How Video Games Sold the American “War on Terror”

[@sarapocorn]

I‘m an Eastern European immigrant, I used to watch 24 with my mom and played a bunch of CoD as a teen. I vividly remember being surprised when a character who had my parent‘s accent wasn‘t an immoral villain. It‘s so much worse for Arabs.

[@mohammadalloush8636]

Never watched the show but damn, reading about it, wtf.

[@mohammadalloush8636]

@@simplehealthyliving4681 This one I know of that is why I never played a cod game in my life or any other game promotes such thing, you basically killing people wearing kuffiyahs..

[@remaks8405]

You mean that he was an immoral villain?

[@TheWingsofFreedom]

​@@remaks8405 those are exactly my thoughts as well!!

[@sarapocorn]

@@remaks8405 wasn‘t. I had gotten so used to the „slavic accent in US media = villain“. Exceptions surprised me.

[@mohammadalloush8636]

I remeber when Julian Assienage leaked stuff related to Iraq's drone attacks, US army criminals were laughing as they were murdering a man with his kids and saying do not bring your kids to work........ No words can describe the evil inside them, truly no words.

[@aimlessali1]

Videos are still public access right now. Fucking disgusting human beings.

[@johnfoulke9241]

If it happens to them, they would cry "you are evil, how can you do that to a kid?", and the media would crying for a month just because of that 1 incident... Edit, adding more fact: The same situation happened in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine, when a journalist saying "a white European blonde hair with blue eyes are fleeing their country because of invasion". Then people from Middle East who fled from war disgusted and compare themselves. Funny thing is, I watch a meme about that and many racist deny that fact and saying it is different with so many reasons.

[@hendrx]

even worse is what they did to Assange for 10 plus years in response

[@Auqi]

​@@johnfoulke9241western double standard at its finest

[@heruiksanudin8942]

Its not drone it was attack helicopter

[@goyoelburro]

I have a game called *"Fursan al-Aqsa The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque"* that I bought on Steam years ago in early access. It allows you to take the role of a Palestinian Freedom Fighter against the Israeli "Defense" Forces. It was developed by Palestinians. *Honestly, I have so much more fun playing it now!*

[@AbdoMSG]

Send link quick quick

[@goyoelburro]

@@AbdoMSG Everytime I try to reply with a link it gets taken down. You will have to paste it into steam.

[@zulfikar419]

Not palestinians, but palestinian Only one guy made that game alone

[@OZTutoh]

Hahaha! What an awesome game! When you die, it says "You became a Martyr"

[@AbdoMSG]

@@zulfikar419 I realized lol My 1st impression was like "if this game was developed by a team it gotta be developed in tunnels" lol

[@Azothoth827]

That is why I always play as "terrorists" in Counter Strike.

[@ZSUenjoyer]

in cs you swap teams mid-game, whatchu talking about

[@Eqvixity]

​@@ZSUenjoyerIn some modes, no, you don't

[@letsdothisshiat1162]

@@ZSUenjoyeryou don’t in deathmatch

[@obz1357]

Lol

[@worldnewsvideos]

😂😂😂

[@StrPtrn]

Just like every hollywood movie since Delta Force or even earlier have been selling Islamophobia...!

[@Fried_Koolaid]

Terrorists are not true muslims

[@OZTutoh]

Delta Force was based off the real-life plane hijacking of TWA Flight 847. I can't remember the race or religion of the hijackers, though. It was a while ago.

[@omerlan100]

fear of islam is rational, muslims keep proving that themselves again and again

[@whatever-s3e]

@@OZTutoh Delta Force had lots of mission in Iran like, Kharg island infiltration.

[@OZTutoh]

@@whatever-s3e I'm referring to the movie Delta Force. Are you referring to the real-life Delta Force?

[@Mae-hx2ml]

The show 24 feels like it was pure propaganda as well.

[@tcchip]

24 was at least willing to be morally grey. Jack Bauer will go to any lengths, and the CTU does some very morally questionable things in every season. There was also a nice subversion in season 2 where the show wanted you to think the Middle Eastern guy was a terror suspect, when the real one was his American fiancee. Call of Duty however, is black and white even when it tries to portray morally grey characters. If you commit an atrocity, it's a necessary evil in these games. If someone else does it, then they deserve the full weight of the US military thrown at them.

[@DavidMyrmidon]

@tcchip it's One of The Things I pointed out to My Taiwanese Friend, way back when "No Russian" came Out. I personally Love The Stage for The Sheer Fantasy of The Assumption of it All. We all had a Good Laugh. The Idea that The RUSSIANS would Invade America, after One Airport Massacre, it's Hilariously Farcical.. it's Only something that would come Out of a Heavily Indoctrinated, Paranoid Mind. ...an Americana Mind. Everyone with a functioning Brain knows that The Only Country that would do something that Stupid, is America.

[@omaimaf9963]

Apparently any show that uses police uniforms have to have approval from us gov so yeah they’re mostly propaganda.

[@tcchip]

@@DavidMyrmidon The US has believed in more nonsensical ideas in the past. Eisenhower was adamant about propping up South Vietnam, which was little more than a dictatorship with his domino theory that if South Vietnam fell to the Communists, the rest of Southeast Asia will fall too. Even now, nearly 50 years after the end of the Vietnam War, many Americans continue to believe in this theory despite history proving that no such Communist invasion ever happened, and Vietnam stuck to its borders once both halves were unified. Their argument is always, 'it didn't happen because America stopped it from happening,' even though the US lost the war.

[@rajatbhattacharya8449]

Early seasons of Homeland as well

[@mr.blamochai2801]

this is why spec ops the line is such a brilliant piece of art

[@jamariobrown-tolliver8163]

Metal gear solid is another one especially Snake eatere

[@curious_one1156]

​@@jamariobrown-tolliver8163Its Japanese. It has to be.

[@reddragon3163]

Specs ops still kinda pussys out by calling them "rogue soldiers". Ie it's not the military they represent but them as an individual battalion. The CIA bit was honestly a good addition.

