OK. I don’t even know where to start with this one. There’s so many things wrong with this that it’s almost comical. Almost. A church fair in Pennsylvania had a game that asked you to shoot the alien. Take a look at the game below and you tell me who you think the alien looks like.
The Morning Call reports:
The president of a Hellertown-based amusement company apologized Wednesday for a target shooting game depicting the image of a black man that appears to be President Barack Obama.
Irvin Good Jr., president of Goodtime Amusements, said he did not intend to offend anyone by offering the game, called “Alien Attack,” which recently appeared at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Big Time Fair in Roseto and sparked a complaint.
“I guess we made an error in judgment and we apologize for that,” said Good, who has had the game for about six weeks. “I voted for the man. It wasn’t meant to be him. If they took it that way, we apologize.”
The game depicted a black man dressed in a suit holding a rolled up piece of paper labeled, “Health Bill.” The man also sported a belt buckle fashioned after the presidential seal. Participants shot darts at targets, located on his head and heart, to score points and win a stuffed animal prize.
Two things. The guy in charge of the fair said “it wasn’t meant to be him.” What? A black man in a suit holding a random “health bill” with what a presidential seal as a belt buckle and that’s not supposed to be Obama? Come on. Please don’t insult our intelligence. Please.
I don’t think anyone meant any harm here but it obviously goes waaaaaay over the line.
One snarky note because I can’t help myself – It really tells you something about Obama’s approval ratings that there were only two complaints after six weeks. Two?
Update: The church which was holding the fair said they had no idea of the game.
August 4, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Yeah, totally over the top. Kind of like calling an infant a cracker baby. I guess we all have different views on where that line is.
August 4, 2010 at 7:51 pm
Too much. Not funny at all. Imagine if someone were there selling tee-shirts having G.W. Bush's face with a target superimposed on it.
If they truly were unaware of it's contents then shame on that church. In this day you can't take anything like that for granted. They should have had someone review the game.
August 4, 2010 at 7:55 pm
'the game, called "Alien Attack''
It's Funny, because he most likely is an Illegal Alien!
August 4, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Subvet – in defense of the church in question, it is unlikely they reviewed any of the games/rides. Roving carnivals are a package deal; you get what you get or it costs extra. Other than at the highest level, they probably didn't know what would show up until it got there. As someone who was on a "carnival committee" the biggest issue was safety and proper licenses; not who's face would or wouldn't be on the receiving end of a game.
August 4, 2010 at 8:23 pm
That is just JAW DROPPING. Holy moley! I mean, I can't believe that even ONE person over the age of 12 would have even seen that game without putting a stop to it.
Early Riser.: Gee man, did your spacecraft landing shake you up a bit? You didn't just equate "Shooting at the President-The Game" with someone using the non-insult "Cracker" in a sarcastic way did you? (Recall that Patrick was using the term in relation to a national news story in which the term was used.) Maybe you were confusing it with the "Shoot at the White Baby Game?" Anyway. Not even close.
I am still just stunned that anyone would make this game. They are lucky the Secret Service didn't arrest them. Maybe they should.
Or maybe they got away with it because the ears are all wrong.
August 4, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Dumbo – shooting at an alien charicature of the president is in bad taste. So is calling an infant a "cracker baby". Yes, the two are equivalent. You can say this presidential charicature is "blah blah blah [insert random excuse here] just like you can excuse the other.
August 4, 2010 at 8:50 pm
E.R: OK first of all, my space ship comment was wrong – it is obviously not true, so I am sorry about that. Your Dumbo remark hits close to home, though, due to my lack of intellect. (However it was a very clever play on the words Jimbo and Dumbo so I have to admire just the pure wit and the raw brain power behind it.)
As for your comment:
WRONG! Again! This is an issue of BAD TASTE?! First, you are wrong that the term used originally was in Bad Taste – it was sarcastic political commentary. You do understand that, right?
Next the "game" was well beyond bad taste. Bad taste would be, oh I don't know calling him a name like, say, "Obummer" or something like that. Bad taste is when your tie clashes with your pants.
SHOOTING at a picture of the President of the United States is not "bad taste" – it's a crime! In fact, shooting at a picture of a BABY would be equivalent.
To see if you got it, here is a quick test you can take at home. Your answers will not be revealed to the public.
Which of the following are "equivalent" to each other:
1. Apples/Oranges
2. Shooting at a picture of someone you don't like and possibly encouraging someone to do it for real/Sarcastic political commentary
3. Calling someone an idiot/Burning them in effigy
Thank you for playing.
August 4, 2010 at 9:13 pm
To me, this gives new meaning to "Pin the tail on the donkey".
(Just in case: I do mean donkey in the Democrat sense.)
August 4, 2010 at 9:22 pm
Early Riser, I stand corrected. Thanks for the information.
August 4, 2010 at 9:35 pm
The worst part of the game is that it overshadows the name of the event:
"Our Lady of Mount Carmel Big Time Fair"
Seriously?
August 4, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Indefensible. And I did not vote for the flawed man.
