Video games "as art"

The "are video games art?" question seems to come up a lot lately. To my memory, the question became most popularized a year or so ago when Roger Ebert declared that video games could never truly be art. I remember the video gaming community was pretty jostled by this statement (a google search for the terms "Ebert" and "video games" returns an almost unmanageable amount of responses, rants, and articles responding to his statement). I remember him restating his position some time later with no more eloquence than he had managed the first time. And despite the amount of rebuttals, I don't remember anything particularly pertinent being said on the matter. To me, the very question "is it art?" coming from a critic announces a great deal of ignorance on their part. The amount of stuff that needs to be sifted through and untangled in order to get at where that seemingly simple question is coming from is overwhelming.

Most thoughtful people have probably dismissed Ebert's statements on the matter. This is probably wise. I've never really particularly liked Ebert's criticism, but have always considered him a pretty smart guy. To some extent, he has to be forgiven for any criticism he makes outside of his particular area of expertise. And he's really just articulating a pretty commonly held position. Most people who align with my critical perspective on art have no doubt rolled their eyes and moved on long ago. The reason I want to get some of my problems with Ebert's statement down, is that most people who have addressed it have addressed it by giving examples of "artistic" video games: Ico, Okami, Shadow of the Colossus. Unfortunately, these great games don't actually address Ebert's real problem, which is with the medium itself.

Essentially, the question is a thinly-veiled socio-political assertion. Do you ever hear someone ask: "can video games be culture?" or "can video games be a craft?" I'm pretty sure neither of these questions would spark much of a debate, or even be in any way taken seriously. So, even the question "is it art", applied to video games, assumes that cultural engagements and crafts cannot be art, leaving me speechless as to how to even approach the question. Is art some metaphysical thing that only the "elite" can approach? The question is really "is it 'high' art" or "is it controllable given our current hierarchy of art".

I'm not really sure how fair it is to accuse Ebert of consciously upholding these bourgeois assumptions about art. Actually, I think it's pretty fair, just not all that useful in addressing the problems of his statement.


Edit:
This is all pretty late coming. He said all this stuff a long time ago. I guess it's all rumbled around in my head because I've never really read a good response. I just found Ebert's response to all the criticism, which was made about a year ago. It sheds light on a number of my concerns.

Essentially, he admits that video games "can" be art, but can never be (his words) "high art". He goes on to say that "high art" must be the sole creation of an artist, who is the sole conveyor and dictator of the meaning of the work. Shakespeare is, unsurprisingly, thrown around as the epitome of high art. His whole argument becomes more and more delightfully ironic every time he opens his mouth to clarify what he means.
Shakespeare was sole conveyor of the meaning of his plays? what was the actors jobs? Why didn't he write stage directions?

He suggests that interactivity degrades the work. He must be talking about a extremely specific type of interactivity, since not only is every piece of art in every artistic medium interactive, interactivity could easily be proposed as the defining characteristic of what art actually is. A book must be actively read, eyes interacting with words, in order for the plot to progress; a sculpture must be walked around in order to take in the full scope of the work (the sculptor often intends the work to be viewed from any number of angles and distances, all part of the piece); every work of narrative art must be actively followed, the viewer or reader piecing together story elements and interpreting symbolic actions. What is the difference when it's a video game? Buttons? My DVD player has buttons, I can pause a movie at any point I choose, changing the experience. If you have to use the bathroom during a film, does it cease to be high art?

The biggest thing Ebert seems to be missing when it comes to the interactivity point is that, in video games, every story arc has to be written and guided by the artist or artists making the game. He almost seems to think that it is possible to make choices in a video game that aren't 100% scripted. He asks if Romeo and Juliet would have been better if the reader could choose for them to "go through the story naked and standing on their hands, would that be way cool, or what?" Only, in order for this metaphor to be useful, that version would have to be written out by Shakespeare ahead of time. Walt Whitman created many different versions of Leaves of Grass. Which one is authoritative? Most Whitman lovers say that the best one is the first one, whereas Whitman obviously thought of which ever the latest one happened to be as the most authoritative. Does Leaves of Grass cease to be "high art" if you decide you like the 1855 version the best? Isn't that a tad ridiculous?

