Roy Edroso at Alicublog shares the latest wingnut outrage over the Creative Classes’ treachery:
How’s the left oppressing patriots today? With video games! Here’s an NPR story:
Back in 2007, in the first installment of BioShock, Levine created a world based on Ayn Rand’s individualist philosophy and let it play out. This time, Levine has turned a game into an Aristotelian tragedy and used the model of great tragic heroes.
I couldn’t give a shit about video games, but apparently at some point the Bad Guys in this one are revealed to be racists, which prompts this arrgh-blaargh from The Virginian:
NPR broadcast an article today about a developer of a violent video game in which the bad guys were Christians who revered the Constitution and were blatant racists. Of course with a theme like that it’s obviously comparable to one of the great tragedies of literature…
To NPR this is just like Hamlet or Oedipus. This is an NPR employee’s dream of all that’s wrong with America; America’s founders, the religious heritage, and,of course the racism of everyone who’s not part of the NPR family.
Like I said, I don’t care about gaming and the NPR story doesn’t mention it, but are the Founding Fathers really in BioShock Infinite? Because that would great to use in history classes. It speaks to the kids!…
Apart from mocking the clueless (“Same thing we do every day, Pinky!”), what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Litlebritdifrnt
I am banging my head on my desk because I live in NC
scav
Anticipating fallout (I’m dull). Identities of the rich who hide cash offshore
Jackmac
Wingnut comedy tonight. Priceless.
Anoniminous
The horrible oppression of white Christian males is the continuing, untold, story of America.
Omnes Omnibus
@Anoniminous:
It is so pervasive that I don’t even notice it.
askew
So GLAAD is giving Bill Clinton an Advocate for Change award. This is the same guy who signed DOMA, implemented DADT and did zero to improve the lives of LGBT as president. Whereas Obama repealed DADT, submitted briefs to SC that DOMA is unconstitutional, along with tons of other legislation/executive orders/admin policies that support LGBT. Yet, Obama gets no recognition from GLAAD. GLAAD can go fuck themselves.
Craigo
I finished the game yesterday – and while the American exceptionalism theme is present, it takes a definite backseat to another, more science fictiony aspect of the story.
Steeplejack
(Belated) DVR Alert
Spies of Warsaw just started on BBC America at 9:00 p.m. EDT. It’s a miniseries based on one of Alan Furst’s atmospheric spy novels, starring David Tennant (of Doctor Who fame). Should be pretty good. Running again at midnight EDT (9:00 p.m. PDT).
Yutsano
@askew: Meh. GLAAD likes to jump the shark like this every now and again. I think there’s some internal policy about awarding seated politicans or something.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Ha! Win.
JoyfulA
@scav: Now there’s something to look forward to!
Schlemizel
@Omnes Omnibus:
As a white guy who can pass for Christian and earns more than the average all I can think of is:
HELP! HELP! I’M BEING REPRESSED!
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!
Comrade Mary
Video two-fer:
American Psycho with Huey Lewis and Weird Al (Funny or Die)
Jim Morrison: Fat is Beautiful (real JM audio from 1969, delightful hand-drawn animation)
MikeJ
@askew:
Those two things are contradictory. DADT was actually a huge step forward. Do you know what the policy was before that? We’ll ask whatever the fuck we want and you damn well better tell us.
Clinton tried for more, and congress passed the “compromise” DADT that was still better than the status quo, and moved the discussion into the mainstream.
Keith G
Wow, that dude hates totebaggers almost as much as Doug does.
TR
Well, surely the invisible hand of the free market will correct all this. If th game is wrong headed, consumers will simply refuse to buy it, right?
askew
@Yutsano:
Nah, it has more to do with giving the Clintons credit for Obama’s accomplishments. Media and progressive groups have been doing it for awhile now. Pretty sick of the way Obama’s being treated on one hand and then told to suck it up and support Hillary 2016 on the other hand.
If Bill Clinton had any shame, he’s turn down that award as he didn’t do anything to advance gay rights while in office. But, he’s white and that is what matters to many progressives.
Anoniminous
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s because it’s so pervasive. From the day Africans crowded aboard those ships, forcing the captain and crew to sail them to Virginia; then foisting themselves on white plantation owners; lazying around all day eating T-Bones and driving around in their 4 horsepower Cadillac coaches.