[@Letitcrustandwipe]

​@@reddragon3163bro failed media literacy

[@FREESPIRITSSOARING]

imagine if even one game had Jews as the vilains

[@jeromealfonsi2261]

Moron

[@jayceontalylor4244]

They hate William Shakespeare because he described the jews in a bad way, and they inverted that with owning hollywood

[@mrtommygunner]

It'd probably be one where they are the 'good' guys or the victims. If it's not the ADL and AIPAC is going to tear it down before the beta is even out.

[@aeoligarlic4024]

If COD came out in the 1940s that could be it

[@Bougainvillea_42]

@@aeoligarlic4024COD world at war?

[@JohnHunterPlayerr]

Ive been wcreaming this since 2005.

[@scientiest12]

Bro's been wcreaming about it

[@Saif-y6x]

@@scientiest12 lmao

[@mohammedxzadoali]

Recent DNA analysis of Palestinians (in 2017, and in 2020) have found that 81-87% of their DNA derives from ancient Bronze Age Levantine groups and from the Neolithic Natufians. Gaza has some of the most ancient fortified structures ever excavated (for example, Tell es-Sakan) in fact older than almost all fortified structures in Egypt, far predating any history of the Jews. In contrast, analysis of Jewish Ashkenazi DNA was found to be 41% of European origin. The geneticists doing the study concluded that there was a "genetic continuity in the region" of Palestine, among Palestinian people, since the time of the ancient neolithic Natufians

[@Darkest_matter]

They say european jews are from the levant but ask them about the roma and you'll get a different answer.

[@125discipline2]

israel is also giving palestinian lands to westerners, i remember watching video where an american from texas living in israel said "because what recently happened in gaza, colonization got a bad rep" i was like, this lady is not living under a rock, she must have been living in earth's core

[@Darkest_matter]

@@125discipline2 bruh Israelis are westerners themselves anyway. they do have a very small minority of misguided arab jews tho.

[@arkhamtezcatlvii4971]

Hey bro, that's pretty interesting, please share a link.

[@chickensoup9869]

Lsrael needs trillions per year to sustain itself so obviously previous empires didn't have the finance and the logistics to employ the same jenna sidal policies as lsrael. Ergo, the indigenous are the same people as today : the Palestinians.

[@Argaroth666]

"They teach their children to hate us" Every accusation is a confession.

[@BAMZK456]

Why should we accept a religion that teaches a person like prophet momo is the greatest moral example of a man for all time?

[@DisenchantedWithSociety]

While they teach children all over the world to hate themselves.

[@dude9318]

Muslims do the same Ironic how nobody sees this

[@JohnHunterPlayerr]

Rapid respawn is a way of desensitization of death.

[@anirbannandi8263]

No joke, I killed about 2000 Russians in that one level in MW3 before I got bored and let myself die. That one level where you wear a juggernaut suit and diffuse a bunch of bombs

[@kjy05]

SOOOO TRUE

[@Abdirahman_Mohamed]

Ironically, Metal Gear Solid 2 (made in Japan) predicted this like 25 years ago

[@idsavo]

Can you elaborate? Sounds interesting

[@Abdirahman_Mohamed]

@@idsavo In the Metal Gear 2, the main character Raiden underwent several video game like training scenarios before signing up for the military (which was engineered to happen by the villains, the Patriots) and that basically the entire game itself was a scripted simulation of the events of the prior game MGS1, orchestrated again, it also talks about the control and selective censorship of digital information and the internet more broadly, wayyyyy back in 2004ish when i beat the game the first time round, this was like tinfoil hat tier lunacy, now not so much

[@epicKerBallze]

I wasn't expecting MGS2 to be one of the things mentioned in the comments 😭

[@RareDust76753]

​@@epicKerBallzeMG is peak

[@epicKerBallze]

@@RareDust76753 So true my friend

[@a601lbcatfish]

Let's not forget devs told you the recent modern warfare trilogy (remake??) was "not political" when it was plainly obvious it was, just hidden underneath the usual machismo to sneak it in. And of course the rebranding of the highway of death, just to point out a couple small red flags across this whole franchise. Jacob Geller has a couple really good videos on the CoD games as well regarding their outlooks on this as well as it's justified torture in the story.

[@nullvoid6095]

IIRC that was actually based on the Russian bombing campaigns on Chechnya and not the Iraqi Highway of Death?

[@misterv6000]

@@nullvoid6095 thy called it the highway of death. thts rewriting history

[@RatsAreNice222]

@@nullvoid6095 the whole game is about the "evil russian occupant", and they used American warcrimes, pinned it on Russia in a game.

[@kaanarmutcu6740]

@@RatsAreNice222 ah yes classic russian good ameerican bad type of dude

[@RatsAreNice222]

@kaanarmutcu6740 ah yes, classic america good russia bad type dude. Your argument holds no substance. Try again.

[@Some1_betterthanu]

I'm muslim and I played all of call of duty (and some battlefield) I was too young to care now I realise that straight propaganda

[@helghast298]

I mean atleast we can play as a Muslim faction in cod mw 2019 like urzikstan

[@kamilazman2943]

@@Mentis-de It is called half truths, it is an essential component for any propaganda to work.

[@dragonmaster3207]

@@Mentis-dethat’s just stupid, behind hitter’s government there was true.

[@MahmoudMohamed-me8fv]

​@@Mentis-de then it seems you don't understand what propaganda means

[@Pale_Kingg]

​@@Mentis-de propaganda and truth can't be together in a single sentence.

[@sterlinga.1737]

Love the topics this video touches. I always thought of this when playing COD and MW, as to why it's always the US the "hero" going in the middle east and killing muslims who are always portrayed as terrorists.

[@anirbannandi8263]

There's no such thing as Islamophobia anymore. We call it counterterrorism now.

[@user-gm3lg8gp3m]

@@anirbannandi8263you counterterrorism by invading other countries? Doesn't make sense.

[@anirbannandi8263]

@@user-gm3lg8gp3m simple, you just call them terrorists and then invade them.

