Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal's controversial video game exhibit, which culminates in the player attempting to shoot President Bush, has triggered a lawsuit against the city of Troy, New York, according to the Albany Times-Union.
As GamePolitics readers may recall, Bilal, a faculty member at the Art Institute of Chicago, was invited to present his Virtual Jihadi exhibit at Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute in March.
RPI's Republican Club, however, objected to Virtual Jihadi, which Bilal said was designed to show how US policy in Iraq has encouraged terrorism. School officials subsequently ordered the exhibit off campus. A local venue, the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, then offered Bilal the opportunity to display his work.
On opening night local Republican leader Robert Mirch, who also happens to be Troy's Public Works commissioner, led a protest outside the exhibit. The following day, Troy code enforcement officials (who work for Mirch) shut the Sanctuary down over building code violations involving its doors.
The Sanctuary, assisted by the New York Civil Liberties Union, has notified Troy that it will file a lawsuit against the city as well as Mirch. Said Melanie Trimble executive director of NYCLU's Capital Region chapter:
City officials cannot selectively enforce building codes to shut down an art exhibition they find distasteful... City officials cannot chill free speech in this city by using their official powers.
Bob Mirch is the head of Public Works which oversees the code enforcement. Code enforcement came the next day and shut the building down even though they had approved the building's opening the day before. It's no coincidence.
Sanctuary co-founder Steve Pierce added:
There is a climate of fear in the city.
For his part, Mirch said:
This is nonsense. And a publicity stunt. At no time was the sanctuary closed. The two situations are not connected. Not connected.
Capital News 9 has a video report.
Comments
No you don't. I doubt he rigged a radio transmitter to a device to kill the real president.
You just cant get away with things like this anymore.
I don't believe the government should censor it, but schools have no obligation to allow a 'kill the sitting president' game on campus, especially if it's causing protests. Next time, tell him to make anti-war propaganda without a mission where you attack the president and I'm sure it will go over better.
The school administration's complete about-turn in the face of moral panic is what irks most people.
As for the Sanctuary, I hope they sue Mirch into the ground. That was censorship, pure and simple. He should have been suspended as soon as the allegations came up.
they arn't actually suing over the incident at the school, as you stated, they really didn't do anything illegal, their finacial backers complained threated to pull funding so they folded, sucks for the exhibit but nothing really wrong there
however, when the building inspectors clear a private building for holding an exhibit and then return 2 days later, more then likely at the behest of their employer who is opposed to the exhibit, to close it down, it reeks of illegal censorship
It's a fine line, eh?
The school administration’s complete about-turn in the face of moral panic is what irks most people.
Exactly.
I was just up there last weekend for a function at RPI, I'm annoyed with myself for failing to look into how this was playing out.
@ tony selby
they arn’t actually suing over the incident at the school, as you stated, they really didn’t do anything illegal, their finacial backers complained threated to pull funding so they folded, sucks for the exhibit but nothing really wrong there
See above. They didn't do anything illegal, technically, but it was definitely wrong. They had no "moral outrage" or "discomfort with the exhibit" when they invited him, KNOWING the content of said exhibit. They canceled after the fact, after the Young Republicans club saw the exhibit and started in with their demented bleating about RPI being a "terrorist haven".
Not that it's related to the City of Troy lawsuit, but still, it needs to be said that my calm, well-worded letter sent from an alumni email account was ignored. Again.
Not that I'm agreeing with anything the guy is doing - I don't know enough about how the presentation was made.... So I'm not taking sides..
But that's all too typical for schools now - they don't stand for open minds, free thought, free information, or providing evidence and facts that allow a person to make up his/her own mind.
They are about agendas, narrow-mindedness, grinding their axes, conforming to politics and political correctness.
More like indoctrination camps than Universities of Free Thought now.
"indoctrination camps"
Keep your eyes open for laws that would make homeschooling your children illegal... then ask..'Why?'..
I thought the whole point of the exhibit was to show American's a "Mirrior" that we think it's okay to make an Iraqi killing game, but get uncomfortable when its an Iraqi killing American game. The games not really about Terrorism... did GP readers forget: http://gamepolitics.com/2008/03/13/gp-reader-offers-first-person-account...
Wait… I thought the exhibit was against Terrorism…
The purpose of the exhibit was to illustrate how American policy and involvement in the Middle East was fueling anti-American sentiment and facilitating the recruitment of terrorists.
@ TheStripe
While the idea that our policy in Iraq is solely responsible for the nutbar fundi anti-american stance is absolutely ludicrous
No one said this. The claim is that it contributes, not that it is the sole cause.
