MerryChristmas!, 4.22

Hook's concept of the otherness is only perpetuated by video games and other media outlets today. This concept of the "otherness" is also discussed in my COM300 class: Communication theory. Although we try to fight it, we cannot escape this sense of the others as being inferior to us. It is similar to this idea of ethnocentrism where you place a bias on your own culture by assuming that your culture is better than others. I suppose this concept can apply to race as well. A video game in particular that we discussed in Tillmann's CMC200 course was this new Iraq war video game coming out soon. We also read an article that looks into a popular video game out now that is featured in Japan. In the video game, the Vietnamese fighters are represented as the villans and the evil people. They share no similarities to us. They speak a different language that we cannot understand and they do not have identities. Their faces all look the same and not one of them stands out. Despite all of this, young Japanese children still play this game. What does that mean for them? Do they consider how the game is representing their race and culture? This idea can relate back to Poster's quote about how the Internet has forced others to use different domains or country codes while the US's is automatic. The English language is also the primary language on the Internet. This suggests that we believe that we are superior to all other countries in the world and they must work around us. After evaluating these things, it makes me wonder if the "others" think the same thing? Do they have any concept of "the otherness" or are they mindlessly subjecting themselves to it by playing our video games?