[@lm_slayer1]

@@anirbannandi8263Ive seen brick walls with better mental capabilities

[@arkhamtezcatlvii4971]

@@lm_slayer1 😂😂😂👍👍👍

[@fikri2449]

There's a Vietnamese video game similar to CoD, but we played as Vietnamese soldiers against French army. The title is 7554

[@arx117]

But vietnamese did invade Champa kingdom

[@reddragon3163]

Based

[@AvelierPlays]

Every military driven game usually depicts the US in as the “good guys” or in a positive manner and everyone else like Russia, China or some other group or state is seen as evil, authoritarian and the “bad guys”. This has been going on since the red scare against the USSR and continued into Hollywood and later video games. Imagine if you played a game where it was the opposite, you were an Arab freedom fighter trying to push out the American invaders. The US would never allow such a game to release and 6 Days in Falujaah at its time was that kind of game.

[@killingspeerx]

What is 6 days in falujah about?

[@yuyu_2608]

According to old COD games,when your faction not speak English you're a bad guys,like in WaW the Russian (or USSR) speak English because they are good guys,but then in BO and MW they speak Russian (except the non-Western main villains) and labeled as antagonist (except inner circle,cuz they is the real villain😂) it's always funny and made me think you need to know english to consider a good guys😂.

[@aaroncruz9181]

Escape from Kharkov 💀

[@sanchikotjendrakasih9138]

Spec ops the line.

[@doctormal-t1i]

i kinda agree with you, but a lot of arab countries are sadly incredibly authoritarian so the idea of that is kind of weird, and also there is a reason why most media does not glorify the ccp or the soviet union

[@mohd8218]

Thats why metal gear players have a different world view

[@SGC90-t5y]

Was just think about Metal Gear as I was watching, the best series!

[@svenjurgens9245]

MGS3 correctly predicted the control of information flow :/ Western media is mostly propaganda nowadays.

[@svenjurgens9245]

I mean MGS2, time flies.

[@nabilazman4932]

May I ask why? What is metal gear even about? I genuinely don't understand cause I never play it, only watch the meme online

[@SGC90-t5y]

@@nabilazman4932 it's a stealth action game that centres around special forces infiltrating bases and disarming giant military robots with nuclear capabilities before they fall into the hands of villainous groups. Some of the themes around identity, the future of warfare and AI, especially in MGS2 were ground-breaking and ahead of their time. The games have complex storylines with a focus on character development and self-discovery. You will get immersed in the lore and learn about the world as you play. It is like playing a movie. Although there are a lot of noticeable retcons as the series progressed, it still works well and is very entertaining. Could not recommend it highly enough, I'm not even a big gamer and I adore the series.

[@wishwewere1256]

It's the same exact model in Bollywood.

[@aeoligarlic4024]

Are there war movies in bollywood?

[@wishwewere1256]

@@aeoligarlic4024 Tons. Usually involves depicting a picture of how minorities actually love India and any separatist movements in Kashmir, Punjab, Manipur are evil incarnate and whatnot.

[@aeoligarlic4024]

​@@wishwewere1256 ah i see, thanks for the info! All i knew about bollywood was only about the musicals

[@arx117]

It's became worst since Modi became president. Modi just like average Indian, they believe everything came from india

[@wishwewere1256]

@@aeoligarlic4024 That was the old Bollywood. They've gotten very narrative driven these days.

[@jbiliHacker]

please re upload if they delete this. because, it is undeniable.

[@OZTutoh]

This video is so laughable that I expect it will be trending for decades.

[@Pale_Kingg]

​@@OZTutoh your joke is so funny i forgot to laugh 😐

[@Saif-y6x]

@@OZTutoh As a Muslim, he has a point but he's exaggerating. Muslims these days are too sensetive

[@Saif-y6x]

@@OZTutoh Also CoD is not hyper realistic. Muslims these days are too liberal. we need to go back to our country because we're starting to sound like vox or smth

[@moeezS]

I'm glad you made this video about the American imperialist soft power and racism in military videogames. Agreed fully. Cheyenne Lin also released a video a day ago on American soft power in media.

[@fuadashraf870]

Afghanistan, Korea, Iraq, congo Sudan Lebanon Yemen, Vietnam, native Americans. These people saw their country destroyed by Americans. We'll always fight with the oppressor. LONG LIVE THE PEOPLE LONG LIVE THE RESISTANCE

[@Saif-y6x]

I don't blame them for invading but could they at least figure out some kind of criteria before doing so? and could they at least be a little quieter?

[@keifer7813]

You act like they were all getting along swimmingly before the Americans showed up. They weren't. They were oppressing eachother in some of these places. Not to excuse America but yeah the revisionism isn’t necessary

[@fuadashraf870]

@keifer7813 American mentality. No worries. Soon, there'll be an army who'll say "no hard feelings" after massacring and destroying America. "You were rotten to the core and that's why you become a fallen oppressor".

[@reddragon3163]

​@@keifer7813actually no,you are justifying genocide. What has natives fighting each other have to do with their genocide? Literally no relation between the 2 crimes. The only reason to bring it up, is so you can indirectly telegraph "they kinda deserved a little tho"

[@keifer7813]

@@reddragon3163 Please point out the genocide here The relevance is that the narrative is incorrect that all these countries America invaded were just a bunch of innocent people living their lives. That's not to say they deserved it. But it puts things into perspective. It's called nuance. I know you like to think the world is black and white, evil and good. Shows how naive you are.

[@notsoroyalacademy7001]

you forgot how these games also sell their audiences russophobia, depicting russians as evil and corrupt. Missions like 'no russian' in MW2 is the perfect example of double standards, where, under the pretext of being 'undercover', implies that it is ok for the player to massacre civilians by hundreds as long as the perpetrator is working for the good side (read the US) and the said citizens are russian.

[@cheetooreo6636]

Also Hollywood movies - depending on the time period, villains may be from Russia, Libya, West Asia, or North Korea.

[@TheStarBot]

There is no such thing as russophoia 😂, y'all are also colonializares in different ways

[@notsoroyalacademy7001]

@@TheStarBot yes there is

[@lizardperson2293]

@@TheStarBot I agree about russia being imperialist, but ppl are not their government. And a russians outside of russia might still experience hate because of their background. This is coming from a ghazzawi

[@runningcommentary2125]

Yeah, but Russia is also an expansionist state with a brutal history of colonialism. They just get less attention because their military is less powerful and they can’t reach as far.

[@idsavo]

Most of the super evil bosses in movies or games was either Russian or Muslim. I can also remember Asian, but never an American or a Jew.

