Sacred Symbols+, Episode 353 | An Examination of the Gaming Industry's Antisemitism Problem

Colin, its nice to say that Israel need to put their guns down, but against hamas its not possible, they said many times that they will only stop when Israel is completely destroyed…. how do you put your guns down against a enemy like that

Marco Maluf

Maybe it means that Islam is the most recent of the Abraham if religions. Jewish being first and Christian second

Dan P

Same boat. Let me know if you ever wanna talk about it!

Jacob R.

I’ve been unable to verify the death toll on the day of that tweet. We know many people are dying, we know many of them are young. Her expressing sadness at this seems like a pretty normal reaction? Unless I’m missing something, I can’t see these extremist comments and terrorist talking points. At worst, it’s an elevated numbers.

Michael Robinson

I really don’t understand what Colin meant by “Islam being the new kid in the block”. Does he mean that Islam preaches anti-semitism?

Hashim Barakat

PairOfShuse

That’s a meaningless statement and cowardly. State what you think and you will get criticized justly. I’m “biased” or “just stupid” is a preemptive defense mechanism.

Ryan

Modern day education is a complete failure. You can only look at history through context, and these days people leave context out. Those “countries” you talk about, they weren’t even countries. It’s incomparable to Israel bombing Gaza or USA destroying Iraq etc whatever. I’m going to take a guess and believe you aren’t talking about Brazil when you say the Portuguese brutalized so and so, because if so then there’s really no point arguing it’s a complete lack of historic foundation for which to argue on. But in the end what matters is this, you can’t compare what happened centuries ago in lands that were inhabited by tribes, not a country, tribes, to one country bombing another country where kids have access to Twitter and watch cartoons, and live in apartments. Every discussion around this kind of topic needs to take into account context before people start throwing out what happened to somebody four hundred years ago. If a newly formed country was built by a previously “evolved” civilization, then you can’t say that civilization brutalized that country before it was a country. A lot of Brazilians for example say this about Portugal but then they really want to be American, and somehow the US wasn’t brutalized… or Canada… the place you live in was built on top of the blood of natives. Now tell me how living in Canada is great. Americans say the USA is the greatest country in the world. Enough with the cognitive dissonance.

Gonçalo Ferreira

Hearing Colin call the "future class" authoritarian goons is probably my favourite quote of the years =)

phil mccarthy

Who?

Dan Sing Izzy Rae Lee

They cry out in pain

Gabriel Baker

TLDR; This was far longer than I intended (and yet somewhat shorter than what I wanted). It's ok if you don't read this Colin. I'm glad you stated your biases at the beginning but I just had to say my piece on this topic (at least in an abbreviated form). I thought the interview was good and Luc was a great guest. Hope to hear from him more! PS. Also, how dare you have Luc speak to anti-semitism on a podcast titled SS+, what a travesty (heavy sarcasm) To start off, I thought Luc Bernard was great and an excellent person to have on the podcast given he's able to speak to the plight of Israelis while also acknowledging the far-right political ideologies currently leading the Israeli government. I have a couple grievances and I think that the vast majority of them may be attributed to your major touchstones being in the video game (journalism) industry: 1) You state multiple times throughout the episode that there are no consequences for those siding with Palestine in the conflict. I work as a physician in Canada, and while it may be different in the States, I have seen a junior doctor in training suspended because he posted "Pro-Palestinian" content on his personal Instagram account. The doctor presiding was Jewish. While I understand that most Jewish people in power wouldn't act this way, it still demonstrates that there is risk associated with holding a political opinion. There are similar accounts in Canada of professors and students being let go from their positions due to supporting Palestine. When a country is being supported by the billions of dollars (US) by the largest economic and military power (US), it's hard for me to state that they (Israel) are the underdog and that there is "no risk" to standing against them. (Granted, I guess there is no risk for the gaming industry because everyone is so left leaning. I'd love to see them take a stance against the human rights violations in China (oh that would hit their bottom line)). 2) While I personally understand where you come from with your statement that all people are born equal but not all civilizations are equal; I would at some point like the acknowledgement that some civilizations are set back to "the stone ages" due to actions by the US government and prior to that the British empire. I come from a country that was absolutely brutalized by the Portuguese empire and while I'm "civilized" growing up in Canada, most of the people in my country of origin are not due to direct consequences of that occupation. Sure some civilizations wouldn't have progressed to where the US is currently but the US definitely has acted in ways to prevent civilizations to reach that state for their own benefit i.e. Iran and Afghanistan. 3) At some point the two of you discuss anti-semitism in the form of Neil Druckmann being chastised for his post. I agree, it's ridiculous for people to chastise him for posting the Israeli flag on October 7. That said, to state that there is extreme anti-semitism while people of Jewish faith are still doing well is a bit extreme in my opinion. I love TLOU1/2 and I think Neil is a great beacon for the industry but to act like Jewish people don't hold at least a few positions in power in the industry is a bit ridiculous. Neil is at the very top of arguably the most renowned video game developer in existence (with the exception of Nintendo EAD maybe?).

