“‘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?