[@aeoligarlic4024]

Even in tv shows jews are always portrayed as some religious minority living nicely with the christians, then they got mad with the "jews rule the world" narrative when muslims got way worse stereotype and labels on them

[@Cipher_556]

Are you purposely misleading? General Herschel Shepherd. Jonathan Irons. Commander Graves Russel Adler (Arguably a villain in Cold War) Jane Harrow Captain Rorke These are all Americans.

[@dogmilk999]

General Shepard and Jonathan Irons

[@Cipher_556]

@@dogmilk999 Jane Harrow (Most recent BO6) Russel Adler (Arguably a villain in Cold War because he betrayed the player to further his objective) Commander Graves (Shepherd's lapdog) Taylor (BO3) Rorke (Ghosts) All and all American villains are there, saying "never" is a not factual. Jewish villain however, I can only think of Obediah Stane from Iron Man 1 and not much else.

[@idsavo]

@@Cipher_556 I am not refering to "American traitors". I am talking about nationalists or chosen by the government/president.

[@YourWorldOFInternet]

It's Not just in games! It's in movies, news, media. It's disgusting 🤮🤮🤮

[@eduangoliath7340]

Nope

[@kingawesomes4320]

@@eduangoliath7340 nuh uh

[@ranapriliaful]

​@eduangoliath7340 livin' in a cave mate?.

[@maxgurman633]

Been thinking about this exact subject a lot lately. Thank you for this. In addition to demonizing muslims as terrorists, these games also do “historical depictions” to demonize former/current enemies of the US state. Think of the ‘gulag’ levels. They convince the player on a psychological level that they have an understanding of certain historical processes, events, or places, when in reality it is a very deliberate and specifically manufactured depiction in order to justify any US intervention, war crimes, etc.

[@LesediModisakeng-in8uq]

Man this world is dominated by the most malevolent, reptillian and devilish entities... even little things such as video games are contaminated with dark agendas by dark and adverse Western countries.... to call what Britain, the US and France are today "the West" or representatives of Western civilization is not only a spit in the face to the architects of Western civilization- Greco-Latins but it's a straight up middle finger... these devils have hijacked and polluted Western civilization with their hex... let's stop using reductive language and be more nuanced... these people aren't at all representative of the West, it's heritage or its legacy 🙄 😒

[@GutoSantana]

Very important video/insight. Thanks a lot!

[@toqa6735]

0:35 I'm 23 yrs old girl from Iraq , and I remember when my twin brother Ali was so happy to buy call of duty ps2 game and how shocked we were at the time to hear Arabic! and see Iraqi شماخ covering the faces of the *enemies* 😀 i turned and looked at him and said "why are they portraying us like this ? " and he said "I don't know" we Both sat down to kill the *enemies* in a very heavy silent way.. do you understand how that feels? Imagine loving a foreign culture so much in such a young age by yourself only to find how racist they are towards you , and so from that day on , we hated our origins , and resented our country, of course the bombs were ongoing at the time in Baghdad so nothing was normal but to us kids it was the usual so unless it's personal like our own game then and ONLY THEN do we go like " oh , right , back to reality "

[@toqa6735]

As Kids, we didn't know that America killed one million Iraqi , i hated hearing the news since dad blasts them 24/7 (now im watching the news all the time too just like my dad because now I understand how unfair it is for people to die forgotten and uncared for) what i did then was I would escape to a garden and play until im worn out to sleep asap , we thought people dyed because of our country and our government, but that wasn't the truth , they managed to brainwash us into thinking we're the bad guys :) propaganda works sadly. Especially when people have no access to information or internet . This is a huge advantage to our current generation. If only we had cameras back then , but it was a luxury

[@toqa6735]

As Kids, we didn't know that America killed one million Iraqi , i hated hearing the news since dad blasts them 24/7 (now im watching the news all the time too just like my dad because now I understand how unfair it is for people to die forgotten and uncared for) what i did then was I would escape to a garden and play until im worn out to sleep asap , we thought people dyed because of our country and our government, but that wasn't the truth , they managed to brainwash us into thinking we're the bad guys :) propaganda works sadly. Especially when people have no access to information or internet . This is a huge advantage to our current generation. If only we had cameras back then , but it was a luxury

[@aeoligarlic4024]

I can imagine the hurt you feel. I think what you and your brother experienced is way worse than being a disney fan and discovered how that company funds genocide.. I like cute arts, drawings, and designs. Such a shame about the company

[@ArslanAli-cs1be]

Its sad but true that every movie and game has its own embedded propaganda.

[@deepakkr6876]

Because terrorism have common relegion 😂 it's fact🎉

[@antonello_San]

I literally just spent the last few years thinking of how my childhood spent in FPS was surrounded by "terrorists" and "counter terrorists" or similar denominations, then I started studying history and here we are.

[@Pale_Kingg]

Now that i grew up and know the world, i got disgusted by the cheer hate they put against Muslims and Arabs in every way possible (movies, games, arts, media, news and even education!)

[@BAMZK456]

Why do you accept a religion that teaches a misogynistic polygamist warlord, child abuser, mass murder, caravan thief, anti-LGBT bigot, who commands the spread of his ideology through conquest, is the greatest moral example of a man for all time?

[@aeoligarlic4024]

I think it also plays a role in the rise of self-hating muslim liberals

[@Yazan_Majdalawi]

I'm an Arab Muslim, and I played tens of hours of Generals as a kid, not understanding English.. I just re-downloaded the game last week and was excited to bring back the memories.. I could not handle finishing a game, my blood was boiling

[@Pale_Kingg]

@Yazan_Majdalawi that's the thing. When we were young, everything in movies, games, cartoons seemed normal to us. Now that we grew up, we look at what we felt normal at that time with utter disguest.

[@aeoligarlic4024]

​@@Pale_Kingg i think it's also an important lesson to learn about other languages to understand what they're really saying about us without relying on filtered translations

[@AlannahIrwin-wj9xc]

Truly, it’s indistinguishable from the way Israeli soldiers use quadcopters etc. all on a screen

[@OZTutoh]

Didn't the Houthis perform a drone attack on Tel Aviv, piloting it the exact same way?