Guywhosbored

😂🤦

Matthew Campbell

beautiful episode…. thank you colin for standing up for our helpless country of israel. our children thank you, we have virtually zero support from any country! me and my citizens owe you for being israel’s #1 defender. i appreciate you shedding light on this very real topic. i can’t think of one jewish israeli developer in the industry (not counting the indie developer naughty dog creative director neil druckman ). thank you for this, and the children of the darkness will pay a price for the conflict that started on the 7th of october, the actual date when the conflict started.

Benjiman Natenyahu

I had the same feeling going in, then realized that it was about how all of the powers-that-be suck.

Daniel

This episode is phenomenal. Even with your stated bias Colin, this is as objectively HUMANITY focused as it gets. Thank you.

Daniel

Pretty much...

George

Never see it either, I hear and see more reactions to antisemitism than actual antisemitism. I think lots of people equate saying bad things about what israel is doing to saying bad things about jewish people for whatever reason.

James

Colonialism is also terrorism.

Romeo

It’s a very complex situation, but it’s estimated over 6000 children have been killed by Israel since October. So if we want to protect babies and children, the current approach is unfortunately very poor. Not looking to argue. All very sad. Edit: reported less than 100 deaths of the initial Hamas attack. So 60x more children dead as a result of this war

Michael Robinson

Episodes like this are when SS is at its best. Also, a lot of comments here make me think they didn’t actually listen to this episode, they aren’t listening to the world around them, and possibly (most likely) both.

Dante B

Some of you people clearly don’t listen. Colin literally said he is biased on this topic.

Casey Cieslikowski

The multiple antisemitic topics have me a little baffled. I purposely don't pay attention to the typical news outlets...so maybe it is a case of living in my own little bubble here in Eastern PA. But I don't see ANYTHING around here in regards to being anti-jewish. Anti-Isreal and Anti-Hamas, yeah....bur outright hatred of jews in general? Not here. Any good articles out there to enlighten me? Colin didn't have a single example on the Constellation ep that I remember hearing.

Ryan Zimm

Colin, thank you so much for tackling this topic for SS+. Jewish people in progressive spaces feel isolated and are silently watching what is going on around us in horror.

Brian Young

I wonder if Colin will ever have in a Palestinian voice on, having multiple Israeli viewpoints guest now. Edit: alright nevermind, this guy doesn't seem to really be an Isreali viewpoint after a few minutes of listening.

Guns vs Kittens

Don’t genocide Palestinians is such an easy issue to have moral clarity on. You don’t have to be an expert. They just have better values than you.

Ryan

Great episode but I’m sorry you can’t allow true actual evil to exist. In this case that evil is Hamas. We all know what happens if Israel lays down their weapons. Hamas walks in and butchers babies once again.

Cory Knudsen

Also just got done with the episode. Great stuff as always. Luc is a treasure.

Michael Welter

Then don’t listen 👀 It’s not even like it’s part of a Constellation episode or something, just don’t listen to this episode if it bothers you.

OnkiDonkGinkGonk

Colin so biased. It’s getting annoying

ShinyRyuji

I disagree with some of your political takes, Colin, but the unfortunately rare boldness you show, to lean into whatever you want, is why I went from no sub to $1, then to a full $5 member. The work you guys do is invaluable.

ByWatterson

When it came to Russia/Ukraine, you had people on both sides of the issue on the show. I would normally expect you'll do the same here but you've established you are biased. And so are Chris and Dustin. Which is fine. I just hope you'll take the same care to present both sides being victims to this horrific bullshit. I mean Palestinians not Hamas obviously. Sadly I have to actually say that. Anyway, please don't take this comment as anything other than concern that when it comes to these political issues, you'll have both sides presented. Love everything you guys do. Just voicing my concern.

Michael Welter

This is why Last Stand Media is amazing, tackling subjects that others in the industry ignore or refuse to talk about

Yiorgos

I'll be listening shortly, happy to see this episode appear.

TL

Luc is an awesome guest. He’s always a pleasure to listen to. The light in the Darkness was really touching.

Joey

Good call Colin.

drew

In an industry where the cartoonishly liberal games media have decided they have become experts in one of the most complex geopolitical issues in world history, I’m glad this episode exists.

Alex @TheSlayerGiant

God bless

Jacob R.

This finna be a banger bruv. Hope you’re well Luke.

Austin Clemence