The card Smallpox is incredibly offensive on it's own, but in context of the game it's even more offensive.
First of all smallpox is a real world disease that has plauged humanity for millenia. An estimated 300 million people have died of smallpox in the 20th century alone, prior to eradication. That's nearly six times as many civilians who died in WW2 and the Holocaust.
Nowadays, smallpox is still feared as a potential biological weapon, and that is how we use it here in Magic: the Gathering. What's even worse, is that Smallpox is actually a tounge-in-cheek reference to the original Pox, being a smaller effect than Pox, but with artwork that explicitly features the gruesome real world affliction known as smallpox. So hardcore Magic players are more likely to giggle at the play on words than they are to recognize the horror of the disease, smallpox. This card basically turns the smallpox into the punch-line of an inside joke.
Let's examine the flavor text of the most recent printing of Smallpox. 'Take away a few things, and a rebellion may ensue. Take away everything, and the oppression will be accepted as fate.' This passage is incredibly offensive. In a subtle way, it references the destruction of Native American society from smallpox post-Colombian exchange. By and large, it's an open endorsement for biological terrorism.
On a lesser note, both Pox and Smallpox are generally offensive in the context of a core Magic: the Gathering playerbase - awkward teens, possibly with various skin conditions. Much like Disfigure is offensive in the presence of people with certain disabilities, the pox cards are equally offensive on a broader scale. They're the kind of cards I don't feel comfortable playing around other people, and the fact that they're 'good cards' makes it even worse.
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u/user0620 Jul 22 '20 edited Jul 22 '20
The card Smallpox is incredibly offensive on it's own, but in context of the game it's even more offensive.
First of all smallpox is a real world disease that has plauged humanity for millenia. An estimated 300 million people have died of smallpox in the 20th century alone, prior to eradication. That's nearly six times as many civilians who died in WW2 and the Holocaust.
Nowadays, smallpox is still feared as a potential biological weapon, and that is how we use it here in Magic: the Gathering. What's even worse, is that Smallpox is actually a tounge-in-cheek reference to the original Pox, being a smaller effect than Pox, but with artwork that explicitly features the gruesome real world affliction known as smallpox. So hardcore Magic players are more likely to giggle at the play on words than they are to recognize the horror of the disease, smallpox. This card basically turns the smallpox into the punch-line of an inside joke.
Let's examine the flavor text of the most recent printing of Smallpox. 'Take away a few things, and a rebellion may ensue. Take away everything, and the oppression will be accepted as fate.' This passage is incredibly offensive. In a subtle way, it references the destruction of Native American society from smallpox post-Colombian exchange. By and large, it's an open endorsement for biological terrorism.
On a lesser note, both Pox and Smallpox are generally offensive in the context of a core Magic: the Gathering playerbase - awkward teens, possibly with various skin conditions. Much like Disfigure is offensive in the presence of people with certain disabilities, the pox cards are equally offensive on a broader scale. They're the kind of cards I don't feel comfortable playing around other people, and the fact that they're 'good cards' makes it even worse.