[@mahamfatima3665]

​@@OZTutohHouthis attack military bases not civilian structures. Where in israel you can't be called civilian since male and female have to serve in military

[@OZTutoh]

@mahamfatima3665 The drone struck an apartment building. It may have hit a few Arab members of Israel's population, who don't have to serve in Israel's military.

[@Saif-y6x]

Are you sure akhi

[@OZTutoh]

@@Saif-y6x Calling me a liar?

[@tcchip]

What a lot of people don't realize is games like COD also distort actual real life narratives and history. They happily claim that it's a work of fiction, but doesn't do anything to dissuade the impressionable teens playing them and sold on the narrative that what depicted in the game isn't what really played out in real life. As a result, many people after Modern Warfare and Black Ops feel that the war on terror in Iraq was justified, because it could've played out like what happened in Modern Warfare (despite no evidence of chemical or nuclear weapons found). With Black Ops, it's pure whitewashing to make America look like the good guys in the Vietnam War. The Battlefield series at least try to be neutral in BF1 and BFV. Even if they still have biases, at least the general message is war is awful, and it shouldn't be something one gets gleeful over. BF1 even offered a lot of factoids about WW1 which got me really reading up on the subject. Call of Duty however has turned from what was a relatively neutral historical military shooter to outright American propaganda. With Black Ops, it's even whitewashing American complicity in very questionable acts as something heroic and patriotic. You can enjoy the games for what they are, but they really shouldn't be treated as history. The problem is the games have grown so big that when you try to point out a valid criticism, the fan base will just shut you up with a lot of shouting.

[@lugiasimply6054]

WAW was legendary though. It was quite compelling.

[@tcchip]

@@lugiasimply6054 WAW, the first two Black Ops and the original Modern Warfare trilogy were Call of Duty at its absolute peak. Especially as a campaign experience. There was no other military shooter that did the story as well as these games did. It's also why it's very hard to critique their narrative biases without upsetting someone, because these games are modern classics that have aged like fine wine.

[@aquapendulum]

A particularly bad example has been pointed out by other channels before but it's worth pointing out here: COD Modern Warfare 2019 created a fictionalized version of the "Highway of Death", but without changing the name. That's the mission name. The major difference with real history is that the game attributed this event to the Soviets. They did this to muddy the web search results for this particular event, because if you searched "Highway of Death" before this game came out, you will find out who actually did it in 1991.

[@FabianMacGintyONeill]

One of the worst is Medal of Honor: Warfighter. I remember even as a teenager being genuinely shocked at how F'd up it was that at one stage you obliterate a Somalian village with airstrikes while the biggest weapon they have is an RPG. Thankfully played Spec Ops the Line shortly after that...

[@OnionSketcher2]

As somail. In media we never had postive portrayal. My dad show me black hawk down movie where it scene where soldiers in USA call somails skinny.

[@FabianMacGintyONeill]

@@OnionSketcher2 That's terrible to hear, the actors playing Somalis in Black Hawk Down are obviously not Somalian as well! Personally, as a European I love a lot of Somali culture. I'm currently listening to Dur Dur Band as I write this.

[@OnionSketcher2]

Yeah black hawk down is the main reason somails dont see americans in postive way​@FabianMacGintyONeill

[@FabianMacGintyONeill]

@@OnionSketcher2 makes sense, why respect those who don't respect you? I write from Ireland, we had a long experience of English media and culture portraying us as savage and barbarian. Hopefully change will come soon

[@OnionSketcher2]

@FabianMacGintyONeill yeah in somaila I'f American enter. Some old gens would responds with get out of our country you demon. Since under black hawk down. Mostly woman's. Children and elderly die during it. This explains why somails fighters were aggressive at surviving usa soldiers as them blame him for loss of their family

[@cheetooreo6636]

Great video. On a related note, what about the extremely violent & body horror-type movies (eg. depicting gruesome torture)? Are they meant to desensitize the viewer to actual news reports that shows war crimes such as in Iraq, G@za? I remember reading about how Pres. Reagan was moved by a single photo that showed the Sabra-Shatila massacre, and he told the Isr*elis to stop. But nowadays, many ppl seems to be passive / unmoved by the livestreamed atrocities.

[@موسى_7]

you're onto something

[@harimauindia5775]

Maybe

[@harimauindia5775]

But it's unlikely that the average horror movie is made for that purpose

[@aeoligarlic4024]

That and also desentization to sexualized women. That's how idf thots operate

[@aeoligarlic4024]

The US has gone donwhill when even Reagan still had a shed of humanity compared to BidMalaTrump

[@nidalnijmgames]

For this reason I made the game Fursan al-Aqsa, the Knights of al-Aqsa Mosque, an answer to all these USA Military Games. And my game is available on Steam!

[@ayyylmao101]

And may Allah bless you for it, akhi!

[@nidalnijmgames]

@@ayyylmao101 Jazak Allah khayr akhy!

[@deadinside736]

Brother I have your game and I love it ❤ I didn’t expect to see you here!!

[@nidalnijmgames]

@@deadinside736 You are welcome bro and thanks for your support!

[@kray97]

Proud to say as a gamer, I was onto them. I never played AA, which was actively part of the recruiting effort.

[@Night-rage]

This video had a CoD ad before it

[@Electrical612]

lol

[@Pale_Kingg]

Hell nawh brother

[@juliepark99]

I also noticed a record amount of War movies in theatres in the months leading up to the "Iraq War" (which was basically an invasion by the US under the guise of find "weapons of Mass Destruction - which were never found)

[@letsdothisshiat1162]

The new mw remake also blamed an American war crime on Russia 😂

[@AB-fr2ei]

Yeah this was digusting too even if im not a fan of russia

[@RacelKatyusha]

What was it? ​@@AB-fr2ei

[@125discipline2]

there's also the case of 'Spec Ops: The Line', the game was deemed controversial cause it shows the result of white phosphorus attack, not only that this game has alot to show how horrible war is and somehow that sparks controversy and i realise, in the west it's okay when games depict war as something cool, but it's not okay when game depict war as something terrible. which is a very distrubing

[@موسى_7]

interesting

[@runningcommentary2125]

I think Spec Ops might be the only game where you fight other American soldiers. There’s a bit where you find some guys lead by a man speaking Persian, which would make most people think they’re Iranian, but if you understand what he’s saying he’s actually telling you his team are Americans.