WAKE UP SHEEPLE!
Keith G
@askew:
Let me recommend a video for you.
Yutsano
John Thune continues his long slow seduction of BoBo. I wonder how Harvard’s new perfesser of humility will take this.
Evolving Deep Southerner
@Yutsano: Can one jump the shark more than once?
Keith G
@askew: Awards like these are usually tied to fund raising events where thousands pay $$$$ to smooze and get a pic.
It could be that Obama could/would not do the meet-and-greet event so they went with the next name sure to make it rain.
Jebediah
My agenda tonight includes heaving a big sigh of relief – Lucy was sprung from the shelter today.
pharniel
So I’m playing the Vidja game in the OP and the wife is just staring agape at some of the blatant racism in the audio logs and I’m just laughing….because they’re just so close to current wingnut talking points.
I mean…the Prophet has a bit about “What did Lincoln free the slaves from? Wealthy patrons who gave them food, shelter and a purpose?” which is pretty much exactly what was said around CPAC.
Then there’s the Gilded age 1%er and his “I’d like to let you work less but that would just be immoral!”
It’s a fairly accurate skewering of Christian Right/Southern Rebel’s fetishism mixed with Gilded Age Robber Barron Calvinist moralizing.
That it happens to be near enough to quotes from prominent GOP functionaries and religious right nutjobs of the day isn’t the game designers problem.
Mandalay
A web site named Deserted Places has pictures of an abandoned Bible theme park in Connecticut. It’s a pretty awesome web site all round, if a little depressing, with pictures of abandoned places from all over the world.
And if you’re still in a good mood after that, detroiturbex has a ton of pictures on what Detroit looks like.
This series of photos of abandoned swimming pools is cool too, but also depressing.
replicnt6
I’m sure Bioshock Infinite’s unpopular political ideology will be punished by the market. Much as the market rewarded the Atlas Shrugged movies. Ahem…
Oh, the stupid, it burns like the Devil’s Kiss Vigor.
Del
Hell, I’d go so far as to say they were probably quote mining the hell of those guys for source material.
JPL
@Jebediah: Oh that is great news and I hope that her new home works out okay.
Keith G
@Mandalay: There is a site devoted to abandoned shopping malls. Creepy and sad.
dance around in your bones
@Steeplejack: Thanks Steeplejack!
I’ve been ready to fall into total depression tonight from reading news (54 killed, 90 wounded in AFG) and watching Rachel (re: tar sand spills in the Kalamazoo) – sometimes it’s just all too much.
I think I might have to disconnect from the news media. For my own mental health.
askew
@Keith G:
But, Bill has done zero in his career to advance LGBT rights. It’s offensive to see them shower him with praise while they have treated Obama like gum on the bottom of their shoe.
Frankensteinbeck
@Del:
They didn’t have to. There was no shortage to quote mine back in 1912.
raven
Watched Crossfire Hurricane. Reminded me of when my brother went to see the Stones in the 80’s. He went because he wanted to see Guns and Roses. Called me later and said, “Jesus Christ, those guys made G&R look like little fucking kids”. Fuckin A.
PeakVT
@scav: Bless that leaker.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Jebediah: Great news!! Thanks.
RubberCrutch
Wait, I heard that Bioshock Infinite story in NPR Monday afternoon and assumed that it was an April Fool’s story. I know nothing about gaming, but it couldn’t possibly have been a legitimate story. Too droll or too boring by a half, depending on whether the story was real or fake.
dance around in your bones
@Comrade Mary: Also, Comrade Mary, loved the Jim Morrison clip + animation.
“I felt like a tank – a large beast – a mammal!”
Put a smile on my face and I get happy :)
ranchandsyrup
Saw Low last night at the Troubador in Hollywood. Great show. Was worth the drive.
Also, we will have a new addition to the family in the fall–a daughter. We to the doc yesterday and mom and little sister are doing great.
