this concept well in his Lord of the Rings trilogy, offering an initial tension and rivalry between dwarves and elves, and exploring two such characters as they must stand together against a common foe. The recent movie, "District 9," gave us the mirror of a sci-fi scenario and aliens to examine how we sometimes treat those who are different and in need of our help. Much of the drama of the movie is rooted in the inequitable attitudes of humans towards the aliens.
Whether our stories or games involve real-world human races, or whether we offer science fiction or fantasy races, we can miss out if we fail to acknowledge this very basic tendency to prefer the familiar. Additionally, we see a common practice of wanting to blame another group for perceived problems. Republicans blame Democrats. Day shift blames night shift. Men blame women. Everyone blames lawyers. Natives blame immigrants. The hobbits blame the dwarves, the dwarves blame the elves, the elves blame the humans, the humans blame the orcs, and the orcs, well, the orcs just ate whoever it was they blamed.
Don't be afraid to incorporate a bit of racism into your game or story, and let the scenario offer your players or your readers a perspective into their own humanity. Just because the vice disgusts us doesn't mean we should ignore it. On the contrary, we should bring the vice to the surface so that we can see it for what it is and deal with it.
After all, in doing so, we will follow in the footsteps of such great satirists as Mark Twain and Mel Brooks, who so wonderfully used comedy and mockery to let us see just how foolish our attitudes could be. We should continue the work they did, because the job won't be finished until the day comes when racism is so unheard of, that no one thinks to fling such accusations around in the media.
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