Portland State Vanguard Volume 75 Issue 6

VOLUME 75 • ISSUE 6 • AUGUST 4, 2020

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NEWS Masks: to wear or not to wear INTERNATIONAL Hackers accused of targeting COVID-19 research

OPINION Apoliticism in video games

CONTENTS COVER BY SAM PERSON NEWS HILL TO HALL

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FALL CLASSES AT PSU WILL BE MOSTLY REMOTE

PPS TO REOPEN WHILE BUILDINGS STAY SHUTTERED

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MASKS: TO WEAR OR NOT TO WEAR

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STAFF

EDIT ORI A L EDITOR IN CHIEF Dylan Jefferies MANAGING EDITOR Justin Grinnell NEWS EDITORS Hanna Anderson Aidan Kennelley INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Isabel Rekow ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Nick Townsend OPINION EDITOR AJ Earl ONLINE EDITOR Lily Hennings

COPY CHIEF Sophie Concannon

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INTERNATIONAL RUSSIAN, CHINESE STATE-BACKED HACKERS ACCUSED OF TARGETING COVID-19 RESEARCH ARTS & CULTURE QUARANTINE CUISINE

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OPINION THE POLITICS OF APOLITICISM IN VIDEO GAMES

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DIS T RIBU TION DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Dylan Jefferies

To contact Portland State Vanguard, email editor@psuvanguard.com

CONTRIBUTORS Nick Gatlin Megan Huddleston Missi Jarrar Bela Kurzenhauser Lily Lamadrid Emma Sage

T ECHNOL OGY & W EB SIT E TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS Juliana Bigelow Kahela Fickle George Olson John Rojas

PHO T O & MULTIMEDI A PHOTO EDITOR Annie Schutz

A DV ISING & ACCOUN TING COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood

MIS SION S TAT EMEN T Vanguard ’s mission is to serve the Portland State community with timely, accurate, comprehensive and critical content while upholding high journalistic standards. In the process, we aim to enrich our staff with quality, hands-on journalism education and a number of skills highly valued in today’s job market.

PRODUC TION & DE SIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sam Person

STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Sheri Pitcher

DESIGNERS Farah Alkayed Shannon Steed

STUDENT MEDIA TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR Corrine Nightingale

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A BOU T Vanguard, established in 1946, is published weekly as an independent student newspaper governed by the PSU Student Media Board. Views and editorial content expressed herein are those of the staff, contributors and readers and do not necessarily represent the PSU student body, faculty, staff or administration. Find us in print Tuesdays and online 24/7 at psuvanguard.com.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @psuvanguard for multimedia content and breaking news.

FALL CLASSES AT PSU

WILL BE MOSTLY REMOTE JULY 24–31 MISSI JARRAR

JULY 27: PORTLAND PROTESTERS SUE

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

Citing what they called “out-of-control responses” by federal agents, a group of Portland protesters are suing the Trump administration for what they deemed an irresponsible response during the latest Portland protests. Nonprofit group Protect Democracy filed the lawsuit Monday in federal court on behalf of several individual protesters, as well as the antiracist organization Don’t Shoot Portland and Wall of Moms.

According to AP News, the lawsuit claimed while federal officials are allowed to protect federal property, the agents who responded in Portland were heavily militarized and overly aggressive. The lawsuit stated they have repeatedly fired rubber bullets and flash-bang bullets at crowds in violation of the constitution. Protect Democracy lawyer Deana El-Mallawany stated in a news release,“The intent of the administration’s deployment of federal agents in Portland appears to be to stifle speech the president doesn’t like.” The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit, according to ABC News.

JULY 29: PORTLAND CITY COUNCIL SENDS

POLICE OVERSIGHT MEASURE TO

NOVEMBER BALLOT

The Portland City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to send a police oversight measure to the November ballot.

According to OPB, the measure will have Portlanders vote on a new framework for police oversight, which will create a new police oversight board with more authority to hold officers accountable. The effort was led by Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who reached out to community leaders a month prior to hear what they wanted to see in a police oversight measure, and later introduced the measure to the city council. The measure was opposed by the Portland Police Association and City Auditor Mary Hull Caballero, according to The Oregonian. Hull Caballero, who oversees the current Independent Police Review, recommended the council reject the proposal due to its quick turnaround time, and suggested the council seek more input from the community before the measure moves forward.