Yet another point he misses (this one less surprisingly since it requires having thought about the medium for more than 10 minutes total) is that, if anything, video games offer a more ridged, less interactive experience than does watching movies or reading Shakespeare. This might seem like an odd thing to say until you think about it alongside the experience of reading a Shakespeare play. Shakespeare requires active engagement with the text, often following along with a gloss. There are all sorts of puns and allusions that need to be picked out in order to get the full intended experience (if you believe that's possible). Yet, this is never necessary in order to enjoy the plays. You can move on to the next act without having completely understood the previous one. In fact you can misread the play come up with your own interpretation, and still finish the play. This happens all the time when people read pretty much anything. However, with a video game, if you don't solve the puzzles/obstacles/etc in the proper fashion, you will unlikely be able to move on to the next stage or level. You will be unable to complete the game until you have correctly interpreted the intent of the designer. You can't fake your way through Super Mario Bros. like you can with Shakespeare.

Just for a moment, let's assume that Ebert is correct to assert that upon interacting with a work of art (such as is necessary with a video game) the viewer becomes the artist. Why is this a problem (I mean, clearly he's no fan of Barthes)? Does collaboration degrade a work of art? Or just democratic collaboration? Essentially, he is suggesting that monarchical and fascistic meaning-models of art are "high", whereas democratic meaning-models of art are "low". I'm sure that Ebert's rebuttal to this accusation of fascism would be to point out that democratic control of a work of art does make messy any chance of the piece having a honed purpose. It's a fair point. I'm not necessarily arguing that adopting a "fascist" model for creating a work of art makes that artist a political fascist. However, that's not what is happening here. Ebert is actively denying that a democratic model for art can be "artistically" worthwhile.

Communist Things II

Ok, so after I posted that great list of communist things, I kept reading on their website only to find another, longer, even crazier list of communist things in which the author seems to forget that the list is supposed to be about things that are communist, rather than just things that made him sad that day. He also seems to come mentally unhinged and lose the capacity to form coherent sentences at certain points. The new list of things that are communist is pure poetry and includes such abhorrent acts as criticizing the police, jogging, cleavage, and even -gasp- cleavage II. I'd rather just link to it, but it occurs to me that the list may disappear from the site since the election is nearing. So here it is (from the same page I linked to yesterday):

ADDENDUM:

Since the list of examples of Domestic Communism seems to be almost endless, we have decided to add, to the previous five (5) or so pages of examples, an appendix, which lists still more examples of Domestic Communism.

APPENDIX (to the previous document):

1. Gender-neutral (Women’s Lib) Bible “translations”
2. The term “Ms.”, used to address both married and un-married women, so as to negate the difference between the two, and to avoid offending those who are offended by the terms Mrs. and/or Miss.
3. “Chairperson”: the designation given for Chairman or Chairwoman, so you will not know whether it is a male or female that holds the position – another benefit of women’s lib.
4. Jogging.
5. Pro-Communist, Socialist Union Leaders (e.g. Walter Reuther, Leonard Woodcock, Douglas Fraser, John Sweeney, et al). The one Union Leader of the past half-century who stands out, as an exception to this list, is former AFofL President George Meany, who was the only leader, of any kind (in the United States), to give Soviet dissident anti-Communist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn a platform from which to speak, after U.S. President Gerald Ford, and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger refused to let Solzhenitsyn speak at the White House.
6. Banning the use of Land Mines in non-Communist countries.
7. Fathers taking maternity leaves after their wives have a baby.
8. Stay-at-home dads.
9. “Stereotypes”
10. “Myths”
11. “Glass ceilings”
12. In the National Hockey League: 1 point for an Overtime Loss (United States & Canada).
13. “consciousness – raising”
14. “conflict – resolution” (Courses in, et al)
15. The Paul Robeson “Black Heritage” Postage Stamp.
16. The force-feeding, and forced consumption of, the Theory of Evolution, and its desired result: the belief that Man is an animal, and, consequently, no matter how high the form of same, does not possess a soul.
17. The religion of recycling, mandatory in some areas (a branch of environmentalism, and an industry far more expensive than dumping trash ever was).
18. The “Fannie Mae – Freddie Mac” Socialist Home Loan Industry.
19. “Fat Liberation”
20. Male Hurricanes.