But the same applies to views and material that the government approves, if a school disagrees, NP.. find funding elsewhere. I agree with you, but I still think Overcast's feelings weren't unfounded.
My brother was telling me about how they taught him the 'official' version of the Gulf of Tonkin incident recently. Well that was declassified, and even prior to that, was all but confirmed to be a staged attack. So why is he still being told this propaganda? Seems pretty important to make the distinction between real and fake history.
Seriously, a door violation? They could have gotten a door in working order, used that during the exhibit, and repaired any others while it was going, but since that wasn't even made an option, yes, I do call foul play.
"Not connected," lol. No, you did an about-face when you saw even the slightest bit of resistance.
You could have let people protest outside the exhibit.
Hate to say it buy... REALLY? So let me get this straight. The tons of little $10 budget release games which have you hunting down Osama Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein are perfectly okay. Because from our perspective, they are evil depite the fact that we put one of them in power and trained the other to do just what he did. Well, okay. Now take a look at an Iraqi citizen who fears the US militaries multiyear occupation and the blatantly police state scenario going on not to mention the private armies in occupation and suddenly it's completely unreasonable to put that shoe on the other foot and maybe reach a conclusion where "Yeah, that man is evil and his actions are actually promoting the negative environment for terrorism to foster?"
Nope, unforgivable. Fucking towelheads should have shit to say besides what flavors of slurpee is available and how much the fare was.... that's the republican way.
No matter how much you may hate the president or disagree with his policies, it crosses the line to say you want him dead.
Having a mission where you kill the president isn't necessarily saying that the creator wants him dead. If my best friend and I mod a fighting game so that our fighters' models resemble our real-life selves, does that mean we want to kill each other?
@ sheppy
Very well said.
If you think that the game is saying "I want the president dead" then you have completely missed the point of the game.
@lumi
The game festival and symposium? heh i was there too... though i too did not ask anyone about the exhibit. =/
I would suspect that the attempt to kill the President ends with the death of the character, rather than Bush himself, after all, it culminates in attempting to shoot him, which usually means it was a failed attempt. Though I could not say for certain.
I don't accept the matters are not connected, whilst coincidence is always possible, this just seems to 'useful' a coincidence for Mirch.
I suppose you need to look at it this way, if you are sent to America to attack the President, and you are an extremist fanatic, who is it you are trying to kill? This is a story about real-life, and in real life, George Bush is the President of the United States, by using someone else, you are detracting from the message of realism that you are trying to portray, you are moving people away from the realisation that this kind of thing is really happening, in the real world, which is the whole point of the exhibit if the artist is to be taken at his word.
Yep, I was there for GameFest, and the School of Humanities 7 Social Sciences 100th Anniversary Celebration dinner ($25 for filet mignon, seared salmon steak, vegetable-something-or-other, and crusted mashed potatoes...and cocktail hour with an open bar? Yes please! =D)
Unfortunately I missed Friday's exhibit because of work, but I caught Saturday afternoon's panels and presentations (I was impressed by Eric Zimmerman's bit on "thinking like a gamer"), and the awards from VV. Marc needs to put some of the builds for the winners online, I want to see them X.x
I asked him about the exhibit back when this whole thing started and he said that it actually wasn't anything impressive (he said the stuff Bilal did last year was better), but it wasn't really worth all the BS that was raised about it, either.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Also, the article is right about a "climate of fear" - it came out during the flap that Mirch has done this kind of thing before to intimidate political opponents. He deserves all the legal hassle that's coming his way - as ye sow so shall ye reap. Hopefully it will help clean up the city's politics a bit, too.
Not connected.
Not connected after 2 attempts. Retry, Abort, Cancel?
http://capitalnews9.com/content/top_stories/112573/citizens-protest-shut...
“There's a pattern that we're seeing and I think it's worth investigating because enough people have come forward to say that they have a problem with the fact that they'll send an email to City Hall complaining about something and then a few days later Code Enforcement is at their residence,” said councilman Ken Zalewski.
While the question of code enforcement or censorship in this instance remains unanswered, the debate did reveal some pressing issues in Troy, including the apparent log jam and lack of consistency in code enforcement.
LOL.
I believe, individuals (read: US of A Citizens), should have the right, to see and hear the issue, and decide for themselves, whether its good or bad. Banning it, every way possible, only seems to tell educated people, that someone doesnt want a point of view heard.
Not surprisingly, a group of students who are republicans trying to remove Free of Speech from others, because they, themselves are ignorant children. They must get that from President GWB....