JULY 31: BUSINESS GROUPS SUE GOVERNOR

BROWN OVER CLIMATE CHANGE ORDER

A coalition of Oregon industrial groups filed a lawsuit Friday to overturn Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s executive order on climate change policy, which she issued after Republicans walked out of this year’s legislative session in order to kill the Democrats’ cap and trade bill, according to The Oregonian.

Brown’s climate change order was issued in early March and mandated emission reduction targets—at least 45% below 1990 emissions levels by 2035, and at least 80% below those levels by 2050. The industrial groups argued Brown overstepped her authority under the Oregon Constitution, according to OPB.

PSU Vanguard • AUGUST 4, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

PORTLAND STATE CAMPUS. COURTESY OF PSU

PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES DECISION IN A LETTER TO PSU COMMUNITY AIDAN KENNELLEY Portland State President Stephen Percy announced in a letter to the PSU community on July 30 the university is planning for a mostly remote fall term.

“I have heard from many students that they need to make important decisions about travel, housing and other plans as soon as possible,” Percy stated. “Given the recent rise of COVID-19 cases in Oregon, however, we need to do all we can to protect the health of students, faculty, staff and visitors.

As a result, the number of fall classes in a face-to-face format will be extremely limited with nearly all courses taught remotely.”

This announcement comes after weeks of university planning for a Flexible Fall Program, which would allow students to choose learning formats that suit their personal and academic needs while taking extensive health and safety measures in the midst of the ongoing pandemic.

The Flexible Fall Program originally offered a combination of in-person, remote, online and “flex” courses, which were designed to allow students to “take advantage of enhanced

technology capabilities to allow students and faculty to choose formats that are best suited to meet learning goals and that provide the flexibility to accommodate public health requirements.”

Now with COVID-19 cases rising in states across the United States, including Oregon, PSU has made the decision to rethink its Flexible Fall Program.

While most courses will be remote this fall, Percy assured students there will be more on-campus resources available this upcoming school year than there were this past spring.

“While courses and many services will still be conducted virtually, some student resources—including the library, study spaces, some retail, campus rec, child care and health and wellness services —will be available on campus,” Percy stated.

The updated plans for fall term will be released on August 10, and students can sign up for a webinar providing more information on August 11. Until then, members of the PSU community can stay updated on planning for fall term at PSU’s Fall Flex website.

NEWS

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PPS TO REOPEN WHILE BUILDINGS STAY SHUTTERED

OREGON GOVERNOR KATE BROWN. COURTESY OF FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS ANNOUNCE COURSES WILL BE REMOTE FOR FIRST TWO MONTHS OF SCHOOL YEAR LILY LAMADRID On July 28, Superintendent of the Portland Public School District (PPS) Guadalupe Guerrero issued a letter which stated PPS will be completely online for the first quarter of the school year due to concerns surrounding COVID-19. This means nearly 50,000 students in PPS will be learning from home from September 2–November 5.

This letter came as a result of new requirements issued by Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s office. Brown called the decision to close schools “the most difficult decision during the [COVID-19] pandemic.”

These requirements set statistics that the state and individual counties will need to boast before reopening school. For instance, the entire state needs to have a weekly positivity rate of less than 5% for three weeks before schools can reopen. The latest percentage was 4.6%.

Some exceptions are being made for smaller rural schools, but ultimately these guidelines mean PPS school buildings will not be open.

Principal Sabrina Flameo of Vestal School, an elementary school in Northeast Portland, watched the governor’s press conference.

“It’s clear that there’s been a lot of thought and energy put into this decision, but it was hard to hear,” Flameo said.

Even though courses will be remote, they will not be conducted the way they were last spring when some students lacked even the ability to connect to the internet. “This model will be different from the student learning experience of this past spring,” Guerrero assured families.

According to Flameo, many students and families’ needs were not entirely met by remote learning last spring. “We learned from

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NEWS

the spring time that we can do better,” she said.

