In regard to the noose spray (as a black man)

General Discussion
1

I have no idea what Blizzard’s intentions were in getting rid of the noose spray, so I am mostly speaking to those on this forum who keep defending this action with the reasoning being that nooses were used in lynching blacks, are racist, and therefore they should be removed from the planet, etc.

So, my grandfather was from Jamaica and my grandmother derived from slave stock. I am well aware of lynching and racism in all its forms in the US. That said, McCree is my most played hero and the noose spray was my most used spray. I would hang many a dvas, reapers, lucios, echos, and everyone else on the planet while waiting for the game to start. Never did it cross my mind that the noose had any racist connotations. I always felt that it was simply because McCree was an outlaw gunslinger, thus hanging was a major trope in those character archetypes. You know why I thought this? Cause I’m not a racist that sees racism in everything under the sun.

So when I see all these people on the forums crying out about how the noose’s existence is virtually solely based around black lynchings (despite them having been used in executions for centuries all across the globe) I see that as THEM being racist if that’s the first thing that comes to their mind. I never heard anyone say a single thing about it until now. This was a nonissue, but now you all made it one. So thanks. I loved my noose spray and now I’m stuck with a stupid horseshoe. Not really that big of a deal, but when people make it all about racism when it so obviously wasn’t, that concerns me because it seems that is all you people see. Plus, the world doesn’t revolve around the US. Nooses were around loooong before our glorious nation, that I love, was even a thing.

Lastly, perhaps the most infuriating thing about all this is how all you people are telling me what I should be offended by. As if I don’t have the power to decide that for myself. I don’t need YOU to tell ME what is offensive to ME. I don’t need YOU to get offended on MY behalf. That, to me, is far more racist than a silly little noose. You’re basically telling me that I’m not smart enough to know what’s for my own good. So, you do you, and I do me. Let’s keep it at that.

The noose is/was not racist. Stop trying to justify it’s removal with that argument. It’s dumb and is simply infantilizing my race by treating us with kid gloves like everyone else in the media/news/universities have been doing for years now. Wish they’d bring it back, but given how PC blizzard is nowadays, doubt that will happen.

Wonder what will be next? Remove pistols because young black men kill other young black men in droves with them. Can’t have Lucio and Doomfist duking it out then…obvious racism. Maybe remove blacks in general like these companies rebranding Uncle Ben, Mrs. Buttersworth and Aunt Jemima.

Really sick of all you people making EVERYTHING about race. The more you keep bringing it up the more power it has over you. It’s time to move on.

182 Likes
2

I have no idea who all the people making it about race are when it was simply the company going “This could be a problem that creates bad press down the line, so let us simply change it, because after all there is no rational reason to be annoyed that a spray changed.” Now was the decision made to avoid a story that said they were being insensitive… of course, but right now companies are making efforts not become a story by removing anything that could become a story.

I cannot think of a single rational reason to care that the noose spray is gone.

33 Likes
3

IMO the noose is not racist, but it is tone deaf. It’s going to be used for racist things in matches. I’m glad it didn’t bother you, but it still was a sensible thing to get rid of it.

23 Likes
4

The only people I ever saw who used it usually focused on using it on Lucio, Doomfist, and Baptiste sprays

While generally being toxic, or spewing racial slurs over mic. Which makes me wonder, can you report them for abusive chat? Is Blizzard actually able to get the audio?

16 Likes
5

Abusive chat is a “vote them off the island” report type. Basically, enough reports, and you get muted/banned. They don’t check (precisely because it’s not recorded, I think).

3 Likes
6

i thought this is place where we can enjoy ourselves after hard work,school,college and avoiding the real world problem

but no…now video game is not a place to enjoy our free time it’s platform for politics

11 Likes
7

I mean, let’s be honest.

If you ignore the politics exactly zero people care about sprays that aren’t connected to achievements.

If they deleted another of McCree’s sprays randomly I bet people wouldn’t even have noticed for two weeks.

16 Likes
8

If you close your eyes and cover your ears and go “lalalala” really loud, you can ignore all of lifes problems

8 Likes
9

then how i can play the games if i can’t see and hear ?

10

Well there’s plenty of offline games where you don’t need to interact with other real people who have their own struggles and have to live with set prejudices their entire lives

11

Might as well cancel all of Winston’s gorilla sprays as well… :roll_eyes:

6 Likes
12

Well, no. This isn’t what people are saying when they justify the removal… It’s not that the noose is 100% referencing lynching or suicide. The problem is that it can easily be misinterpreted as such. We’ve also seen a few complaints about such misinterpretations.

The reasoning behind removing such sprays is pretty much the same; as to why we don’t have custom sprays.

A few racist losers ruin it for the rest of us.

Edit:

Then don’t make it a big deal? I can’t fathom how personally attached you are to a cosmetic of a hangman’s noose. It’s frankly weird.

6 Likes
13

It’s not and has never been about you.

You not being offended don’t invalidate the feelings of others.

You not being racist doesn’t mean others aren’t.

You seeing the multiple other meanings for a swastika doesn’t mean meaning we know doesn’t exist.

This spray could be about black people (and it has been used as such) or it could be about people taking their own life.

You don’t speak for all.

10 Likes
14

Sorry but this was never just about you. You being black honestly does not make your opinion any more valid.

8 Likes
15

Do you think the same thing applies to Pharah’s shooting range spray where she’s holding a gun sideways and you can point it at other spray’s?

1 Like
16

Isn’t that where context is key? If Blizzard did put it in cos the spray designer is actually Klan, then by all means get rid of it and then, but from what I understand it’s one of several nods to a movie that McCree is a homage too.

If you take out anything that, when taken out of its original context and moved to an entirely separate one is seen as offensive, isn’t this setting it up that anything can be interpreted as offensive and thrown out :man_shrugging:t2:

1 Like
17

Nope, but some things are more highly charged or potentially problematic than others. It’s a gun game with a million guns, and also Pharah’s a professional soldier, whom even gun control advocates are willing to let still have guns. So that’s not problematic. But a noose has no purpose in the game aside from being miscellaneously western for a cowboy character and a huge charged meaning in other ways. It has far less legitimate reason to be in the game and is more of a problem.

2 Likes
18

The noose itself wasn’t racist, but players were putting them on top Lucio/Doomfist sprays and taking screenshots. Blizzard doesn’t want that kind of PR.

6 Likes
19

The only time a human being looks at reports is if someone appeals their auto-suspension. Very much a “presumed guilty until proven innocent” situation.

It’s also highly abused.

20

Preach! :+1: :+1: :+1:

Less than a hundred posts but OP already has more likes compared to another individual who tried to make the removal of the noose spray to be all about racism. :wink:

2 Likes