Jebediah
@JPL:
It is good news, but not the end of the story… she isn’t adopted. A foster has stepped up but he can’t afford her medical expenses. So she is out of the kill shelter, but will still need to depend on the kindness of strangers for a bit longer between now and finding a forever home.
danielx
Contemplating whether the legislature in my fair state or North Carolina is worse. So far this legislative season our local Republican solons have proposed legislation…
– requiring not one but two tranvaginal ultrasounds for women seeking abortions,
– subjecting whistleblowers who shoot video at factory farms to criminal penalties,
– increasing penalities for simple possession of da chronic.
They haven’t yet proposed nullification of federal laws they don’t like, but hey, we’re only six weeks into the legislative session so the season is young. We too may yet achieve the blessings enjoyed by the enlightened voters of the Tarheel State.
Jebediah
@ranchandsyrup:
congratulations!
Anne Laurie
@Jebediah: Great news! I sent an email to Patti, because her latest message wasn’t real clear — I guess Lucy is/will be going home with Hal, once she’s out of the hospital?
Once I know she’s made it through surgery & is safe in her foster home, I’ll do an update post. By then, I’m hoping we’ll also have an idea if she’ll need more funds immediately (and that I’ll have a PayPal address to send those funds to)…
dance around in your bones
@ranchandsyrup: Congrats! – Little girls are fun.
Oooh, I hope that didn’t sound creepy. My only kid was a girl, and being a girl myself I kinda understand them. Currently have 3 (grand)boys and all the pe.nis’s and butts and fart jokes leave me a bit confuzzled at times.
dance around in your bones
@Jebediah: gads, watch out for the clayton troll.
jenn
@Jebediah: Yahooooooooo! I’m so glad to hear it! Here’s to a happily ever after.
Yutsano
@Jebediah: YAY!! LUCKY PUPPEH!! :D
lurker dean
@Jebediah: Great news!
Mike E
@Litlebritdifrnt: I understand the expanded Medicaid covers that…oh, wait. Sorry.
jenn
@Anne Laurie: Thanks!
Jebediah
@Anne Laurie:
I think that is the deal – quarantine and surgery first, then she will go home with Hal. I have the impression that we will know much more about her general condition, and thus what her medical needs/expenses will be, after her surgery. I think Hal is a bit nervous about medical expenses because he isn’t in a position to cover them, but I am optimistic that enough can be raised.
Of course, I am also hoping to be submitting some pics ASAP!
Jebediah
@dance around in your bones:
Yeah, I saw that cat thread…
Yutsano
@Jebediah: That cat thread got absurd. But I would be a liar if I said I didn’t laugh at the absurdity of clayton. Oi that one needs some kind of help.
dexwood
@Litlebritdifrnt: You have my sympathy. Yet, one of the absolute best 9 days of my life was spent in NC. Everyone I met could tell a story or show you something special -a rooster, a diner, or a compound of 1950s turquoise and blue mobile homes filled with antiques.
dance around in your bones
@Jebediah: We are all going to pledge to not reply to that *person* tonight. eta: all of us in the clique, that is ;)
Well, at least I will. Feel kinda guilty for piling on last night.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Yutsano: I don’t know about you, but I am still deeply concerned about the 2013 Balloon Juice embezzle —-
sorry, HA HA HA HA HA! I can’t finish that.
Jebediah
@Yutsano:
It’s weird sometimes to see someone’s issues play out in the medium of comment-thread.
Jebediah
@dance around in your bones:
I think that sounds like a good plan!
Yutsano
@The prophet Nostradumbass: I hope he wrote an e-mail to JC. In all caps with a very stern subject line so he’d be certain to open it. You know how much he LOVES those! Of course he thought JC was in on the whole grift. Some people’s children I swear.
@Jebediah: For some people on this blog that happens just about every time they comment. I shan’t name names for fear of the Betelgeuse effect, but I’m certain you can put two and two together.
Oh and the jobs I applied for close Friday. So I should be hearing some news about them next week.
David Koch
BREAKING NEWS: Leno fired after 24 years at Tonight Show
Bubblegum Tate
Did the wingnuts freak out about the original BioShock? Because, you know…Randian dystopia and all that.
And as soon as I read about BioShock Infinite (I used to work in the gaming industry and still have some friends in the biz, so I keep up on it a bit), I knew it would piss the wingnuts off. Obvious allusions to the teabaggers and OWS? Use of historical figures with something other than absolute unthinking reverence? Oh yeah, they’re gonna be pissed.