Miriam Calderon, the Early Learning System director for the Oregon Department of Education, also spoke at the press conference. She underscored the needs of students Pre-K through third grade students.

Calderon stressed these students stand to lose the most during distance learning. “Deep learning such as reading requires a parent or trusted adult,” Calderon said. These basic skills, such as being in a group, standing in a line and raising hands, are difficult to learn over distance learning platforms.

“It really rang true to me that our youngest kids need a lot of early literacy, especially learning to read and also the whole idea of learning to be in groups,” Flameo said. “I loved one of the quotes from the press conference: ‘learning to pay attention on purpose’.”

The district announcement has garnered a multitude of reactions.

Many families felt students with disabilities as well as black, indigenous and students of color (BIPOC) faced special challenges last spring. These families anticipate continued challenges in the fall.

In a July 11 letter, Guerrero stressed the district was trying to meet the needs of such students.

“As we develop our reopening plans, our key considerations are how to best serve and support the academic learning and social emotional needs of every student, particularly students of color,” Guerrero stated. “We are also taking into account the differentiated needs of our students, including the specialized support required by our students with special needs.”

The district has yet to issue directives to schools to meet the needs of BIPOC students, forcing schools to come up with their own solutions.

“There’s a percentage of our kids that we know are going to need more support,” Guerrero stated. “And in this case, we are looking at our counselors and specialists—like PE teachers, librarians, and art teachers—that we’re hoping that we can use to do more home visits, in-person check-ins with social distancing, of course, and just more one on one meetings, either via phone or Zoom.”

“We’re trying to make connections so that there’ll be a certain percentage of kids that will be getting more adult check-ins throughout every week,” Guerrero stated.

According to Guerrero’s July 28 letter, the average student can expect to use the first two weeks “to connect with their teachers, become oriented to their learning platforms and participate in activities that support interconnectedness with their classroom and school communities.”

After the first two weeks, “students will follow a regular weekly schedule and will have daily interaction with their teachers.

Grades will be given and attendance will be taken.”

Overall, the state, county and district emphasize they are committed to the health of students, staff, and the surrounding community.

Still, Flameo expressed frustration with the current plans for the upcoming school year. When asked what her worst case scenario was, she replied, “We’re living it.”

PSU Vanguard • AUGUST 4, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

TO WEAR OR NOT TO WEAR REASONS FOR WEARING OR AVOIDING FACE MASKS RUN DEEPER THAN JUST POLITICS

FARAH ALKAYED

MEGAN HUDDLESTON Face masks—one of the most visible precautions of the current pandemic—have also become a sign of one’s political affiliation, according to articles by NPR, OPB and The Oregonian.

However, for many the decision whether to wear face masks, or to believe in their effectiveness, is deeper than politics.

“This is such a frustrating problem.” said Dr. Tessa Dover, professor of applied social psychology at PSU. “It’s frustrating that people aren’t following the guidelines. From what we know, masks seem to be a key component of keeping the spread of [COVID-19] down.”

One reason why some ignore the recommendations, she said, can be explained by the psychological theory of terror management.

“Terror management theory...essentially says that we, as humans, are really afraid of our own mortality,” Dover said.

“Wearing a mask is acknowledging that there is this virus that could cause your mortality.”

Another reason people aren’t wearing face masks, according to Dover, is pressure from their community.

“From a social-psychological perspective, we might say it’s about your social identity. If the people who you trust, the people who are in your family, your good friends [and] the people in the public who you trust are saying they don’t think masks are necessary, your desire to fit in with that group can make you believe what that group believes.”

Dr. Hyeyoung Woo, a sociology professor whose research focuses on issues around health and well-being, suggested cognitive dissonance plays a role in why people don’t wear masks.

“In general, it’s really difficult for people to change their routine, and it’s really difficult for people to change their behaviors,”

PSU Vanguard • AUGUST 4, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

Woo said. “If we have to change our behaviors or routine just because someone else tells us to, it’s more difficult. We know wearing a mask is important, but there’s internal resistance to do it, and then we provide explanations.”

However, some early face mask supporters not only embraced the change to their routines, but also helped to promote the use of face masks within their communities.

