it's not about the companies, but pretty much on
My point is using a symbol of equality and support when it nets you positive PR but dropping it when it might actually matter is reprehensible. Ffs, the rainbow flag is a symbol of solidarity. Do you feel Bethesda is displaying solidarity here?
I'm sure Bethesda would at least claim if asked that flying the pride flag is a morally good thing. So if you compromise your support of what is right and throw a vulnerable group under the bus just so you can stay in an oppressive regime's good graces so you can sell more products - that makes you complicit.
This kind of rhetoric makes me feel uncomfortable too, for the same reason others have expressed in this thread. Especially as it obviously doesn't just relate to video games. Someone brought up sanctions earlier in the thread. LGBT+ people in these countries would surely be affected by this just as much as a bigot, with no guarantee the governments will actually change. And despite our own countries being involved in heinous actions including war crimes and illegal wars, none of us would want the same thing to be applied to us. I say this as a pansexual woman myself, but also someone who was a refugee and comes from a country where LGBT+ people are very much oppressed. I just think it isn't well thought out, even if well intentioned.
What you write makes sense, but that wasn't really my point. Corporations won't liberate a country anyways, my point was that advertising liberal rights might cause actual harm.There's never been an ounce of sincerity in corporate pride.
This is the same logic we used to justify our economic entanglement with China: the idea that our money gives us leverage, and that leverage alone would be enough to make change happen. That the Chinese government would bend to us and our social stances in order to keep our business.
"As long as we capitalism hard enough, China will slowly liberalize itself!"
That didn't happen. Instead we got corporations like Blizzard caping for a brutally oppressive, organ-harvesting Chinese government as it violently swallows up the region's last flickering light of democracy. The leverage is imaginary; countries under the control of oppressive governments have all the power in this relationship because they can simply decide x company just doesn't get access to their market anymore if they ever step out of line.
They're influencing us. The "do business and eventually things will just get better" approach doesn't work. It is a lie.
Isn't it sort of wrong for Bethesda to open an office in that country when there has been much documented about how not only homophobic, but horrible in general the government is?BethesdaRU, ME, TL PR most likely live in their own region and promoting LGBTQ can result in terrible things for these people and Bethesda can't risk their own employees.
In Russia case they even have a brand new office in the region, you don't want the russian government to storm in and detain all the employees working there.
Bethesda Softworks opens new Russia studio in Moscow
Bethesda Softworks announced today that it has opened a new studio in Moscow, Russia, which will focus on marketing and sales in that region.venturebeat.com
BethesdaME twitter account was opened in January 2020, so they probably have plans in place to expand in the region.