[@jamariobrown-tolliver8163]

​@@runningcommentary2125metal gear solid ground zeros you get to kill us Marines and mgs4 you can kill western pmcs and mgs1 the main antagonist is British

[@Loots1]

free palestine

[@blueblack3591]

Amin

[@lawrencemorris2261]

For some reason it's not allowing me to make a general comment on the show. So I'll say my piece here. Obviously, this video warrantd the fact that there needs to be more warfare video games that are from a perspective different from the US imperialist one, and imperialist in general.

[@abdulhasbullah9172]

From Israel natenyahu terrorist state

[@user-gm3lg8gp3m]

Amen, فلسطين حره 🇵🇸

[@banquetoftheleviathan1404]

4 rizzle

[@the_higherground]

Marvel movies had support and approval by the US military too.

[@zahifar3936]

Ooooh yes. All those paid mercenaries that are introduced in countries for destabilisation probably think of themselves as the A-Team, after the popular series back in the early eighties.

[@wz1116]

In the context of video game factions, western-style PMC factions are cringe as hell compared to conventional or other unconventional factions.

[@jamariobrown-tolliver8163]

​@@wz1116shadow company and the PMCs from metal gear solid are pretty good

[@ChuckPalomo]

They do, you can find plenty of documentaries that follow American PMC mercs boasting about their broad daylight extra-judicial assassination of civilians in foreign countries as "taking down the bad guys" and "supporting democracy".

[@yambuh3247]

What's (not so) crazy with the recent MW2 they got Farah (the middle eastern woman) to betray her own brother and sided with the UK and American members, like?????

[@DeanMeraz]

WTF man.😮

[@watchingshows6683]

Make sense. It's probably why their society adore imagining oneself as "veteran war hero" so much.

[@ajirizawa5743]

imagine going into someone land take the oils and called them terrorist

[@SoburAhmed-c7i]

they rewrite history. On Iran invasion The us and uk caused Highway of death massacre. On Call of duty they say it was caused by Russia

[@ChuckPalomo]

Really? I'd like to know how the managed that feat of mental gymnastics.

[@juliankraus1011]

In which game that that supposedly happen? The US never invaded Iran, by the way.

[@PC42190]

Both KZbinrs Second Thought and 1Dime have done videos in detail about this topic. Highly recommended

[@cadler5885]

I think at this point, everybody kknew that COD is a propaganda

[@Pandemonium-n9b]

The development of technology has always desensitized us to violence

[@banquetoftheleviathan1404]

It's why an army with guns gets to pretend like the army with knives is more barbaric despite dropping less bodies

[@OMGITSGB]

As a developer.... a thing I have told myself for years is.... I would really like to see a war game from the opposite perspective.

[@lanic3869]

Maybe if Arabs try to developing a game then you can make America as a terrorist.

[@62cky4powerthirst]

Video games don't cause violence: but they do desensitize you to it.

[@BlueNorth313]

So they end up causing it, or aiding its prevalence.

[@ChuckPalomo]

Probably more when you're a young impressionable kid. Casual violence in games I used to find fun back in the day just makes me sick nowadays. It's harder to separate it from reality when you're familiar with the consequences.

[@BlueNorth313]

@@ChuckPalomo I think our thoughts are very powerful and when millions of people worldwide are focusing their minds on violent imagery for hours every day, there are real life consequences.

[@cesarst3720]

Now do games with the war against narcos as the main theme. As a Mexican, I'd buy every single game.

[@Henry-rb4zp]

Hello! Great video! It would be incredible if you could do a video on Myanmar-Israel relations. Even the Israeli media has reported the government selling arms to the military junta of Myanmar used to kill Rohingya. There's a fascinating long history between the Israeli and Myanmar governments and their oppressive military tactics. What's going on in Myanmar now has some parallels and connections to Palestine but also important differences. Thanks again for these videos

[@mi-lo4ec]

Not only Israel selling weapons to the Myanmar Junta, but they are also selling weapons to Azerbaijan who are also currently committing a genocide against Armenia. Funny how Israel pretends to care about Armenians, but are actively killing them in the West Bank and Lebanon, while also still selling weapons to Azerbaijan.

[@aeoligarlic4024]

From israel, azerbaijan, to myanmar... all oppressors somehow are linked regardless of their background and religion

[@arx117]

​@@aeoligarlic4024it's always a Zionist. I remember there's an article few years ago that started, Israel will joining team with China if US fell

[@fahmidachowdhury5354]

Which is why Spec Ops: The Line is the best out of all of them. Completely puts the "American hero" narrative on its head.

[@sugarsmile7852]

This is why a game like "Spec Ops The Line" is respected

[@hubertrnx116]

This is such a good video. Thank you for this. 🙏🏾💯

[@TK-tf5ow]

love the sound design!

[@samym1694]

Conservatives say "Video Games these days are now Woke" like LGBTQ+,Pronouns,Race,Police Violence & other Social Issues by devs to appeal "Modern Audience" but ironically despite decades of discrimination since 9/11, it didn't say anything about Islamophobia.

[@beanpasteposts]

Games like these made me NOT want to join the military. Wtf, Americans are wild (yes, I'm an American)

[@VictorTSales]

MGS2 is like the anti-cod in the sense that it denounces/predicts its nature in 21st century society.

[@RaiyanNazif]

Truely a peak series ever and the memes

[@eyazulul]

Man mgs is truly peak media

[@AB-fr2ei]

I wish some people would make a game about invading the US and calling the americans defenders to be terrorists

[@parsarustami774]

Not only arabs but also Iranians and turks and russians and latin americans and of course china. They also messing with their ancient history as well.

[@dnaseb9214]

Black Ops is not in the Middle East. It's in Vietnam.

[@CB66941]

MGS4 touched on this in a heavily on the nose way all the way back in 2008, when Big Mama talks about child orphans working for PMCs who made war games for children. I used to think it was a bit ridiculous. But now...

[@xxafthabxx9346]

That's why I never liked played them even though they had advanced graphics and physics to tempt players. This genre was mocked in GTA series as "Righteous Slaughter" for it's soulless mission and story design and propaganda

[@AB-fr2ei]

Advanced graphics ? Cod graphics were always very mid/ugly apart from Black Ops 3

[@umayr2935]

'Why don't they make such games on the American Civil War?'