“I knew I wanted to wear a face mask right away, mainly because I’m really active in the community and I didn’t want to be spreading [coronavirus] if I had it,” said Kevin Terron, a resident of Welches, OR. From his father’s experience in the medical industry, he knew wearing a cloth face mask would help protect those around him.

Terron owns and operates Treefort Lifestyles, what he describes as “an outdoorsy travel and adventure brand.” He used the company sewing machine to make himself a mask in mid-March.

“I made my own and wore it to the grocery store,” Terron said. “A lady from the store had a bandana on. She was nervous about the [COVID-19] thing.”

He told the store clerk that if she gave him one of her bandanas, he’d use it to make her a face mask like the one he wore.

She contacted Terron later asking if he could make masks for all the store employees—everyone there wanted one.“Right then, I knew that I had demand,” Terron said. He began selling face masks on the Treefort Lifestyles website the first week of April. “I put 700 of them up on our website, and they sold in seven hours.”

Katie Watkins, a Portland resident, began making and selling masks in early April. Watkins found herself on furlough, so she

turned to a hobby she hadn’t done since she was 11 years old.

“I wasn’t really looking to do this to make money,” Watkins said. “I just needed something to do.”

Providing face masks for her community provided Watkins with something more than just a way to pass the time during the mandated lockdown.

“To understand my sense of worth comes from ‘how I can help my community’ and ‘what are the things that I have that I can give,’” Watkins said. “At this point I think I’ve made upwards of 700 masks.” She’s back at her job, but still receives 30–50 face mask orders every few days.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s slowing down,” Watkins said. “I feel like we’re still at the beginning of this whole thing.”

Dover also suggested an additional reason some may have for not wearing a face mask—the desire for comfort and normalcy.

“It just doesn’t seem worth it to them to wear a mask that’s uncomfortable and prevents them from doing things that they want,” Dover said. “Going out to drink coffee, eating—not things you can do with a mask. I think everyone can commiserate with that a little bit.”

Even face mask makers can commiserate.

“I kind of get the whole stand-against-it scene in the sense having something forced upon you is not freedom, right?”

Terron said.

But Woo stresses that thinking individually, without considering the effects on the wider community, is dangerous.

“We are all living together in this community,” Woo said. “As much as it’s important to protect our individual rights, our responsibility to build our community's health and safety matters.”

NEWS

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COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

EMMA SAGE AND ISABEL REKOW Security services from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada reported in July a collection of organisations currently working to develop a coronavirus vaccine have been the victims of hacks by both Russian and Chinese hacking groups.

The Russian hacking group goes by multiple names, including APT29, The Dukes and Cozy Bear.

It is one of the same groups—in coordination with fellow Russian government-backed group Fancy Bear—implicated in the hacking attack against the U.S. Democratic National Committee in 2015–16 and the 2017 hack against Norway’s Labour Party and government ministries.

According to AP News, Cozy Bear attempted to hack COVID-19 vaccine development data from academic researchers and pharmaceutical companies. American, British and Canadian security services did not announce which companies had been targeted, nor whether the hackers successfully stole information.

Shawn Smallman, professor of international and global studies at Portland State, said the Russians’ motives remain unknown. “Are they worried that they might be behind in the vaccine search and they’re trying to get information?” ”That doesn’t seem to make sense because about a week ago, shortly after these allegations were made public, Russia signed a big intellectual

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INTERNATIONAL

RUSSIAN, CHINESE STATEBACKED HACKERS ACCUSED OF TARGETING COVID-19 RESEARCH property deal with AstraZeneca to get a vaccine,” Smallman said. “So maybe something changed from the period when they were allegedly hacking and when they did this.”

According to Smallman, the Russian government may be looking for opportunities for disinformation.

“If you believe that there’s pretty good evidence that in 2016 the Russians intervened to discredit the Democratic party in the election, maybe they’re trying to do something that could sow distrust around the vaccine or create some other kind of political issue around the vaccine,” Smallman said.

After the accusations against the Russiangovernment-backed hacking group came to light, similar accusations against two Chinesegovernment-backed hackers made headlines.

