Posted on 10/18/2003 5:06:25 PM PDT by mhking
P laying the board game Monopoly as a kid, I never thought there was anything controversial about it. A college professor once hinted that some of the game's streets - Baltic, Mediterranean, Oriental - were so named to indicate the ethnicity of their owners. I found out later that the properties are based on streets in Atlantic City, N.J.
Now a racially provocative takeoff on Monopoly is leaving no doubt about what kinds of people live on its streets. Ghettopoly capitalizes on the stereotypes of people living in poor urban areas. Instead of top hats and thimbles, Ghettopoly is played with fake Uzis, malt liquor, crack, marijuana, ``Ghetto Stash'' and ``Hustle Cards.'' Instead of Boardwalk Avenue and Park Place, you have Cheap Trick Avenue. And instead of Reading Railroad, you have Hernando's Chop Shop.
Predictably, some blacks are outraged and want the game banned. Some called for a boycott of the clothing chain Urban Outfitters unless the company stops selling Ghettopoly in its stores.
Pardon me if I think their protests are late and way off target.
Play Vs. Real Urban Warfare
Ghettopoly is the creation of David Chang, who was born in Taiwan and never lived in a ``ghetto.'' He says it's all a satire that people are taking much too seriously.
He says he got the idea for his game watching videos on MTV, which is why I can't take much offense at his game.
``If we are silent on this issue, there is more of this type to come,'' the Rev. Robert Shine warned at a rally a few weeks ago outside the Philadelphia headquarters of Urban Outfitters.
News bulletin, Rev: ``This type'' is already ubiquitous. It's part of our popular culture, and many young black men have become millionaires acting out negative stereotypes.
Turn on MTV or even BET and you'll see it: the celebration of thuggery, the touting of violence and murder and the crude materialism. Worse yet, they claim the ignorant, hedonistic, antisocial, profane and obnoxious behavior they exhibit is authentic, or ``keeping it real.''
So Chang is simply - to use the hip hop slang - ``gettin' paid.'' And he'll have to sell a lot of games to earn the money 50 Cent, Jay Z and others have made putting on a modern-day minstrel show.
At Least It's Only A Game
Fifty years ago CBS, bowing to pressure from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, canceled the TV show ``Amos 'n' Andy.'' In a detailed complaint to the network, the NAACP noted that ``Amos 'n' Andy'' tended to ``strengthen the conclusion among uninformed and prejudiced people that Negroes are inferior, lazy, dumb and dishonest. Every character in this one and only TV show with an all- Negro cast is either a clown or a crook.''
That was a stretch, but what are the ``uninformed'' supposed to think when they see some of the videos Chang saw? Where are the protests about these negative images?
There are rumors that donating some bucks to black organizations provides a free pass to rap moguls to continue profiting from acting out these stereotypes. I don't know if it's true, but it would help explain the silence.
As for those who say that white kids are the biggest rap fans and are equally influenced by the gangster-rap ethos, let's compare behavior and body counts. Then we can find out who takes this garbage seriously and who doesn't.
Regardless, David Chang and his board game are not the problem. Ghettopoly is just a game, and if it is taken off the market, its inspiration will still be alive and well. And that's where the protests should be directed.
Joseph H. Brown is a Tribune editorial writer.
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It is my Sincere Hope that there STILL EXIST citizens with enough "Common Sense" to Discredit these negative influences on our younger Citizens!
Doc
Not only too late but quite predicable. That in itself indicates a two faced attitude to reality. It isn’t the 60's any more folks, things have changed. Also, if someone had created a "White Trashoply" it simply would not be news.
Off target? The protest is off target, but reality is the game is based on fact. Just look around any major city. You will find not only getto environment but "white trash" environment as well.
Apparently it is ok to poke fun at "white trash" but "highly offensive" to poke fun at a "getto."
That is growing more than a bit thin with me. I guess I will "poke fun" at worthless professional "afrikin-merikan" rabble-rousers aided by communist agenda media.
It is always interesting to see how "funny" the communist agenda media thinks it is when reality collides with the B$ of the "Champions 'o Justice."
TLI
Sure, right after you dissolve the NAALCP. It's a freakin game. Should white rural people get pissed off at Redneck stuff ? We think it's hilarious actually.
Bingo!
There's already a book out there called The Field Guide to White People that I picked up at B&N a couple years ago thinking it would be a hoot. It was so vicious I ended up tossing it out.
ROTFLOLOLOLOL!!!
I had never thought of it that way! That is the most hilarious (and accurate) description of this phoney garbage I have ever seen in my life!
I'll have to remember that one. Thanks!
The basis of any good comedy is a kernel of truth. There is a kernel of truth to the "white trash" stereotype, but white people aren't insulted because they know that it doesn't really represent their culture. I would bet most educated blacks feel the same about ghetto-poly and the stereotypes it pokes fun at. They don't see it as representing them so they don't get worked up over it. The NAALCP represents those that are offended by that stereotype because it hits too close to home IMHO.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., now a professor of Afro-American Studies at Harvard, claimed in a book I read that black people in America actually loved Amos 'n' Andy, both the radio and TV shows.
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