[@RM01116]

It’s called war of rights , interesting game, and funny

[@Yankeedoodle-x89w]

A lot of the people playing CoD are the historically illiterate "the south shall rise again" type of people. If CoD made a game where you play as a Union soldier against Confederates, it would make those idiots angry, better to stick to dehumanizing people in the middle east, because the historically illiterate people are perfectly fine with that.

[@Yankeedoodle-x89w]

A lot of the people playing CoD are the historically illiterate "the south shall rise again" type of people. If CoD made a game where you play as a Union soldier against Confederates, it would make those idiots angry.

[@Yankeedoodle-x89w]

A lot of the people playing CoD are the historically illiterate lost causer type of people. If CoD made a game where you play as a Union soldier against Confederates, it would make those kinds of people angry.

[@Yankeedoodle-x89w]

A lot of the people playing CoD are the historically illiterate lost causer type of people. If CoD made a game where you play as a Union soldier against C0nfederates, it would make those kinds of people angry.

[@vdjKryptosRock]

Video games taught me to eat pills in the dark and chase ghosts.

[@Palestinian_Weeb_Punchout]

YOOOO PAC MAN 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@EthanKironus8067]

Don't forget the gun manufacturers working hand-in-hand with all this. Directly contributing to mass shootings in the process; the families of Uvalde school shooting victims sued Activision and 'Daniel Defense'--the company which produces the gun used by the shooter at Robb Elementary, as well as Meta, earlier this year precisely because of their role. The shooter literally had the gun on his wishlist on the company website for months before he was old enough to buy it, and even without his browser history it's pretty damn obvious where he got the fixation on guns, particularly the one he purchased and used, from given how many hours he logged in CoD.

[@doctormal-t1i]

i honestly need to say, i think the problem is less video games make people like guns and more isolation makes people willing to commit violent acts, do games contribute to dehumanization, in some ways but objectively there is little evidence video games cause violence, simply knowing and being interested in guns does not make you shoot random people

[@EthanKironus8067]

@doctormal-t1i You're right that it's not just the games. Isolation, social fragmentation is at the heart of a lot of modern ills. But I never said "an interest in guns makes you shoot random people." All I said was that, A: as with the military, gun manufacturers use games like CoD to advertise directly to children and I don't see how either is acceptable; and B, that in the Uvalde case there is a direct and undeniable link between the game and the shooter's real life actions. Neither of which lead to your straw man argument without bending over backwards under the weight of your presuppositions.

[@doctormal-t1i]

@@EthanKironus8067 i see your point.

[@ElaNEF]

I figured… as an American I also think we’ve been conditioned to a lot of Islamophobia thru popular movies. It’s a shame.

[@gustavalexander8676]

People are always surprised when ideology is expressed in the cultural products they consume. It usually requires hindsight for people to see and accept this. "in the thick of it" they'll say stupid stuff like "Its just entertainment!" (assumedly, supposedly meaning that 'entertainment' by definition cannot contain ideological messaging lol). It makes sense that we're at a point in history when we can look back on video games from the 00s/early 10s and finally accept that, lo and behold, they contained ideological messaging consistent with the foreign policy goals of the Washington/London/Berlin axis. Coincidentally why I think people care too little for history (also my MA makes me biased) History grants a context that reveals that many of the things we consider "neutral" or "just a fact of life" or "just entertainment" isn't at all. Cultural products will always reflect dominant contemporary ideology and that ideology will always be formed by the concrete 'relations of production' in a given society. I.e if we live in a christian, medieval society, cultural products will generally legitimize the social relations in that society ("Your lord commmands you, because God has granted him the right to rule on earth. Rebelling is thus not only insubordination but heresy against God".) People with no historical context tend to get these self-centered and grandiose ideas about the 'exceptionality' of their own era. But you'll quickly note how cultural products act no differently today than 1.000 years ago. Self help books, FIRE movements and various appeals to how YOU need to PULL YOURSELF together to get rich? Its only natural that a capitalist society relying on systemic/chronic unemployment and wage theft to improve profits, will legitimize this by claiming that the consequences of the ebbs and flows of demand is YOUR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY and if you fail, its because you're a bad person/lazy/whatever. We tend to produce ideologies that legitimize the way society is already structured. Ideology has a material basis as Althusser famously said.

[@Ismail-Ibrahim841]

It took me a long time to realize that most if not all the time in Western media (more specifically in the action genre), be it Video games, movies or TV shows, the villain is almost always exclusively either an Arab/Muslim or a Russian, and the hero who is trying to save the day is always a white American man.

[@indonesianbassbooster5167]

One example of how the image of War on Terror in video games is in the artistic tendencies in the community content, let's say Garry's Mod or ArmA 3. It's really hard to find military content that shows proper Arab military forces, and if you want to find soldier models of Middle Eastern soldiers, you are more likely to find Arab military models when your keywords are "Terrorist", "Insurgent" or "OpFor" (opposition forces), and consider yourself lucky to even find a proper Arab soldier model, let alone from a specific country real world. Meanwhile, it's more than easy to find hundreds of varieties of Western military design mods/custom content in said community. The only modding community of which I've easily found proper Middle Eastern/Arab culture being depicted are from the non-military gaming communities, especially Sims 4.

[@aeoligarlic4024]

It really says something when a sims 4 modding community is actually the one who got things right...

