"Virtual Jihadi" video game challenges players to kill President Bush

"'The game itself is not an act of terrorism,' said one protester. 'But it simply promotes it.'" Indeed: there is freedom of speech and there is incitement to murder. A cartoon of Muhammad harms no one, although there are those who chose to consider themselves harmed by it, and think that it gives them a license to commit murder. This video game, on the other hand, encourages the murder of a living human being. Yet no one will be particularly concerned about this, while attempts to limit free speech because of the cartoons continue.

"Artist's Video Game Challenges Players To Kill President," from KNBC, July 16 :

CHICAGO -- An artist's video game that is being exhibited at a free-speech exhibit in Chicago challenges players to kill the president.
The video game is part of a "confrontational art" exhibit by Chicago-based artist Wafaa Bilal.

In the 3-D game, "The Night of Bush Capturing; A Virtual Jihadi," players are sent on a mission to kill President George W. Bush.

Bilal, 42, said his art is a personal attempt to deal with the deaths of citizens in the country of his birth. The artist said his brother died in Iraq in 2004 from a U.S bomb.

The game is part of the Freedom of Speech exhibition at FLATFILE Galleries. It runs until Aug. 22.

The game was scheduled for exhibition in March at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., but school administrators shut it down after less than a day, according to a TimeOutChicago blog post.

"The game itself is not an act of terrorism," said one protester. "But it simply promotes it."

In a statement on its Web site, FLATFILE said, "censorship of any artistic expression is wrong, and (FLATFILE) proudly supports the right of its artists to show their work regardless of political content and previous censorship."...

Sure. It isn't as if anyone drew a cartoon of Muhammad in this exhibit. That would be crossing the line, now, wouldn't it?

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7 Comments

ebonystone | July 19, 2008 10:49 AM

"Bilal, 42, said his art is a personal attempt to deal with the deaths of citizens in the country of his birth. The artist said his brother died in Iraq in 2004 from a U.S bomb."

And how does Bilal intend to deal with the deaths of hundreds of thousands of his countrymen at the hands of Saddam Hussein, or the deaths of tens of thousands at the hands of their fanatical fellow countrymen?

ZenaWarriorPrincess | July 19, 2008 11:35 AM

ebonystone muslims have selected memories. also what would the US Dem. and their cohorts think if this game also included killing Obama. its okay to use Bush, you can hear the crys by the Obama crowd. lol

A_Nonny_Mouse | July 19, 2008 2:51 PM

I get so frustrated that these @$$holes come here from their godforsaken constipated homelands, bringing their eternal-grievance/vendetta mindset with them. They apparently think "America is the land of unbridled freedom, so there are no limits -- I can do anything, say anything, espouse any point of view, no matter how odious."

These guys have no idea that in our democracy, restraints on speech and behavior are not absent, they've just been offloaded from the purview of government to the public arena where "good manners" and the wish to avoid public opprobrium are supposed to promote civility in the marketplace. Too bad the multi-culti view that "everything anybody does is fine if it's an expression of his own inner truth" is so mainstream today. A little public humiliation, a couple of reviews to the effect that "this garbage is demeaning, disgusting, and I wouldn't touch it if he were giving it away" would do wonders IMHO.

Archimedes2 | July 19, 2008 4:56 PM

I'm interested in Bilal's use of the "J" word. Doesn't he realise that the State Department has issued a statement to the effect that it is wrong to use this language because it gives terrorists an honorable name that may be regarded as heroic to muslims, and is Islamophobic by virtue of conflating heroic Islamic themes and criminal terrorism? Bilal must be some kind of Islamophobe!

Rahman bin Rahman | July 19, 2008 10:22 PM

I've been to Flatfile Galleries. The owner, Susan Aurinko, whom I've spoken to, strikes me as a lady who looks at the bottom line in everything she does. This was a chance to get her out-of-the-way gallery some media attention, and she has succeeded. I doubt we will see the Mohammed cartoons displayed there in her noble quest for free speech. Here is her website: http://www.flatfilegalleries.com/contact.html. Click on "exhibitions" to find info on "Virtual Jihadi".

perpster | July 20, 2008 8:24 AM

"The Night of Bush Capturing; A Virtual Jihadi"

Another arab muslim misunderstander of islam. If the game stems from his brother's death shouldn't it be "Virtual Retribution" or "Virtual Vengeance"? Where did he get the idea to call it "Virtual Jihad" from I wonder.

angelwoman47 | July 23, 2008 1:08 AM

I applaud this video game and as one who is against fighting in all forms and a very peace loving person who embraces every being being that walks and crawls and swims and plies upon/above/below this Earth this "creature" called Bush has committed so many inhuman acts that I feel this game will give so many people a great outlet for their rage as we continue our efforts to have him and his cohorts imprisoned for their crimes.
I , for one , shall be purchasing many copies for my my friends for which meditation no longer works to allow them to live with what us, americans, are doing to the rest of the world, and yes I will be buying a copy for myself, also!
THANK YOU SO MUCH WAFAA BILAL!!! And GOOD LUCK at NYU this year I know you will offer those students so much!
Gratefully Yours,
Angel

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