And now they’re pissing themselves. I love it.
Suffern ACE
@David Koch: Ugh. It feels like just yesterday that Johnny Carson signed off for good. I hope that 24 years include the time he was the regular guest host, or I’m going to go walker shopping tomorrow.
JPL
@David Koch: Yup and sometime in the spring of 2014, you won’t have Jay Leno to kick around anymore
Scamp Dog
@Jebediah: As I recall, people had pledged $450, in what turned out to be a short thread. Be sure to post the info, and I’ll kick in a bit myself.
Mike in NC
@danielx: Nullification is definitely on the menu for these scumbags.
Jebediah
@Scamp Dog:
Thank you!
Mike in NC
@David Koch: Leno and Letterman are both rich Republican assholes, unless you’ve been asleep for the past 20 years.
David Koch
Feel bad for Jay. You’re number one in a heavily competitive niche and you still get canned because of you’re not young.
dopealope
I just finished Bioshock Infinite on Sunday, and I can certainly see all the wingers getting in a twist over it. On the other hand, it is not exactly complementary about the working class (“the vox populi”) either, but I don’t expect we’ll hear the same faux outrage from the more liberal elements. I wonder why …
joel hanes
@ranchandsyrup:
Maximum congratulations.
May she bring you every joy.
David Koch
@Mike in NC: you must have been asleep. Letterman hates the GOP. Leno publicly supported the auto rescue, ACA, and endorsed Obummer.
joel hanes
@David Koch:
I never found any reason to watch Leno.
Carson was almost always worth watching.
Citizen Alan
@Bubblegum Tate:
That’s what’s so awesome. They DO treat historical figures with absolute unthinking reverence. The people of Columbia basically live in an idolatrous cult that thinks Washington, Jefferson and Franklin were divinely inspired agents of Providence and they are literally worshiped as such. (Lincoln, naturally, is “The Apostate” who destroyed America and turned it into Sodom.) Some of the most dangerous recurring antagonists are giant animatronic Washington statues that initially just spout propaganda but later start walking around with chain guns and giant wing-like flags sticking out of their backs. The whole game is a fairly vicious satire of jingoistic Tea Party ideals set against the Robber Baron era that so many of them want to go back to. I loved it.
Citizen Alan
@dopealope:
Not really the working class so much as the slave class, it seemed to me. Revolting slaves rarely acquit themselves well, not that they should be expected to.
Redshift
@danielx: I heard they also are working to make it so that if you’re a college student who registers to vote at college, your parents can’t claim you as a dependent on your state taxes.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@joel hanes: There’s an American Masters episode from PBS about Carson that is definitely worth watching.
PsiFighter37
Just got home from a Hapa concert. They are a Hawaiian music group that specializes in slack key guitar…the lead guitarist (Barry Flanagan) is phenomenally talented.
They also have Miss Hawaii 2006 as their touring hula dancer. I’ve always thought Hawaii had the prettiest women…and she is no exception. Wow oh wow.
ranchandsyrup
Thanks everyone!
Hill Dweller
Jon Stewart just implied Jindal’s approval rating is sinking because he is too moderate for the GOP.
In the real world, Jindal’s approval rating has dropped because of the school voucher debacle, his attempt to replace state income tax with a massive sales tax increase, and his attempt to end hospice care for medicaid patients. But don’t let facts get in the way of a shitty bit.
MikeJ
@Hill Dweller: Jon Stewart thinks having people die in pain on the streets is a moderate position.
The Moar You Know
@David Koch: 23 years overdue.
Jay Leno has always sucked.
socraticsilence
Considering the first game had a Randian community becoming a dystopian hellscape complete with human experimentation I’m not sure why they didn’t figure this out sooner.
SatanicPanic
@ranchandsyrup: Rad!
Bubba Dave
@Anne Laurie:
Does it make sense to have First National Bank of Balloon
GriftJuice collect the funds in advance so they can be dispersed quickly when needed? I pledged $100 to the puppeh, and I for one would not weep if it turned out Lucy did not need all the funds raised but kitteh-to-be-named-later did.Basically, I’m proposing you create a slush fund where those of us with the means and inclination could chip in money and you could disperse it in case of pet emergencies when time is of the essence, or to help with named-pet blegs when the BJ community came up a touch short in directed donations.
