Ghettopoly

I have been watching the growing controversy regarding this game with interest. I added a posting to this blog regarding this game earlier but pulled it because I felt I hadn't satisfactorily expressed my feelings. I find this game offensive, just as I find about 80% of everything on TV and the radio offensive. But the controversy surrounding this game bothered me for some reason, and I wasn't sure why. I think I've now figured it out.

The reason that the controversy surrounding this game gives me cognitive dissonance is because this game, as far as I can tell, presents nothing new in the way of offensive stereotypes. The stereotypes reinforced in this game can be found in all forms of our media, particularly music. Violence, drug dealing, 'pimping', and all the rest of it are glorified in much of our music and many of our movies. So, why should this game cause such a stir? I'm glad people are protesting. But why aren't they also protesting the movie and music industries that created and marketed the 'gansta' and 'pimp' stereotypes in the first place, and continue to do so to a much greater extent than any other medium? Why so much attention on one board game? Could it be that we instinctively recognize the power of game playing and role playing, and hence the potential for this game to reinforce negative stereotypes to an even greater degree than music and movies? Could it be that we instinctively view movies and music as passive activities (correctly or not) and game playing as an active activity, and are therefore more threatened by disturbing content in games than in movies and music?

The game site is located at ghettopoly.com and a simple search on Google using ghettopoly will turn up plenty of sites protesting the game.