Okay. I will re-iterate my point, one final time, as this discussion is getting circular: Regardless of how
some people — perhaps even a (
vocal! ) minority — personally feel about it, i think it should be up to consumers ( parents ) to decide, and talk to their children if they want to. What's next, take out the comics I mentioned too? ...The conflict was long enough ago, imo. Also, Cavalry + ACW sets used to be available up until fairly recently, and that was o-kay; they were partially suppressed for
political reasons — because the political climate, in the US especially, has escalated to fever pitch in recent years, not because history has changed.
As I said, in many respects, we are less free and tolerant, today, in terms of freedom of choice and expression, than we were 20 or 30 years ago. That's the main wrong, here; and there will be no end to it, if we let it. ...First, they'll come for the Wild West sets, then it will be pirates ( Do I detect "toxic" masculinity? ☺ ), then it will be Romans & Egyptians, then, the Victorians ( corseted women? ...Horrible!!! ). Everything can be claimed to be offensive, these days... even
existing, if you're the 'wrong' demographic ( metaphorically, of course, but will get there, I am sure )! ...Geobra ought to be careful, though, because one of these days, "cultural appropriation" charges will be levied against them ( a German toy manufacturer! ) — if it hasn't already —, and they'll be pressured to pull many, if not most, of their period sets ( including Indians! ), and quite a few others besides.
This is the flipside of wanting more diversity and political awareness and so forth in PM sets. The price for that is losing the distinct cultural sets that frankly made PM something special. Merry Men's Hideout? Too eurocentric - we'll not see its like again. Christmas is oppressive. History itself must be rewritten to conform with modern notions of what's right.
— Macruran
P.S. Kids don't look at the Indians as the 'bad guys', but as the antagonists in the pair 'Cowboy and Indians', much like black and whites in chess. Sometimes they play Indians, sometimes they play cowboys / cavalry. They are not passing moral judgment ( In fact, I claim they are learning to see conflict from opposite viewpoints, which is part of their moral education ). Adults
sometimes do, though. In other words, kids playing cowboys and Indians is not going to make them racist, if that's what some people are worried about ( but it
might turn them into a chip in the adults' ongoing political / culture [ translation:
power! ] wargames — as usual ).