21. The term, and, the largely manufactured - state of the existence of, “Homelessness”: specifically, a casualty of the Vietnam War.

22. The term: “Quality of Life”. A euphemism invented in the 1970’s. The World Health Organization, a creation of the United Nations, defines the term as “a complete state of physical, mental, and social well – being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. That is a completely Orwellian definition. The literal, or dictionary, definition, is exactly as written: quality of life, whatever that may be for whomever it is meant to apply to. The term, as it was invented during the 1970’s, and as it is euphemized by the World Health Organization, really was invented for the purpose of white – washing the fact that the “quality of life” in the 1970’s was bad, and has been bad ever since, due primarily to the 1960’s.

23. The term: “Social Justice”. A euphemism for Socialism, meaning, essentially (to the people who use the term “social justice”), that everyone should have the same amount of money. And: beyond this – it sounds like class warfare to us. The same people who talk about “social justice”, also talk about “social equality”, without ever defining (deliberately, we believe) the latter. Rosa Parks, the famous lady who sat on the bus, talked every chance she got, about (a) “racial equality”; and (b) “social equality”. While we have no problem with the first of these (a), we do, with the second (b). The Declaration of Independence says “that all Men are created equal”. (Emphasis added). That simply means that every individual soul is equal in the sight of God. Beyond that, any kind of “social equality” necessarily depends on class warfare. Get out your Marx, boys, because that’s what this is really all about, even though most of the people who spout the line, probably don’t know it.

24. “Awareness”. After the ‘60’s demolished everything, we were supposed to become aware of everything, especially the things demolished, but now nearly everything.

25. Hate Crimes. Crimes committed against minorities and homosexuals only, not against white, heterosexual males.

26. Environmentally friendly toilet paper.

27. “Making a difference”. Not making a difference.

28. “Being There”. Maybe.

29. “Reaching Out”, but never far enough.

At any rate, these three (#’s 27, 28 & 29) serve as inadequate substitutes for confronting the unpleasant truth, described in the previous 8½ pages.

30. “change”. Always towards socialism.

Perhaps now is the time to state that all dictatorships, whether of one man, one party, or of the “proletariat”, use words as their most important weapon; first, to subjugate the people into ignorance, and then, into compliance and submission: by changing the literal, objective, dictionary meaning of words to what the dictatorships want them to mean. In this way, words become, instead of a means of communication, the most indispensable weapon of warfare: propaganda. If this is true, and the preceding “definitions” are accurate examples of it, then we, in America, have been living in a Communist dictatorship for some time now, without knowing it, which is essential to maintaining it. Psychological dictatorships eventually become overt, outward ones.

31. “Activist.” Originally, in the 1960’s & 1970’s: a Communist. Now, the term is applied to anyone who is politically very active, either on the Right or Left. This is a good illustration of how Communese has been applied to the language in general.

32. “Dumbing – down.” In contrast to many of the above deliberate changes and outright reversals of the meanings of words, this term, whether by accident or intention, is amazingly accurate. Although chiefly used to describe the educational process employed by the public school system in the U.S., it also describes, just as accurately, the process used by the entire communications network, which includes Academia, media (print and other), government, entertainment (including music and the arts), in dumbing down the entire population. Whether or not the use of the term is intentional or accidental, we believe the process itself is intentional beyond doubt.

33. “Self – esteem”. A term which caught fire largely during the 1990’s. It was, and is, meant, in a personally subversive way, to replace genuine self – confidence. To esteem something is not the same thing as to have confidence in it. An intentionally subtle, but important, difference, one that, by intention, undermines confidence, and promotes esteem. See: Luke: Ch. 16, v. 15. Also: I Corinthians: Ch. 5, v.6; and: Galatians: Ch. 5, v.9.

