On Civility

Tea Party Zombies

Oh, this is just lovely. A company called StarvingEyes Advergaming is hosting a Flash game called Tea Party Zombies Must Die. It’s a first-person shooter that allows the player to kill zombiefied versions of Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and other Tea Party celebrities.

What’s that again about conservatives being hate mongers?

The irony is so thick you could cut it with a plastic spork.

Tea Party Zombies

Here the player is given an Uzi (of all things!) to kill the poor, seemingly illiterate denizens of a trailer park. Why impoverished people would want lower taxes on “the rich” is beyond me, but it’s in the game. I’m encouraged to use a weapon the Left wants banned to kill the underprivileged. Chewbacca still lives on Endor, evidently.

On a technical level, the game itself is simply bad. The frame rate is choppy, collision detection is nil, and the graphics were outdated when Daikatana came out. Still, you do get to use a crowbar as the default weapon. Just like Gordon Freeman. Except different.

Tea Party Zombies

The whole game is riddled with hatred. I don’t mean “off color commentary.” I don’t mean “mildly offensive imagery.” I mean hatred. Profanity is abundant, and the depictions of the author’s political enemies (crude as they are) show a deep-seated resentment that suggests a need for mental health treatment.

Tea Party Zombies

Among the enemies in the game are

  • Pissed Off Stupid White Trash Birther zombie
  • Factory Made Blonde Fox News Barbie Who Has Never Had a Problem in Her Life zombie
  • Koch Industries “Koch Whore” Lobbyist Pig zombie
  • and of course, the entire cast of Fox News (as zombies)

I never got to shoot the Glenn Beck zombie, as I just didn’t feel the need to play past the first five minutes. That said, I don’t feel that I’ve really missed anything of merit. While the “Michele Bachman zombie” might have been mildly amusing in another context, I’m fairly sure the Secret Service doesn’t take kindly to the depiction of killing sitting politicians.

In any case, the whole thing is in absolutely wretched taste, and I truly hope this isn’t the level of discourse we can expect to see during next year’s election cycle.

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