[@indonesianbassbooster5167]

@@aeoligarlic4024 even so, the frequency of Arab themed custom content in Sims 4 is small compared to other themes. But eitherway, it'll be easier to find modding with themes of Arab cultures in non-military side of gaming since this side of gaming is meant to cater to a wider audience which is less likely to center their artistic view towards political conflicts

[@indonesianbassbooster5167]

Except, when that political conflict art direction are the pre-WW1 conflicts, especially from Medieval to the fall of The Ottoman Caliphate, though be prepared for the classic orientalism that's likely in those mods/custom content

[@LesediModisakeng-in8uq]

I am a girl and have little to no knowledge about the broader video game world much less war video games but thanks for the input that even things like video games are contaminated with propaganda

[@SPECREY]

there is a game called Metal Gear Solid 4 released at 2008, one of the ex-spy character explains that the militia she has builded that was trained with video games released by (at that game she calls it paramilitary companies but in our world its the goverment ) to train this children, they are seeking revenge and living the fantasy through this games, they believe combat is life and thats why they love this games, its like the same thing, people will forget God where you are happy to live you will forgot about the goodness and God, but the place where chaos,wars,terror you acknowledge the absence of goodness, thats why people loves war games, it is where they believe life can be experienced from absence you miss the goodness and acknowledge its absence, at most love-romantcism movies the most important and focused parts are not the part the couple spends time togheter but the one they are away from each other, it has a really deep psychological reason, if we dont understand it just mentioning wont do much

[@jamariobrown-tolliver8163]

That would be Eva who was the lover of big boss who created his own PMC which is your profile picture

[@swcsidn4592]

There is also rewriting history: kids that played call of duty will grow up thinking that the "highway of death" was done by the russians instead of an american war crime

[@hurricane7727]

Not the only cod game doing that. In Cod 4 A Nuke goes off in Shock and Awe and Is trying to give Justifcation for the Iraq war that it had Nukes

[@blususpect]

Great work

[@Palestinian_Weeb_Punchout]

Palestinian COD fan here, I just play Vanguard. Good message, an anti-nazi one too.

[@jamariobrown-tolliver8163]

MW from 2019 does a decent job. In the multiplayer it is just the coalition vs allegiance who have a mixture of fighters even Arab characters are done surprisingly well especially Farah Karim

[@Breakaway-ic5gj]

​@@jamariobrown-tolliver8163 Still they straight up lie about the highway of death

[@lugiasimply6054]

Do World at War. It’s the best in the series. It doesn’t have any blatant propaganda, just showing the honest sheer brutality of the war.

[@deadinside736]

@@lugiasimply6054yeah bro I love world at war it’s the only one I play. As well as black ops 1 zombies only though. for black ops 1&2

[@kroposman2302]

The only game that address FPS wargames propaganda is Specops: The Line. You should make a video about that.

[@Blood_Shot_101]

Finally some talking about this

[@jamariobrown-tolliver8163]

Many have been doing this

[@ChuckPalomo]

It's been talked about for decades, but always kept in the fringes of mainstream media (which is how censorship works in the west btw, by oversaturation of information). The topic is just more and more relevant as time goes by, but still very invisible.

[@Redmentalhm66]

As a Turkish ı agree they also were praising YPG-SDF-PKK organization putting kurdish characters in the game especially COD ım sure ıts a propaganda game not even joking because the Hollywood does the same thing like navy seal tv series they show them as their ally and hero

[@Gintoki7]

I stopped playing call of duty exactly for this reason

[@AdrianoxDocs-vq2dl]

I stopped playing call of duty because of shitty storylines, predatory microtransactions, DEI and fortnite-influenced skin marketing, and file sizes. Not because it was "muh murican propaganda." MW2, MW3, MW, BO2, BO1, and BO3 (zombies) will always be the GOATS. I actually want based call of duties again.

[@eyazulul]

@@AdrianoxDocs-vq2dl holy shit youre cringe. Get a grip to real life. Every lie that the west gets discovered and you still purposely believe in them. just gtfo

[@LeviKerrison]

I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. It’s crazy to give children a direct to learn to use weapons and normalise war and death.

[@khalidsulaiman9029]

Every single day. Every single one, I find more reasons to just despise the US.

[@nromano2211]

Amazing video my brother ❤

[@holymemoly3833]

in call of duty story mode , people kill Iranian soldiers and as an iranian myself it's very offensive

[@jamariobrown-tolliver8163]

That is MW 2 2022 where you take out a Iranian Cuds Force general who is based off that general who was killed by a drone strike

[@holymemoly3833]

@@jamariobrown-tolliver8163 yeah and it's very propaganda , they are like whoever is against Western countries , are terrorist

[@redcobra6016]

@@jamariobrown-tolliver8163his profile picture checks out, he’s a regime supporter.

[@Richie131hun]

In CoD Modern Warfare (2019) there is an Arab freedom fighter woman named Farrah who is pretty badass, and not in the typical cringy "strong woman" kind of way. There is a sequence where she is a child and her family is bombed and killed by Russians. That sequence is really powerful emotionally, and makes you empathize and feel for the victims. If CoD really is propaganda (which I don't think so) than it's against Russians. And by the way fuck Israel .

[@KlassikMafiaProduction]

good job 👍

[@yusufutar7261]

palestine,lebanon and uyghurs will be free

[@N0R3M4C]

So those parents back in the 90s were right about video games causing violence

[@rollinghippo2940]

in call of duty, russia n german are also the enemies. meanwhile the ol usa is the good guy as always

[@dogmilk999]

Not really, look up the plot of advanced warfare and black ops cold war

[@AB-fr2ei]

In the final mission of MW2, americans are the bad guys

[@greysnake2903]

@AB-fr2ei Only shepherd

[@hamzaaltaf3740]

I have always thought of this its good that you are spreading information about this side of military shooter games

[@soumya_sarkar96]

Yes I've noticed this disgusting propaganda spreaded through games a few years ago,but nobody believed me and taking it with a pinch of salt

[@ZiaulKarimIfaz]

Reality of uncivilized side of most civilized society

[@maaziy_ghaziyIYI]

Every open-minded American who thinks critically and isn't easily swayed by the society/government/media knows this.

[@basilminhas7179]

Well he truly enjoys playing these games so that’s a plus 😅

[@visionary4787]

This is such an important perspective to consider, especially in how seemingly "innocent" entertainment-like video games-can have such profound psychological and political impacts. The gamification of warfare does more than just recruit or desensitize; it fundamentally reshapes how we see the world. The US vs. them narrative embedded in these games doesn't just reflect existing prejudices-it actively nurtures them, making it easier to justify violence and dehumanize real-world communities. It's a chilling reminder that media is never neutral, and even pixels can serve an agenda. What does it say about our collective psyche when war becomes just another form of play?

[@faizanbaber]

When I was kid I thought it was harmless but ever since russia v Ukraine started and how everyone blindly painted russia as a villain I realized it wasn't a coincidence. They have been brainwashing people with such games and movies. And ever since I can't stand movies that has anything to do with their armies