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Patriot Act Game Pokes Fun at Government

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the can-i-play-as-the-government dept.

The Miami Herald is reporting that a new game based on Monopoly is taking a crack at Patriot Act and what creator Michael Kabbash describes as the curtailed freedom that has resulted. From the article: "The object of the game is not to amass the most money or real estate, but to be the last player to retain civil liberties. 'I've had people complain to me that when they play, nobody wins. They say "We're all in Guantanamo and nobody has any civil liberties left," he said. 'I'm like "Yeah, that's the point."'"

4 of 350 comments (clear)

  1. I'd like to add one more thing... by AnonymousPrick · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I think it's also this perceived liberal vs. conservative, us vs. them, or the "bipartisanship" of America. As soon as a viewpoint is labeled "liberal" or "conservative", it immediately polarizes many people. But when you actually dig down into the base issue, beyond the hyperpole and mindless rhetoric, I usually see some common ground - a big swath of it.

    It's the "sound bite" media that's really doing us in. And "they", the media, are doing it because that's where the money is. There's no profit in being rational, careful, insightful, and just using common sense. Sensationalism has overtaken the media. Trying to get the issues past that, well, is impossible. Let's face it, folks want the sensationlized version. They want to feel superior to the "stupid" people who have a different opinion from theirs.

    --
    Saturday is April 1. Slashdot will be shut down. Sorry for the inconvenience.
  2. Your line of reasoning rang a bell by MarkusQ · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, we're losing all our civil liberties but some guy is still free to openly criticize the government without fear of the FBI showing up on his doorstep.

    Your line of reasoning rang a bell. Where did I hear it before? Oh yeah, I remember:

    First They Came for the Jews

    First they came for the Jews
    and I did not speak out
    because I was not a Jew.
    Then they came for the Communists
    and I did not speak out
    because I was not a Communist.
    Then they came for the trade unionists
    and I did not speak out
    because I was not a trade unionist.
    Then they came for me
    and there was no one left
    to speak out for me.

    -- Pastor Martin Niemöller

    You are confusing "going away" with "gone"; just because at sunset there is still more than enough light to read by, you can not conclude that daylight is not going away, and should not draw comfort from the fact that it isn't as dark as it is somewhere else on the planet.

    --MarkusQ

  3. Re:Yay for wasting time... by hey! · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I rememeber hearing Mel Brooks interviewed after his film The Producers was made into a broadway play. The interviewer asked him how it was that he, a Jew, felt it was appropriate to make jokes about Nazis.

    Brooks responded that you can't fight a dictator by getting up on a soap box. Dictators are, by nature, natural spell-binders, and you'll never outdebate them. But what you can do and what works is to make them look ridiculous.

    So, in this case you paint the administration as a bunch of goose stepping blockheads who are besotted with fascism. It's not the way our system is supposed to work, but it's the way politics works.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  4. I must've missed the memo... by wedg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When did Civil Rights become Civil Liberties?

    When they become Civil Priviledges, I'm running for the hills.

    --
    Jake
    Dating: while( 1 ){ call_girl(); get_rejected(); drink_40(); } return 0;