Actually, you receive a juicy bounty when you kill NPCs in the cities of Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR 2). However, killing a certain man comes without legal consequences.
What is it about? The cowboy adventure Red Dead Redemption 2 is full of surprises and memorable events. For example, you gain more honor if you kill members of the Ku Klux Klan.
But you need to be careful where you kill people. If an NPC insults you in one of the cities and you punch or shoot him, a bounty is immediately placed on you and the city police will be after you.
There is an exception for an NPC named Norris Forsythe in Saint Denis. An avowed racist stands there and speaks positively about things with a clear racist background. He wants to “save the white race” and mocks that “children are submissive to apes”.
The remarkable thing is: The police are not interested in whether you beat him up or even shoot him. Even if law enforcement officers are standing right beside him, they literally look away and pretend as if nothing happened.
This is what it looks like when you kill the racist in RDR 2
This is the reaction: The topic gained traction on reddit recently. Player BergTheVoice posted a 27-second clip in the community and received over 20,000 upvotes after 18 hours. He claims that he only noticed he could kill the racist in Saint Denis without receiving a bounty on his third playthrough.
In the video, he demonstrates this:
At the end of the clip, you see the lawman in a blue coat standing right at the scene but not reacting negatively. The cowboy even engages in small talk with him and is then allowed to simply walk away. No penalties are given.
How do players deal with him? In the comments on reddit, you can read about more methods players use to have “fun” with the racist. After all, they can do whatever they want with him. And there are no consequences. Well, almost never.
- “I tie him up, throw him on my horse, ride into the swamp, and leave him there with bait on him. Then I watch the alligators eat their treat”
- “He is the perfect guy for challenges where you need to drag people behind your horse with a lasso. Just remember to be near alligators”
- “When I killed him, I received a bounty because I accidentally destroyed the window behind him”
- “You can really stress him out. Hit him so he runs away, then follow him everywhere”
- “The first time I killed him, I used a tomahawk and split his face in two”
In the embedded video, you see a brutal murder of this NPC in combination with a train:
This is why it is controversial: The clip and the comments are sensitive and seem to glorify violence. Because apparently, the NPC’s life is being taken here in a sadistic manner and people enjoy it.
In the comments on reddit, some also said: It doesn’t feel right. They felt uncomfortable watching the clip.
However, the comments were downvoted by other users, so they are no longer prominently displayed.
On reddit, the comments on the clip were closed after a few hours: The discussion had run its course, it was said.
The moderators made it clear that they would leave the clip up, even though there were apparently complaints against it: “To all those who are deeply disturbed and emotionally hurt by killing a racist in a game where you regularly kill people. Too bad, so sad.”
They explain that they will not delete the clip despite the reports and messages sent to the mods.
What do we know about the racist?
Who is the guy? The man with the mustache calls himself Norris Forsythe. He is a supporter of “eugenics.”
The term eugenics features the idea of genetic improvement and the capability of humans for self-improvement, but leaves open the question of whether this is enforced voluntarily, through individual choices, through state encouragement for voluntary subordination, or through state coercion. The use of the term for the measures of hereditary and racial hygiene during National Socialism, along with the associated state coercion, has given the term a largely negative connotation today, especially in Germany. Eugenics motives in political activities or eugenic goals of measures are rejected. The qualification of a measure as eugenic is regarded as criticism. In other European countries, including the USA, this understanding of the term is not as negatively pronounced. However, the term is considered outdated and is increasingly being replaced by the more technically precise terms such as genetic enhancement engineering and germline intervention. (via Gedenkort-t4.eu)
Regarding eugenics, Norris Forsythe also distributes flyers in Saint Denis. When you interact with him as a player, your character explains to Forsythe that there are good and bad people, and that it has nothing to do with race.
Forsythe then repeatedly refers to the cowboy as an idiot.
- It is likely that Forsythe is a member of the Ku Klux Klan
- He wants to “save the white race from the terror of equality”
- If you kill Forsythe, you will not lose any honor in the game
- No police officer will react if you attack or kill Forsythe
Still unsure if he is really a racist? One of his most shared quotes is “I am not a hater, I am a racist. And I want you to be just like me.”
Even the online mode struggled with racists. Luckily, RDR 2 put an end to the racist cheat that nasty hackers used.