The U.S. Justice Department announced the Chinese suspects, Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi, were indicted on July 7, 2020 on a bevy of charges related to hacking, fraud and theft of trade secrets, according to The New York Times.

The indictment stated the locations of the countries involved and inferred the potential beneficiaries of the coronavirus vaccine research data.

Li and Dong targeted companies in Europe, South Korea, Japan, Australia and the U.S.—including the biotech firm Moderna Inc. “The Defendants stole hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of trade secrets, intellectual prop-

erty, and other valuable business information,” the indictment stated. “While in some instances they were stealing business and other information for their own profit, in others they were stealing information of obvious interest to the PRC Government’s Ministry of State Security (“MSS”).

Li and [redacted] worked with, were assisted by, and operated with the acquiescence of the MSS.” The Assistant Attorney General for National Security, John Demers, said “China has now taken its place, alongside Russia, Iran and North Korea, in that shameful club of nations that provide a safe haven for cyber criminals in exchange for those criminals being ‘on call’ to work for the benefit of the state, here to feed the Chinese Communist party’s insatiable hunger for American and other non-Chinese companies’ hard-earned intellectual property, including COVID-19 research.”

This statement aligns with the indictment, which posits that the two suspects had a history of hacking predating the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the indictment, Li and Dong targeted dissidents against China’s ruling communist party, both within China and abroad, including large organizational targets and individuals such as a Chinese Christian pastor and an American professor.

“We’ve now reached a point where the FBI is now opening a new China-related counterintel-

ligence case every 10 hours,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray, according to BBC. “Of the nearly 5,000 active counterintelligence cases currently underway across the country, almost half are related to China.”

Smallman noted there are over 100 COVID-19 vaccines in development around the world. “I think there’s a lot of concern and resentment right now about what happens if Britain comes forward with a vaccine, or the U.S.,” he said.

Access to new vaccines will be limited since it will take time to increase production, and limited access will lead to increased international tension. During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, wealthy countries including the U.S. and Canada initiated advance contracts with vaccine manufacturers to ensure they would receive the first vaccines. Other countries would be able to purchase vaccines only after their needs were met, according to Smallman.

“You have this system that seems designed to keep poorer countries in a state of dependency on wealthy countries. They can’t even get access to the vaccine,” Smallman said. “To me, the fact that we’re already seeing some of these tools that are quasi-military being used to gain information to infiltrate other countries—it’s a warning sign for what might happen later if we don’t have some sort of a plan to deal with this.”

PSU Vanguard • AUGUST 4, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

TILAPIA SURE MAKE ME HAPPY-A. NICK GATLIN/PSU VANGUARD

THE ONE WHERE HE GETS DISTRACTED

BY ANIMAL CROSSING

Quarantine Cuisine NICK GATLIN I got Animal Crossing: New Horizons about a month ago, and I’ve been playing it nonstop. There’s just something about running around your little island, talking to villagers and collecting fruits and fossils, that’s just so satisfying. My favorite part of the game is the path-building and terraforming system, where you get to meticulously build your island from the ground up to be the ideal living space. I mean, the game is just incredible!

Wait, this is a cooking column?

Uhhhhhhhh…okay. I mean, I haven’t really been cooking that much since I got the game…I’ve mostly just been eating blue box mac & cheese.

Okay, um, how about grilled cheese? That’s easy, right?

Grilled Cheese Sandwich Ingredients

Bread Cheese Butter Okay, so the first thing you do with a grilled cheese is take the cheese, and, uh, put it on the bread… then you heat your butter in the pan and fry the sandwich until the cheese is melted. You know, when you think about it, it’s not really “grilled” cheese because you cook it in a pan, which is technically a griddle, so it’s really “griddled” cheese…

Hold up, you can dive now? I caught a sea anemone! And a pearl!

Oh, I’m supposed to do more? Ugh, fine.

PSU Vanguard • AUGUST 4, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

Apple Pie Ingredients

Filling 8 cups peeled, sliced apple ( from about 3 and 1/4 pounds whole apples) 2 tablespoons lemon juice 3/4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons cornstarch 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon allspice 1/4 cup boiled cider or undiluted apple juice concentrate 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, optional 2 tablespoons butter, diced in small pieces After trying many different recipes, this recipe from King Arthur Flour makes my favorite apple pie. I’m not including instructions on how to make your own crust, because what am I, a masochist? I have to pay off my home loan! I have to collect as many bugs and sea creatures as I can! I don’t have time to make my own crust! Just buy it from the store.