I expect Catholic schools to be a little more vigilant. This poorly painted piece of plywood shouldn't even have been unpacked and set up. I have worked school carnivals and with or without authority I would have made the executive decision to keep it boxed, after all, there were probably a couple dozen other games.
August 4, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Jimbo – when faced with an ad hominem attack, unlike Israel, I am very proportionate in my response. Meaning, your ad hominem attack was not funny, witty nor even remotely intelligent. Therefore, my "Dumbo" response was in kind, since I thought that was what would resonate best with you. Had your ad hominem attack on me shown any real intellect or creativity I might have responded by working in a topical play on words or in iampic pentameter.
Anyway, shooting at a CARTOON CHARICATURE of a baby is not against the law, nor is shooting at this CARTOON CHARICATURE loosely based on but looking nothing like the President. It IS in bad taste; this is the difference. If you are right, then I'm sure I'm sure the game owner as well as the manufacturer will be hauled in for questioning at the very least. If not, then you are wrong and need to accept that fact.
So, when you produce a news article entitled "Cops Curtail Carnie Cartoonist" or something to that effect, I'll take your rants seriously. Until then…*yawn*
August 4, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Guys, please stop calling each other names. As someone who respects both of you and looks forward to reading your opinions, it's depressing.
This shooting game is wrong, and not just because the "alien" is a bad caricature of the President. Even if it wasn't supposed to be the President (something I consider to be an outright lie…"Health reform" and a presidential seal?), there would have been an outcry about shooting a black man. The whole thing was wrong from the get go.
Besides, there are much better ways to depict an alien than giving a human being antenna. What is this, bad 50s TV?
On top of that, aren't we supposed to welcome the alien?
August 4, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Matt – not in Arizona…
August 4, 2010 at 11:19 pm
E.R. Wake up! Don't fall alseep during my "rant" HA!
(So now you are attacking Israel too? What do they have to do with it? IDF can't catch a break – I guess you are referring to rappelling into a crowd of armed terrorists wielding a paint ball gun? Yes, disproportionate.)
What ad hominem attack? This?: "Gee man, did your spacecraft landing shake you up a bit?" Are you serious? You are defending a game called "Alien Attack", and your comment was from "Outer Space" so I thought it fit. Don't see how that is ad hominem. But maybe it is a little bit insulting so – I am sorry if it was.
Now I am going to have to go back to the drawing board to learn how to be "funny, witty or even remotely intelligent." Heck maybe I can even develop some "real intellect or creativity". Sure would be nice to get some of that. But, sadly, I certainly can never hope to aspire to "iampic pentameter". WOW! Heck, I can't even do Haiku! But at least I am humble – very humble. And good looking.
Anyway what I don't understand is how a guy who can manage iampic pentameter can't grasp the difference between shooting at a picture (cartoon caricature) of The President (or anyone for that matter) and "Snarky" political commentary – even if you think the comment is in bad taste.
Maybe you see that picture as a caricature, but maybe the artist thought it was as realistic as possible.
Maybe I see it differently because I have spent so much time shooting guns… If someone shot at a caricature of my kids I would be a whole lot more upset about it than if they called my kid a name. Maybe you would say, "Oh that is in bad taste that you shoot at pictures of my kids. *yawn*."
The point of shooting is to kill. The point of target practice is to prepare to kill something similar to the target.
The point of using "Cracker Baby" was to point out that the New Black Panther Party thug who suggested people should kill the "Crackers" and "Kill they white babies" might have to stop and wonder about a white kid born to black parents and clearly not a "cracker".
These two things are not even in the same universe. I do know what you are trying to say. You are basically calling Patrick a hypocrite because he was fine with using that term, which is supposed to be an insult, to make his point yet he takes umbrage at this game which YOU see as also just an insult.
You just happen to be wrong.
Of course it IS a crime to threaten the President and it is well within the purview of the Secret Service to haul someone in to find out the intentions of a person who created such a game. My friends in the Secret Service would tell you that they investigate stuff like this because anyone stupid enough to make up a game like that might just also be off their rocker enough to do something else.
Anyway, I understand you. But your connection is a non sequitur. There is just no connection there except the one you create.
So while I think your comment was out of place, I should not have implied you are from outer space.
To your comment I should have directed my criticism, not to you – and all without witticism!
Though "the attack" was by no means ad hominem I will leave it here, as I've gone on ad nauseum
Alliterative reporting notwithstanding, you better take my rants seriously… blah blah rhymes with seriously.
See? I told you I couldn't do it. 🙂
August 5, 2010 at 5:19 am
It's iambic pentameter not iampic pentameter.
August 6, 2010 at 6:05 pm
I think it would be a funny game, even if the stuff relating to presidency was removed. It is a cartoon–just like the president in office.
August 10, 2010 at 6:29 am
i applaud the people who act on their constitutional right to play a game without fear of the gov't getting all pissy about it. An excellent display of the freedom that our constitution states we have at birth. no need to apologize, where nothing wrong has been done.
August 19, 2010 at 4:17 pm
BUCK OFAMA!