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“NSider,” a NeoGAF user supposedly behind the complaint made against LittleBigPlanet’s use of two sentences from the Qur’an, has seemingly apologised for “partially causing a one week delay.”
“I’m sorry for partially causing a one week delay of LittleBigPlanet. I’m sorry Sony has to go through all the trouble of pulling the game from stores and replacing them with patched versions. I definitely know what it feels like to have a game delayed.
The possibility that Sony would delay the game didn’t even cross my mind. I thought that they will do nothing about it for weeks then quietly release a patch much later.
I’m sorry.
”
No idea if this is legit. You can read the full letter on Kotaku. It’s the same post that appeared on the EU PS boards yesterday.
By Mike Bowden
Viewing 27 responses
absolutezero said:
Jihad.
reask said:
If this was years ago we would never have had films like the life of brian as it would have been banned.
Political correctness gone mad.
winlonghorn said:
Thank you NSider! Apology accepted, I am sure you didn’t expect Sony to do what they have done. Nobody really knows what to expect from them these days, but I respect the fact that you have apologized and I understand that you meant well. Again, thank you.
Cort said:
If the “crime” was to put those words to music, someone ask him if he complained to the composer when he released this song on iTunes two years ago.
As an atheist, I am offended by religion. What can I get delayed/removed/banned/burned?
Phil said:
As an atheist, why would you want to get anything delayed/removed/banned/burned if you can just choose not to pay any attention to it?
Syrok said:
It’s not a crime it’s only offensive if you interpret the Qur’an in a certain way or rather one of the hadith. (I can’t remember reading it in the Qur’an)
No_PUDding said:
Apology accepted you dickwad.
I would never have guessed Sony would have taken that action either, but I am still cross you mentioned it dickwad.
Hunam said:
0.o
He has nothing to apologise for. It was a genuine issue that a culture would take offense to. I’m not surprised many don’t get it, but then again some cultures take religion a whole lot more seriously than we do.
Cort said:
Phil, because some religious texts call for acts of prejudice, aggression or violence – for instance against women, or Jews, or misbehaving children (yes, really). Incitement to such acts is illegal in every civilised state unless it is printed in a religious book. Do explain why being an atheist mean would I should not want such things (i.e. incitements to crimes) banned? Precisely the opposite!
As part of my degree course I did a test of anti-Semitic phrases from three books, asking others to rate quotes from each book, side-by-side. Those books were the Bible, the Qur’an and Mein Kampf. Those taking part did not know where the quotes came from. One came out much worse in all subjective tests. I’ll give you one guess which one. And which came last? One more guess. Try it: it is amazing, but true.
So, can I as a law-abiding citizen and opponent of prejudice and racism call for the Qur’an to be removed from schools and boookstores? No, I cannot. Well, not without a lot of trouble, at least.
That was my point.
(Edited)
juuken said:
Apology not accepted.
What did he expect Sony to do, let this slip by and not do anything about it? This is a company who would have received plenty of backlash if they didn’t do something about this.
If it offended him so much, then he should have ignored the game and NOT BUY IT.
G1GAHURTZ said:
“As part of my degree course I did a test of anti-Semitic phrases… blah, blah, gibberish, blah …it is amazing, but true.”
Oh wow, really?
Strange how, as an athiest, you spend your time trying to get to the ‘root’ of anti-semitism.
I wonder why an athiest would spend so much of his time worrying about one of the most religious nations of people to have ever existed throughout the entire history of mankind!
Anyway, enough about people with dissociative identity disorder…
The guy has nothing to apologise for.
It’s Sony’s/MM’s fault for putting a song in their game without even understanding what was being said!
Panipal2005 said:
He’s got everything to apologise for.
People like him don’t have genuine grievances, they just enjoy exercising the power political correctness gives them over other people.
I’m sure his PSN ID (solid08 if I’m not mistaken) has been deleted from the PS network, and it serves him right. Toerag.
Esha said:
I don’t agree, Gigs.
It’s Sony’s fault for not offering an entirely optional patch for this, as after doing a little research both in and outside of the Internet, it would seem like many a Muslim doesn’t really care about this song. After all, no offense was taken to it when it was released back in 2006.
To be honest, I don’t like the way this is being played out, and I’ve said that elsewhere too. The Muslim element seems like a scapegoat here, and being the empathic sort that I am, I actually feel for them. And I believe that includes you, if I’m not mistaken.
I’m sure there would’ve been a better way to deal with this. After all, does anyone remember the Church thing with Resistance? It was offensive that such-and-such a Christian Church was in the game, but Sony refused to do anything about it at the time other than apologise.
And that’s what they could’ve done here, along with an optional patch so that anyone who’s really offended by that piece of music (which, again, was actually published two years ago and didn’t meet any backlash) can remove it.
The lines weren’t used in an offensive way, after all, they weren’t meant to be insulting and it seems like the majority was mature enough to realise that. it was only a vocal minority that decided that these lines being sang was enough to take umbrage at.
I’m beginning to wonder if it wasn’t all a bit of a prank.
Shatner said:
Don’t shoot the messenger.
G1GAHURTZ said:
Yeah, you are right. As a Muslim, I wouldn’t say that I find what the singer did offensive at all.
If I bought the game and heard it while I was playing I’d probably just be like ‘what the…?’ and turn the music off.
I usually turn the music off on all of the games that I play anyway.
I also agree about this being something of a strange situation with regards to Sony’s announcement. It just seems strange that they still haven’t officially announced the reason for the Wipeout HD delay, even though everyone knows that it was because of the epilepsy test failure.
