September 05, 2012

Angry Patriots and Pinheads

Elections 2012: The Election Played as a Video Game

By Mark TrahantThe birther movement–the far-fetched idea that President Barack Obama is not a natural born American–has moved to a new platform, the video game, Angry Patriots and Pinheads. According to the company’s website, the game uses “a Revolutionary War cannon to launch patriotic characters or the “Angry Patriots” at socialist politicians, actors, musicians, other mainstream pinheads as well as a variety of ‘jack asses’ stationed throughout the board.”

One such character is Elizabeth Warren. The promotional video shows Warren wearing feathers. She is asked by a Kenyan-flag-waving Obama, “Liz, So are you Cherokee?” The tag line says she proclaimed her 1/32 Cherokee Heritage (a story debunked here by Indian Country Today Media Network).Comment:  Just be clear, the "angry patriots" aren't the same people as the "pinheads," as you'd expect. These angry patriots are fighting the people they consider pinheads.

Apparently the game uses stereotypes to make its racist points. Warren is a pretend Indian and Obama is a Kenyan. No doubt women are shrill, gays are effeminate, and Muslims are terrorists.

If the game-makers think they're being clever or funny, they're mistaken. Dressing up as Indians started before the Boston Tea Party 239 years ago. I believe cartoonists have been sticking white men in leathers and feathers ever since. To reiterate a centuries-old "joke" is pathetic, not original or insightful.

For more on Elizabeth Warren, see Elizabeth Warren Ducks Native Delegates and Warren:  Conservatives Back Cherokee Protesters.

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3 comments:

  1. dmarks3:13 AM

    "Dressing up as Indians started before the Boston Tea Party 239 years ago"

    They have a good point on Warren, even if they entirely are wrong on Obama. By her repeated fraudulent claims to be a Native which she used in order to get some sort of perceived advantage, she is wearing a figurative fake headdress. In terms of political cartoons, the depiction of this fraudulent person is dead-on.

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  2. Anonymous11:21 AM

    The image wsa that "Indian" meant "freedom". A few years ago, Korean protesters dressed as Indians for the same reason.

    But I wouldn't put Liz Warren in the same as Obama. (Plus, the same people making a big deal wanted Schwarzenegger to be able to run not so long ago.) Warren's Cherokee blood probably came from a transfusion, but Obama was really born here, regardless of what Trump and O rly Taitz say.

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  3. Rob9:15 PM

    Yes, you could put Warren in a Plains headdress to show she's (probably) a phony Cherokee. It would be trite, unoriginal, and stereotypical, but it would be a legitimate political argument.

    But putting her on the same screen as "Obama the Kenyan" isn't legitimate. It actually minimizes the argument against Warren by making it look as crazy as the birther claims.

    Indeed, a reasonable person might say, "Right-wing fanatics think both Obama and Warren have false histories. Therefore, their histories must be true."

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