34. Actually, the “dumbing – down” of American Public School students, and, at the same time, teaching them “self – esteem”, are part of the same process, though God only knows how the former helps the latter.

35. “second – class citizen”. Anyone who doesn’t get what he wants.

36. “The dignity and equality of all people(s)” – More Communist jargon for a Socialist society.

37. “Inclusion.” See Matt: Ch. 7, vs. 13 – 14; Isaiah: Ch. 5, vs. 13 – 14.

38. Woman (in greater Detroit) who killed her husband with a sledgehammer, an ax (hitting him 15 times), and stabbing him 21 times, because he abused her, then leaning over his dead body, asking him: “Why did you do this to me?”, claiming self – defense.

39. “Liberals” who say that a woman has the “right” to kill her completely defenseless and innocent baby in the womb, but that capital punishment for convicted first – degree murderers is “cruel and unusual punishment.”

40. Re – capping the above two (2) items: If the woman who killed her husband with an ax, hitting him 15 times, slashing his throat, and stabbing him 21 times, is convicted of first – degree murder, sending her to the electric chair would no doubt be “cruel and unusual punishment” to some people, right? Fortunately for them, there is no capital punishment in this state (Michigan).

41. “Non – violence; peace”. No opposition to Communism. See: Daniel: Ch. 8, vs. 23 – 25 (esp. v. 25).

42. The use of the word: “Power.” On the contemporary political scene, it began in the early 1970’s, with the so-called “Black Power” movement, which, by its own admission, based its political philosophy on Maoist Communism. Along with this came the so-called “power salute” – the clenched-fist salute. In reality, though, the clenched-fist, so-called “power salute”, traces its origins to the traditional Communist clenched-fist salute, going back at least 100 years, to the early 20^th century, as any true, red-blooded Communist will tell you. Now, however, both the clenched-fist salute, and the term, are used almost everywhere, and by interests as divergent as: football players who score touchdowns; golfers who make holes-in-one; and people who sell cell phones, the latest example of the last being: Ann Arbor Wireless, which advertises a “Holiday Power” phone, for $24.99, in the Thursday, Dec. 9^th, 2004 edition of the Ypsilanti Courier.

True power, however, is explained in Psalm #62, verse 11: “God hath spoken once; Twice have I heard this: That power belongeth unto God.”

43. “Be all you can be”. Which probably isn’t much. (New Join the Army slogan). Actually, this (slogan) isn’t bad, as long as you remember what Jesus said: “without Me ye can do nothing.” (John 15: 5 b).

44. Anonymous phone calls, right before elections, telling you not to discriminate against certain people, because of “who they are”. We often hear people today, say: “This is who I am!” We don’t know whether “Who I am!” is the same person as “who they are”, but we hope not.

By the way, who are you? After eleven pages of this stuff, you should be beginning to find out the answer to that question.

45. The National Anthem sung as a pop song, by a pop “singer”.

46. Changing the National Anthem to “America the Beautiful”. Though “America the Beautiful” is an incredibly beautiful song: read all four (4) verses of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, learn some (true) American history, and you will know why changing the National Anthem to “America the Beautiful” is a bad idea.

47. “Aggression”. A term used primarily by anti-Americans, against Americans.

48. “respect”. A term now meaning: give it to people who don’t earn it, and probably don’t deserve it.

49. “Tolerance”. Same as: “Inclusion”. See # 37, above.

50. “Diversity”. On our nation’s coins are written the words (in Latin): “E PLURIBUS UNUM”, meaning: Out of Many, One. That has been deliberately reversed to: Out of One, Many. The result has been division, not unity, as we believe the reversal intends it to be. We now have “diversity” training, often compulsory, in academia, the public schools, the corporate world, Law Enforcement, and in just about every area of American life. This is supposed to promote “tolerance”, “inclusiveness”, etc., all of which have been dealt with above. In reality, it has created problems where none existed; suspicion, fear, distrust, competitiveness of the wrong kind; and the lack of love, all of which are the opposites of what is supposedly “intended”. Isn’t something wrong here? Caesar called the strategy “divide and conquer.” We believe the strategy is the same here, only the enemy isn’t Caesar.