Combine all the filling ingredients together and preheat the oven to 425°F. Spoon the filling into the crust, then drape the top crust over it all. Dock it with a fork, or make a more decorative pattern if you want. Bake it for 20 minutes, then lower the oven to 375°F and bake for another 40 minutes. Let it cool completely before cutting into it.

That reminds me, how is my apple orchard doing? I saw Winnie catching bugs over there earlier… is she scaring away the cicadas? And why aren’t my money trees growing? Agh!

Beans On Toast Ingredients

Can of beans Toast Thank god, I finally got Leif off my island. I mean, I love the guy, but who wants to buy a bunch of flowers and weeds? I need that space for Redd! Speaking of which, Redd hasn’t showed up to my island in like, two weeks. I just want to buy some art.

Oh, we’re still in a recipe? Okay…so the thing about beans on toast is that you, uh, put some beans on toast. Take your can of beans and heat it up…somehow...and then just slop it all over your toast. It’s, uh… beans. On toast.

I’ve eaten this so many times in the past month. Please help.

Hold on, Merengue wants to leave my island?! What, am I not good enough for her? Are my flowers not fragrant enough?

Did she just get bored living here?

Okay, calm down. She’s a nice…elephant… rhino person. Wait, what species actually is she? Doesn’t matter. She just wants to live with some variety in her life. All of us do, in some way. I guess that’s why I just wasted 600 words writing about Animal Crossing when I was supposed to write a column about food. Oh well.

ARTS & CULTURE

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THE POLITICS OF APOLITICISM

IN VIDEO GAMES BELA KURZENHAUSER A lot has changed in the 13 years since Irrational Games’s BioShock released.

BioShock was seen by many to be a huge leap forward in narrative-driven games in the industry. It was a game that was ahead of the pack by a large margin, striving to resurrect the design of early 90s PC games like System Shock while maintaining their heavily politicized stories. Ken Levine, the game’s creative lead, directly cites the works of Ayn Rand and George Orwell as fundamental inspirations for the story. It takes place in an underwater city built on the foundation of objectivism—a society full of the world’s greatest thinkers, detached from the shackles of modern politics that restrict progress and creative cultivation. It’s a city where a man can be his own hero, writing his chapter in the history book, and it is a city doomed to fail, as the separation of politics and control leads to disarray and violence.

BioShock, much like its predecessors such as Deus Ex, wasn’t afraid to be political. It wasn’t afraid to get its feet muddy and delve into a territory that the gaming industry hadn’t entirely dared to explore. Its 2013 follow-up BioShock: Infinite was similar, telling a tale of a nationalistic, nostalgic flying city rooted within the ideals of white supremacy and elitism, oppressing the working class in a rose-tinted

world painted with bloodshed. In many ways, the BioShock games struck a particular chord that many games in the following 13 years have failed to replicate or even attempt.

Flashing forward to 2019, the industry saw the release of the latest Call of Duty title, taglined Modern Warfare. However, unlike Ken Levine, its creative leads completely denied the presence of political themes. A game that features no-knock raids isn’t political. A game that features terrorist attacks and civilian casualties isn’t political.

A game that presents an unforgiving, glorified portrayal of war through chemical weapons, torture and POWs isn’t political. By definition, war is political. The refusal to acknowledge those themes as political is deafening, irresponsible and dangerous.

The presence of apoliticism in marketing as well as writing within the entertainment sphere isn’t new. For a long time, the film industry has insisted films with blunt political themes aren’t political, and their fans do the same. Most of this has to do with the complete misunderstanding of politics—look at the comments of any article that expresses a political opinion or analysis of any blockbuster movie or game, and you’ll find many people directing their political opinions towards representation and diversity rather than...politics.

Black Panther isn’t a political movie because of its plot, which revolves around monarchy and monopo-

lizing natural resources. No, it’s a political movie because it’s one of the only major blockbuster films of the last 10 years to feature a black protagonist.

