File this under the “I’m conflicted” folder.
A new online game is causing quite a stir, as its gameplay involves destroying the zombified versions of various conservative and Tea Party icons with a slew of different weaponry – from AKs and Uzis to crowbars and knives.
The game is called Tea Party Zombies Must Die and is a creation of StarvingEyes Advergaming, an online viral gaming company whose site states that they make “games for online viral campaigns.”
The game itself is a first-person shooter that takes you through different levels including the Fox News studio, the Trailer Park, and Koch Industries. The gameplay is a little clunky and the graphics leave something to be desired, but in the end it feels like DOOM with Republican zombies.
Before you start the game, there is a “meet the zombies” sections that shows you all of the different zombie characters in the game. The list includes zombified versions of Presidential candidates Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, zombie Sarah Palin, zombified Fox News contributors Mike Huckabee, Brit Hume, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck.
Along with the famous Tea Party-involved Koch Brothers, the game also includes generic characters like “Pissed Off Old White Guy Zombie,” “Pissed Off Stupid White Trash Redneck Birther Zombie” and “Expresses Racist Views Anonymously On The Internet Modern Klan Zombie.”
During gameplay, when you complete a level, it presents the player with a blip about Fox News or the Koch Brothers and their ties with the Tea Party –
It should come as no surprise that people on the right are a little upset about the new game. Brent Bozell, president of conservative media organization Media Research Center, had this to say to the Telegraph –
The liberal media have been preaching for years that conservatives are the ones who invoke violent imagery and rhetoric. Yet in the space of two days, the radical, pro-Obama left calls us ‘son-of-a-bitches’ and says they want to ‘take us out.’ And they follow that with a hideously violent game where they do just that – depicting ways of shooting prominent conservatives, presidential candidates and journalists. The news media would be in an uproar if violence had been incited against liberals. Their silence disgusts me.
“Any propensity towards amusement is immediately stricken from my imagination the instant I picture the indignant media firestorm that would undoubtedly arise if the growling death targets resembled, say, Barack Obama,” saysTownhall’s Guy Benson.
And here is where I find myself conflicted.
I have always been a staunch defender of video game free speech, and laugh at the assertion by some that violent and provocative video games are some sort of blight on our culture. In my mind, that’s bullshit and always will be. A game is a game in my mind, and nothing more. Plus, the concept of a double-headed Koch Brothers zombie is just plain funny.
But I must admit, Guy Benson has a point. Can you imagine the type of firestorm that would erupt if President Obama or Joe Biden were the zombies in this game?
Do I think that Tea Party Zombies Must Die is actually going to result in any real violence against Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin? No. Do I think that people have a valid reason to be upset by the game? Yes.
What do you think? Harmless fun? A poor precedent to set? Let us know in the comments.