So while Wipeout HD gets officially delayed due to a “really, really tricky technical problem”, LBP gets delayed, or withdrawn even, due to ‘a song that could cause offence to Muslims’, even though I’d struggle to see how anyone could be offended whilst knowing that the guy who wrote the song probably thought that he was doing something good for his religion, and that Sony/MM didn’t know what was being said.
Then of course, gaming forums and message boards all over the internet get drowned in a sea of Islamophobic drivel.
The reality is that when you think about it, Sony has caused more offence to Muslims by re-calling the game and then practically blaming it on us, because of the torrent of abuse we’ll no doubt continue to suffer from now up until the game gets released.
If they were really that concerned about people without PSN, (and how could they be, when without it you don’t get updates, and you don’t get Home!?) then why not just give the ‘technical issue’ response and do it that way?
On the one hand, giving them the benefit of the doubt, I respect Sony for what they’ve done. But on the other hand, they’ve made a bit of a pigs ear of the whole process of removing the song.
patlike said:
G1 – Prdon my ignorance, but is there something in the Qur’an that actually says phrases from it mustn’t be mixed with music, or sung?
I have no idea if you know, but you’re far more likely to than anyone else here from the sound of it
G1GAHURTZ said:
No problem at all Pat.
No, there isn’t anything in the Qur’an that says that, but Islamic law is not just taken from the Qur’an. It has multiple sources and there are different ways of deriving rulings on any particular issue if there is nothing explicit to use.
So basically, as for where the understanding for not mixing the two comes from, then it would be from a ruling made by a Scholar based on one of the other sources of Islamic law.
But mixing verses from the Qur’an with music should be a bit of a no-brainer to most Muslims, because of the high regard that it should always be held in.
Smartypants said:
It’s the 21st century, it’s amazing that religion even exists at all. We know by now the earth isn’t flat, there was no omniscient entity that created the world because he was bored one day, the Bible and the Qur’an were written by men to keep the peasants in check, and it’s all just silly superstitions that always lead to war and segregation. Atheism FTW I say, if we ever want to achieve world peace at least.
G1GAHURTZ said:
Interesting fact:
Non-religious people are actually in the minority, and always have been.
Nice chart for you too see.
Cort said:
Gig:
“Strange how, as an athiest, you spend your time trying to get to the ‘root’ of anti-semitism.”
Strange how? What is wrong with it? Are only religious people allowed to study racism? How ironic. And I did not say Islam was the “root”, you did. I happen to think Christianity is the root, but never mind, you already know my mind don’t you.
“I wonder why an athiest would spend so much of his time worrying about one of the most religious nations of people to have ever existed throughout the entire history of mankind!”
Really? Do I have to explain it? Why would an atheist concern himself with religion? Really?
Stunned.
G1GAHURTZ said:
“And I did not say Islam was the “root”, you did.”
I most certainly did not. Feel free to prove me wrong with a quote.
You appear to have seen implication where there clearly was none.
Really? Do I have to explain it? Why would an atheist concern himself with religion? Really?
No, but you weren’t concerning yourself with religion, rather you appear to have been concerning yourself with the wellbeing of the religious.
They are two entirely different things.
morriss said:
politics, football, religion.
Thems the rules.
Syrok said:
Nah, talk about regions is boring.
BartonFink said:
Sounds like a shitstorm over nothing … if they are that easily offended then it’s a good idea to remove it. Imagine the consequences if they didn’t remove it.
David said:
“Imagine the consequences.”
They might actually get over it and enjoy the game………
Jony911 said:
I think this all over more than a mere song, or else Sony would have released a patch for the game, not replaced it or delayed it, and as for smartypants comment i say this, im not a very religious person myself but i do know why religion is popular and tolerated, it gives people hope in an afterlife, after all….are you really not confused about what comes after death?
Cort said:
““And I did not say Islam was the “root”, you did.”
I most certainly did not. Feel free to prove me wrong with a quote.”
You are correct, you did not say it and I withdraw that part of my statement. But I believe you implied it. I was saying how the Qur’an was the greater source of anti-Semitism *when compared to the Bible and Mein Kampf* and you quoted the word ‘root’ when commenting on my search for such prejudice. You were clearly stating that I was looking for the root, and then suggested I found it in Islam. I did not (again, I believe Christianity is the source of modern anti-Semitism).
“No, but you weren’t concerning yourself with religion, rather you appear to have been concerning yourself with the wellbeing of the religious.”
Sorry to reignite this, but what on *earth* are you talking about?! You seem to have made comprehensive – though completely wrong – assumption about my mind and intentions from a single, short blog comment. What foolishness, as there is nothing in my original information which could lead to such a conclusion. My research was *entirely* to do with religion – and how it fosters racism, prejudice and conflict, thus in at least one major way precluding its self-declared raison d’etre. An over-simplified explanation, yes, but I don’t have space to detail.
What makes your assumption even more ridiculous and hugely disappointing however (and perhaps revealing about your own attitudes to others) – given that it was originally vouched in critical terms – is that you, a religious person, expressed surprise that an atheist should be concerned about the “wellbeing of the religious”. Shock! Horror! Atheist shows concern for other human beings! How on *earth* could someone who does not believe in god give a damn about another person? Whatever next? I pity the person who cannot understand how an atheist could be decent and care about others – including those with whom one has a fundamental disagreement.
PS -
Percentage of US citizens who profess to belong to a religion: approximately 80%
Percentage of US prison inmates convicted of violent crime, child abuse, rape or murder who profess to belong to a religion: 99.8%
You see, it isn’t atheists who have a lack of compassion, caring or concern for their fellow beings….