The Last of Us: Part II isn’t political because it takes an introspective, critical look at violence and revenge; rather, it’s political because it has a multicultural cast of characters and a lesbian lead. These distorted, warped views of politics are more indictative of cultural bias and discrimination towards marginalized groups than they are of real, political themes.

The vehement hatred displayed towards the presence of politics in entertainment by internet commentators is what causes billion-dollar marketing teams to shy away from politicism in marketing. To call Modern Warfare a political game would be to ostracize a large chunk of fans of a series that gained notoriety for hosting a player base filled with hate speech and toxicity.

To market anything as political nowadays is to walk around eggshells. Indeed, a game like 2017’s Wolfenstein: the New Colossus received extensive backlash for its marketing tagline of “No More Nazis.” Wolfenstein, a series that, for 20 years, has been solely about reclaiming a fascist, alternateuniverse America from Nazi occupation. A series that has only ever been about wiping Nazism off the face of the planet. Yet, many complained that the series had become “so political.”

Perspective is a common theme among people who complain about politics—notably, that of “multiple perspectives.” Many believe aligning a creative vision with one political ideology is dangerous or even discriminatory. Many responded to “No More Nazis” with cries of “don’t shame others’ beliefs!” Besides apolitical marketing, many creators have shifted towards views that refuse to make any concrete point.

Captain America: Civil War’s story is one of politics, and, notably, control of justice. Yet, by the end of its two-hour run-

SHANNON STEED

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OPINION

time, it never resolves the two clashing beliefs at the focus of its plot. The political backdrop is merely a facade, an excuse to showcase 147 minutes of spandex-dressed heroes punching each other.

People are afraid of being told what to believe, and, as such, choose to consume the most apolitical, and therefore artistically lobotomized, entertainment that they can get their hands on.

A complete refusal toward and denial of political media is far more dangerous than the exhibition of a singular ideology. Any criticism of a consumers’ beliefs is seen as a personal attack on them. Several decades later, many still insist that fictional sci-fi villains such as the Daleks of Doctor Who or the Empire of Star Wars are not based off of the Nazi regime of World War II, despite the obvious phrases such as “master race” and “stormtroopers” lifted directly from history.

As art is produced from the most carnal, primal and personal thoughts of the artist’s mind, it is, inherently, political. There will always be scraps and remnants of a creator’s personal ideology and politics lurking in the dark of their creations, because those ideologies dictate our way of life and permeate throughout every essence of our being.

Regardless of what Modern Warfare’s leads say, their game is, in fact, political. Their personal biases are evident—the historical erasure of the United State’s involvement in the Highway of Death on the outskirts of Kuwait City in the game’s plot is proof of this. The glorification of war crimes and violence committed on sovereign soil and the excusal of said violence is dangerous, irresponsible and manipulative. To erase politics from art is no different than to erase tragedy from history.

Entertainment needs to reclaim politics.

Creators need to insist creative control and emphasize the political themes of their work.

Entertainment is a product, but that doesn’t mean marketing teams should sacrifice the integrity and honesty of their work to appeal to consumers. In a generation filled with consumption, what we watch, play, read and listen to influences our opinions and perspectives more so than ever. An onslaught of apolitical, neutral pieces of media does nothing to make us think. Rather, it diminishes our perception and critical understanding of art, politics and the world we live in. The recent, real-world events surrounding police brutality and protests have influenced the entertainment world in a deep way. Many people are realizing the consequences of the masked protector superhero archetype or the endorsement of guns and violent justice in action movies as a byproduct of the last two months in national news.

Confronting politics and encouraging them leads to a more truthful depiction of a creator’s vision, and leads to more impactful, emotional pieces of art. I can’t remember the last time a cookie-cutter blockbuster made me feel any emotion other than a dopamine rush, but it would take more than a few hands for me to count the number of unabashedly political films I watched last year that elicited a strong emotional reaction out of me. Neutrality is the death of art and encouraging it will only stop progress within either the artistic world, or the world we live in.

PSU Vanguard • AUGUST 4, 2020 • psuvanguard.com