We believe the goal of all of the above, is the creation of the U.S.S.A. – the United Soviet States of America. If the people who run things have their way, and are successful in this, they will no longer need the U.S.S.R., which, despite all deceptive appearances to the contrary, still exists.

51. The term: “demeaning”. Presumably, when somebody pricks your balloon, thereby lowering your self-esteem.

52. Secretaries are now “Administrative Professionals”.

53. Janitors (which the authors of this document were) are now “Environmental Technicians”. (Johnny-mop that Pollution, man.)

54. The terms “Secretaries” and “Janitors” are now deemed to be “demeaning”.

55. Crippled people are now “physically challenged”.

56. Crazy people are “mentally challenged”.

57. Chronologically-challenged means: old.

58. The terms: crippled, crazy, and old, are now deemed “demeaning”, which they probably are.

59. All of the above new descriptions of jobs, careers, professions, or human conditions (#’s 52, 53, 55, 56, 57) are supposed to help raise self-esteem, and to promote feeling equal, whether actual equality exists or not. This is managed equality, and somebody is doing the managing.

60. By now you can see how the language is being engineered to control thought, behavior, and society. This would be a good time to refer back to the Paragraph immediately following # 30, above.

61. A Jesse Jackson Special: “The Democratization of Capital.” Read (again): Socialism, which is: the re-distribution of wealth, by government (who else?). Of course, Jesse would never put it that way, or the people might understand. Of course (again), Jesse Jackson, like virtually all Socialists, lives the life of a Super-Capitalist. If “Socialists” like Jackson, Teddy Kennedy, John Conyers, and on and on ad infinitum, were honest, they would tell you: “It’s Capitalism for me, and Socialism for everybody else”.

62. Multilingualism. Part of “diversity”. The movement to divide the country into many different cultures, rather than to encourage assimilation into one common American culture, as was the practice in the past, is subversive in the extreme, and is directed at destroying, not “diversifying”, the nation. It is succeeding as planned. The solution is: not to reject people because they are “different”, but to encourage them to submerge their differences, in the interest of a common Americanism, and to “celebrate” that, rather than their differences. Then we will be doing what Jesse Jackson says, disingenuously, is: “giving Peace a chance”.

63. “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground;..…, Saith the Lord of Hosts”. (Mal: 3:11).

and, better yet:

64. “Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain,” saith the Lord, “who destroyeth all the earth; and I will stretch out Mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. And they shall not take from thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; But thou shalt be desolate for ever,” saith the Lord.

Jeremiah: Ch. 51; vs. 25-26.

- 21^st Century King James Bible.

65. Prohibiting school children from playing Tag, at recess-time, on school grounds, because the child getting tagged, is the victim of “violence”, and risks being emotionally “scarred” for the rest of his life.

66. Ask the Lord to roll down another rock.

67. Requirements for working (as an announcer) for NPR (National Public Radio):

1. If you are a woman: You must talk through your nose – the nasal, “feminist”, sound – it’s so sophisticated. Or else (and it’s probably easier), just quack like a duck.

2. If you are a man: talk, either

a) like a woman, or

b) like a fog-horn. – witness the guy who follows each on-the-hour national news broadcast with: “Support for NPR comes from …”, etc., the largest single source of support never being mentioned, however: the U.S. taxpayer – this source putting the lie to the claim, made constantly over local NPR stations that: “This is ‘listener-supported’ radio.” In reality, it is listener, and non-listener, supported radio. Thomas Jefferson said of such enterprises: “to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves or abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.” This (Jefferson’s statement) applies even more to federally-funded elections, and the notorious FEC (Federal Election Commission). As for NPR (National “Public” Radio): it is really National Socialist Radio. As the French say: “ La Publique, c’est moi”.

68. “Progressive”. Socialist.

69. “Reactionary”. Not Socialist.

