Growing up on the mean streets of West Jordan (recognize), I learned a few things about trash talk. If a person dared ride a Huffy bicycle in our ‘hood, for example, that person was subjected to all kinds of sick burns—one of my favorites was to call their bike a “scuffy.” When blocking a person’s layup in a basketball game, it was perfectly acceptable to celebrate with a refrain of “not in my house, suckah!” Though trash talking was a big part of my upbringing—I both gave and received my fair share—there were some unwritten rules that the wayward youths of the WJ had all agreed upon.
Rule #1: No making fun of a person’s parents (this became more acceptable with the rise of “Yo Mama” jokes, however).
Rule #2: No making fun of a person’s religion.
Rule #3: No making fun of a person’s race.
Rule #4: No making fun of a person just because they were a boy or girl.
Rule #5: No making fun of anyone with a disability.
To break these rules on the streets of the WJ was to fall out of favor and be known as a total dick from that time forth.
Basically, we didn’t think it was cool to make fun of people for stuff that was beyond their control. If you got beaten because you did something stupid, then by all means, the trash talk would commence. Even so, those five little rules were in place to keep us from saying something that was truly hurtful, not to mention becoming total dicks.
In the years that have passed since I was a young scrapper in the WJ ‘hood and became an enthusiastic gamer, it’s seemed like these rules have been forgotten. Before I continue, let me just throw out a quick disclaimer for people who are going to think I’m some kind of tree-hugging pacifist—I don’t think that talking some trash during an online gaming session needs to stop. Like Red Bull and pizza, trash talk is a staple of online gaming—and that’s okay, folks. It wouldn’t be that much fun if everyone was super positive all the time. If we heard, Oh, are you okay? I know I just exploded your head like a Halloween pumpkin, but just keep in mind that you’re doing soooo well, every time that we got pwned, our gaming experience would likely be tainted. So, once more, I believe that talking some trash fuels the competitive spirit, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
However, there is a huge difference between trash-talking and hate-mongering, and, based on my online gaming experiences (which have drastically decreased as a result), gamers are a bit too fond of the latter. It’s difficult to join an online gaming session and not hear racial slurs, rape jokes, and misogyny—and yes, I know that’s what the mute button is there for. Unfortunately, the mute button only stops me from hearing it, it does not stop the person from saying it. Even though I’m glad to be rid of the offender’s voice, I still know that the offender thinks it’s okay to send hateful vitriol into the world because he/she is in the safety of his/her home. The reason it’s not okay is because throwing hateful language like that around like it doesn’t mean anything means something. It means that there are people in this day and age who think that they can pigeonhole entire cultures into a few derogatory terms. It means that there are still people who think rape is a joke. Basically, it means that there are still people who are keeping our society from evolving into something better than it already is.
For anyone who perhaps feels that I’m coming on a bit too strong, I urge you to take a look at The Bigot Gamer. This site is one of the many brain-children of comedian Sam Killermann, and it’s designed as a kind of socio-cultural experiment within the online gaming world. While playing online, Killermann records sessions in which other players casually throw around volleys of hate-filled commentary and uploads them to his website. After only a few minutes skimming through his examples, I heard the words “f***k Muslims” and “Racism is just so funny,” and if that’s not hate-mongering, I don’t know what is.
The purpose behind Kellermann’s site is twofold. One is to prove that bigotry still exists in America, despite the opinions of those who think the contrary. The other is to promote Kellermann’s nonprofit organization Gamers Against Bigotry, which invites gamers to sign a pledge indicating that they will not be bigots online or otherwise.
After reading over what GAB defines as “bigoted language,” I couldn’t help but think of the unwritten rules of trash-talking that the WJ street kids and I lived by when I was younger. Now that we’ve grown up and are taking our places within the diverse world in which we live, those rules are more important than ever. I’m glad to see that these rules haven’t disappeared; they’ve just grown up a bit.