The prophet Nostradumbass
In other video game news, Disney are are shutting down LucasArts as a game studio.
amk
@Hill Dweller: jindal is too moderate ? of course, stewart would think that just because “bobby” called repubs stupid once.
Hill Dweller
Colbert just destroyed the Morning Joke crew for slobbering all over Mark Sanford this morning.
Hill Dweller
@amk:
That is the exact clip Stewart used to imply it was the reason for the drop in Jindal’s approval ratings.
clayton
@Jebediah: Perhaps the not so needy family from last night’s thread could step up and give back.
Citizen Alan
@socraticsilence:
Yes, many people praised it for its realism.:)
dance around in your bones
@Hill Dweller: I have no idea why anybody watches Morning Blow.
I only get exposed to it through Colbert and sometimes this blog. Smug smarmy Scar – no esta interesante para mi. And his sidekick Brzezinski? Pathetic. I’d be embarrassed to be her. I hope her father is embarrassed, too.
Redshirt
Yay, Clayton’s back!
PsiFighter37
@Hill Dweller: I wonder how much he’s going to focus on the race now that it’s Sanford going against his sister.
It would be sweet if we pick this one off, although I can’t say I’m terribly confident of holding it at regular election time come November 2014.
Hill Dweller
@PsiFighter37:
In tonight’s segment, Colbert said he hadn’t planned on talking about race, but after showing a clip of the Morning Joke crew embarrassingly slobbering over Sanford, he start hammering them. He accused Barnacle of blowing Sanford.
As an aside, Piers Morgan criticized Obama for his vacations, despite the fact he took less vacation days in his first term than Bush, Clinton, Bush and Reagan. He abysmal show is circling the drain, and no amount of wingnut talking points will save it.
jenn
@Bubba Dave: I like this idea!
amk
@Hill Dweller: There you go. Got tired of his schtick long time ago.
Redshirt
@Hill Dweller: Piers Morgan is in danger of getting rung up in the UK. I think he’s hoping CNN/USA will save his ass.
David Koch
@Hill Dweller:
saw the video of Mark Sanford’s young mistress — she’s hot– no wonder he left his wife.
LeftCoastTom
@askew: I think its fair to evaluate politicians based on what they do while they’re in a position to act, which means Clinton is the person who signed DOMA and enacted “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”. If he wants to advocate cleaning that up then fine, but its not clear to me how the actual actions would be award-worthy. Of course, I have the same reaction to libertopians going on about Bob Barr (Kook-GA) opposing DOMA – who cares, he was one of the main sponsors when it mattered.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Redshirt: Since he’s a British citizen, the US will have no problem with shipping his ass back to London. Perhaps he should see if Rumpole of the Bailey is still active.
Redshirt
@The prophet Nostradumbass: Wolf Blitzer won’t allow it.
Jebediah
@jenn:
I do, too.
Anya
@Hill Dweller: There is no one wingnutier than Jindal. Isn’t he the guy who’s approved a voucher program where parents can enrol their kids into crazy Christian schools that teach creationism in the science classes? I think Jon Steward relies on cable news for the definition of who’s “moderate.” Basically it means anyone who doesn’t say openly racist shit, and doesn’t call for all the muslims, gays and mexicans to be electrocuted.
Anne Laurie
Lucy update post upstairs!
dance around in your bones
Watching Spies of Warsaw now. Thanks Steep!
Redshirt
Wolf Blitzer is also a stone cold moran. Did anyone see his Jeopardy performance?
In the form of a question, Wolf, what’s your last name?
BLITZER!
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Anya: every time he tries to talk about how the GOP should not be “stupid”, a clip of his comments about volcano monitoring should be run.
@Redshirt: Yeah, that was pretty funny.
askew
@LeftCoastTom:
Yep, Bill had 8 years to forward gay rights and passed. Who cares what he thinks now?