70. As an Addendum to the above addenda, we would like to include a Commentary on the 2004 – 2005, Season-long, National Hockey League “lockout”:

The Players’ Rebuttal

Yeh, well we don’t want a penny more than we’re worth. The league says they’re havin’ money problems, and a bunch of teams are goin’ under, but they just say that, cause alls they want is a salary cap. They need to listen to the other side of it. They’re bargaining in bad faith. Well, they’re gonna find out that we’ll never accept a salary cap, no matter what they say.

Anyways, the game is about more than economics. It’s not our fault that some teams are hurting. They need to be better at marketing. Like, they should market us better, so more people will watch. And, what about the people that sell popcorn, the ticket takers and the zamboni driver? They’re the one’s I feel sorry for. They’re the one’s that really get hurt by all this mess. Who’s gonna pay their mortgages? And what about Prongs? The other day they made him sign a one-season contract for 10 million dollars. Boy, was he ever ticked off. He was expecting a two-season contract. What’s he gonna do? But the owners don’t care about any of that.

Well, we’re not gonna let them push us around. Ya know, we make our living knocking guys around on the ice, and, it won’t be any different in the boardroom. I mean, we know how to play tough and the players are totally unified on this thing. So, while some of us are playing in Europe, or, on a bobsledding team, if the league tries to have a season without us, none of our guys will play in that, because, our guys know that if they play, we will remember that for a long time and the ones that play will have to answer to the ones who didn’t play. And that won’t be pretty. I’m glad we’re all unified on this.

And no one ever says anything about the fans. Look what this lockout is doing to them. I mean, the league just wants their salary cap, and they don’t care about anything else. But don’t worry, this fight isn’t over yet…

The last clause of the above Commentary, should be taken as prophecy, regarding this entire Plank # 28.

71. Women in the Military, and on active Police duty.

During World War II, women served in back-up roles, in the “Waves”, or the “Wacs”, in factories, or even more domestic-type roles. They (the women) backed up the men who fought the war, at the front. They didn’t compete with them (the men), for “equality”. Betty Friedan hated this, of course, because Betty Friedan, before writing “The Feminine Mystique”, which kicked off the modern “Women’s Lib” movement, was a 30-year functionary of the Communist Party, U.S.A. “Ms.” Friedan was such a dedicated Red, that she supported, as all dedicated Reds were expected to support, the Hitler – Stalin Pact, of 1939.

72. The Black Leadership’s War against America.

This isn’t a “racist” statement. It is a statement of fact. And the war’s primary victims are the Black people. It (the war) has reached such proportions that, today, if a black person is not a communist (in spirit, if not in name), he, (or she), is, automatically, an “Uncle Tom”, or, an “Aunt Jemima”.

73. The ongoing smear campaign against Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

74. The prostitute News Media, in this country. The 19^th century Irish poet-writer Oscar Wilde described this better than we can: “The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing. Journalism, conscious of this, and having tradesman-like habits, supplies their demands.” To “journalism”, Wilde could have, and would have, added (had he lived long enough): television, radio, the movies, and the Internet.

75. Liberal theologians and Bible “translators” changing the word “judgment”, in the Hebrew Old Testament, to “justice”, virtually every time the word “judgment” appears. Are they (these theologians & “translators”) afraid of something? Are they using the Bible to promote a political agenda – in this case: “social justice”, or, to be exact, socialist justice? We suspect that the answer to both of these questions is: yes; and: that the second (2^nd) “yes”, is, at least, partly motivated, by the first (1^st) “yes”.

76. College students, via representation on faculty committees, deciding who should be on the faculty. "Democracy", you know.

77. The Communist infiltration of the OSS. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was created, by the United States government, to serve as an intelligence organization, during World War II. The OSS was the predecessor to the CIA. The following list is only a small portion of the Soviet agents who held important positions within the OSS: Duncan Lee, special assistant to William Donovan, the chief of the OSS, Maurice Halperin, chief of the Latin American Division of OSS, J. Julius Joseph, of the Japanese Division of OSS, Helen Tenney, of the Spanish Division of OSS, Milton Wolff, recruited Communists into the OSS, Leonard Mins, OSS Russian interpreter, George Wuchinick, helped promote Communist triumphs in Yugoslavia and China, Lillian S. Traugott, worked with underground organizations throughout Europe, and Thomas Babin, member of Soviet military intelligence (GRU).

