After all, it’s not like they’re Americans. Rewind a few years and you’ll remember the ceaseless controversy regarding a scene in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 where you have the option to shoot American civilians. Infinity Ward were forced to offer players the option to skip the scene, which was called “disturbing”. Let’s take an objective view at the opening of Call of Duty: Black Ops and compare.

You’re an American soldier sent into Cuba to kill Fidel Castro in the ’60s. To do so, you’re going to shoot a lot of Cuban guards, soldiers, policemen and even a couple of civilians. You have to shoot them. There’s no other way to proceed with the game, unlike the terrorism seen in the previous franchise instalment. Despite what you might think, police are people too. You’re shooting innocent Cubans.

But it’s okay to kill Cubans, right? After all, Fidel Castro is evil, and clearly assassinating him is for the greater good, so a few Cuban casualties are excusable. Actually, no, you’re wrong. I’m fairly certain the entire opening of the game constitutes a war crime in which players are forced to participate. There’s no warning label on the box about this content. It seems the only outrage is coming from a handful of Cubans.

This is messed up. Why is it okay to kill Cubans, but offensive to have the option to kill Americans? I would ask for a Cuban perspective, but they’ve probably all been shot already.