Chris
@socraticsilence:
I think attacking Ayn Rand isn’t the same thing as attacking the founding fathers. They like her and all, but “Objectivist” isn’t central to their sense of identity (too abstract and intellectual) like “American,” “Christian” and “white” are. This latest Bioshock game pushes a button in a way the previous one didn’t.
Chris
@Bubblegum Tate:
I love it simply for the signal it gives that wingnuts are fair game. Pop culture both shapes and reflects the way society feels even (maybe especially) if it’s not very deep stuff. If video game users feel safe using libertarians and American Exceptionalists as objects of mockery and deconstruction, it says something about the ideologies’ standing in popular imagination.
Mnemosyne
@Redshirt:
Meh. The sequel is never as fun as the original.
Misterpuff
The Barbershop Quartet version of God Only Knows was worth the price of admission,
and I heard the brass band play Girls Just Wanna Have Fun at Battleship Falls.
I especially enjoyed how the blackbirds encrusted the Racist’s club with birdshit. The Robed Ones had no use for the Negro or the Irish…America at the turn of the century, but which century?
NonyNony
@Chris:
Computer geeks seem to be far more susceptible to the libertarian virus than non computer geeks, for reasons that are actually pretty obvious when you think about it for a while (speaking as a computer geek who was infected with it at one point). And that means that the guys who developed Bioshock probably either dabbled with libertarianism at some point and outgrew it OR knew/know plenty of hard core libertarian types.
I strongly suspect that the original Bioshock grew out of that culture organically, and is a response to the libertarian elements in the tech culture.
Cassidy
I haven’t played it, yet, but the reviews are convincing me to grab it. I’m always worried about getting sucked into a game. I played ME 3 times, but haven’t finished ME2 at all and am not even close to starting ME3. Same with the AC series. I haven’t played it since the first one and don’t want to pick it up. I tried to get into AkA, and have AkC, but I just don’t seem to have the time to devote to them. The best I get is some TD games on Black Ops. I’d like to get Bioshock Inifinite, even though I dind’t play the other two, but I don’t want to spend money on something I won’t finish.
lojasmo
@Bubba Dave:
I think there kindasorta is one, based on the April 1 $19.99 yearly subscription prank. I have taken to donating $19.99 whenever a pet blg shows up, with a comment in the paypal comment field “for future pet bleg needs” or something like.
Li
I wrote a long and insightful reply about Bioshock, and BJ ate it. Sad.
Crza
@Cassidy: Bioshock Infinite is noticably shorter than the ME or AC games.
I want to say it’s too ham-fisted with its “jingo-ism and racism is bad! :(” message, but then again I never got the impression that 1910s-era jingo-ism and racism was very subtle, so maybe that’s the only appropriate approach. All i know is that, so far, I’ve really enjoyed the game.
Sentient Puddle
Glenn Beck’s site had an article critiquing the game. It was…surprisingly not terrible. Yeah, it could have gone down the same route as noted above, but it didn’t due to a combination of the writer actually having played past the first hour and a bit of cognitive dissonance (paraphrased: “The citizens of Columbia worship the founding fathers as deities, a mistake the Tea Party never made”).
On the other hand, the writer somehow got it into his head that the first Bioshock was sympathetic toward Andrew Ryan. Which is a bit strange.
JustRuss
@Sentient Puddle: I found Bioshock to be somewhat sympathetic to Ryan. Rapture’s demise was mostly due to Ryan’s rival, Fontaine, who controlled the plasmids. Ryan recognized ability over status, as he promoted a lowly but highly competent plumber to be his head engineer.
But he could be an ass, as he charged for admission to Rapture’s park, and I believe he burned the forest he owned when the government tried to make it a preserve.
I guess you could say he’s depicted as alittle sympathetic but highly flawed.
Objective Scrutator
@ JustRuss: He also murdered Jasmine Jolene, approved of the Little Sister program, and kept the corpses of those who rebeled against him mounted outside of his office. I felt that the game was somewhat sympathetic towards him in regards to what happened to his son, but explicitly emphasized that he was an awful leader.
I always thought that the game’s critique of Ryan was a critique of a libertarian utopia, but in a way that pointed out that a “libertarian utopia” is impossible. It did directly critique libertarian ideas, though, namely in the existence of plasmids and the drive to harvest ADAM.