A human rights organization tries to make change online—with a very bleak vision of America in 2049

[marmar]

from In These Times:



Gaming for Good
A human rights organization tries to make change online—with a very bleak vision of America in 2049.

By Erica Lipper


Defending human rights in America—is there an app for that? There is now, on Facebook at least, thanks to a new game called America 2049. It sends players into a dystopian future as an agent for the Council on American Heritage, a fictional watchdog group that “stands for the stuff America is made of, like baseball and apple pie,” according to its website, which was created in conjunction with the new game.

Council agents hunt down presumed terrorists, which, in the world of 2049, might include an outspoken homosexual or someone in a mixed-race relationship, to name just a few of the criminalized behaviors America 2049 players must contend with. As users progress through the game, they confront an increasingly complex web of plots and characters in a country stripped of basic liberties.

Launched in early April, the game is a project of New York- and India-based human rights group Breakthrough, which uses pop culture and social media to promote its agenda. (The organization also uses star power to attract attention; professional actors including Cherry Jones of 24, Anthony Rapp of Rent and Victor Garber of Alias are featured in videos promoting America 2049.) Beyond traditional advocacy efforts to combat the stigma against HIV-positive individuals, curb violence against women and ensure due process and civil liberties for immigrants, the group’s website says its major aim is to “build human rights culture” from the ground up.

“Human rights have to begin at home, and we really feel the best way to reach people at home is through the power of pop culture, which is what distinguishes us from other social groups,” Mallika Dutt, founder and president of Breakthrough, told The Huffington Post in April. “There’s a lot of literature out there right now about how gaming has the potential to be a transformative experience.” ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/11470/gaming_for_good

[leveymg]

1. Even the Nazis tolerated gays in their ranks, until the Night of the Long Knives. See Visconti's,

The Damned. Persecution in the future will be largely for the same reason as it always has been: money wrapped in the cheap cellophane of politics marketed as morality.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em.