I guess I thought that the Resident Evil 5 trailer that we watched on Thursday was disturbing enough to watch again and then contemplate how, in the name of all thorough consideration, this video game got made. Maybe even more disturbing than the fact that it was made, tested, sent through control groups, etc., is that YouTube commenters seem to not recognize this issue in the least.

The main argument appears to be that the video game just "happens" to be involve a white soldier living in African and subsequently killing Africans. Apparently Resident Evil 4 took place in Spain and many respondents posted that no one claimed that the game was racist when white people were killing Spaniards. The level of misunderstanding and ignorance here is staggering, though I can't say that I've ever read a thoughtful You Tube reply in my life. I guess they simply illuminate the level of the gap between our understanding of racism and most YouTube viewing resident Evil fans. In this case, i think we can clearly say that the issue isn't the effect of this specific game, but a cultural perception. Below are some of the more standout comments-- (and [sic] throughout:

"I am black and I fucking can't wait to play this. I have been a Resi fan from the start, if you understand the back stories that surround the series you will understand that it is just another setting to continue the story. If you think that this is racist then what about films like black hawk down etc which are set in africa, where lots of black people are killed, they are just films and this is just a game(a fucking awesome game). Non Issues like this gives games a bad rep."

"its a game franchise... if youve played halo or gears of war its the same thing in gears you kill locust yes they are alliens but its still a race"

"First and foremost this trailer is supposed to be for gamers like myself who love the Resident Evil franchise, the only reason you titled the vid the way u did was to start controversy in the 1st place. Please leave ur beliefs outta of the gaming world."

"This is not racism. I agree with the description of the vid - "Thinking this game is racist is racism in itself you douchebags. Racism applies to all races, not just black people."

"awersome game, i tink it sould twist the blot abit killin them africans, i can see how they related to zombies, as zombies also need food, very clever capcom"

"Considering the developers, programmers, and artists at Capcom are all Japanese, I very seriously doubt they had ill-intent when making RE5."

all from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaQmoC-vMm8

WOW