78. William Donovan’s, and other OSS leaders’, treasonous refusal to remove known Soviet agents from the OSS.

79. The Communist infiltration of the CIA. The Soviet moles, who were never removed from the OSS, easily acquired work with the CIA, after the OSS shut down, in 1945. Proof of a continued Communist presence in the CIA is found in names like Blake, Philby, Burgess, and Maclean, from the 1950s and 1960s, Anthony Blunt, 1979, and John Cairncross, Theodore Hall, and Aldrich Ames, from the 1990s. All of these men were proven to be Communist agents, working within either the CIA, or the British MI-6.

80. The continuing emasculation of the FBI, which started shortly after J. Edgar Hoover’s death, in 1972. Under Hoover’s direction, the FBI was vigorously anti-communist. Hoover built the bureau into the most effective and patriotic intelligence organization in the world. Contrarily, today, FBI agents spend their time investigating people who attend pig roasts, to discover whether or not they are guilty of hate crimes against Muslims and Jews.

81. “Turning back the clock” = stopping the advance towards full Socialism.

82. “Mean-spirited”. Anything that the ADL, ACLU, or the Left doesn’t like.

83. “Cleavage” – women in ½ - dress. This is a “slippery slope”, leading to the bottom of the slope, except, perhaps, in cases where there is little or no slope. This latter could be termed the flat-chested cleavage. But: better little than nothing, right? Or is it all wrong, from the top on down?

84. Cleavage II – in, or from, the rear.

Communist Things

Here is an awesome list of things that are communist from the America First Party website (a member of which is running for my local city council). My favorite is "sub-woofers". Sub-woofers are communist, and so are handicap bathrooms and being against date rape:

Environmentalism

Political Correctness

Affirmative Action

Feminism/Women’s Lib

“Civil Rights”

“Sustainable Living”

Humanism

Multiculturalism

Secularism

Regional Government

National Health Care

Prescription drug benefit for seniors

Mass Transit

Car-pooling

Gun control laws

Abolition of capital punishment

PETA (People for the ethical treatment of animals)

Separation of Church and State

NAFTA

GATT

FTAA

FDA

Food labeling laws

FCC

FAA

IRS

Income tax

Federal Reserve (Centralized Banking system)

National Organization for Women (NOW)

“The women’s liberation movement is a central part of the American socialist revolution

in the making.” Leon Trotsky, 1917

Women using hyphenated names after they get married: Mary Jones – Smith

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Building restrictions on wetlands

Logging laws that prevent the successful operation of the logging industry

Historic districts: you have to get permission to paint your house. (Most historic districts

are entities of local units of government, but they follow standards & regulations

set by the Federal Government’s Dept. of the Interior)

Automobile emission standards

Material Safety Data Sheets

Mandatory wearing of eye goggles when entering a factory

Welfare

Section 8

Planned Parenthood

Dept. of Energy

Dept. of Education

Dept. of Health and Human Services

Dept. of Homeland Security

Dept. of Housing and Urban Development

Office of Economic Opportunity

Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC)

Dept. of Agriculture

Federal Legal Services

LBJ’s “War on Poverty”

Food Stamps

The Clean Water Act

Government – mandated Water Levels in Toilets

The Clean Air Act

“Global warming”

“Ozone depletion”

Government money to research a cure for AIDS

Constant cries of “corporate greed”

The anti-nuclear movement

The pro-solar power movement

Ralph Nader

Seat belt laws

Mandatory air bag installation

No SUV’s

No wrapping for your fast food burger

No plastic

No disposable diapers

No toy guns allowed – “they teach our children to be violent”

Person arrested for killing a rattlesnake that was attacking him and his daughter

Coyotes seen in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor

Wolves being introduced into the wilds out west

Protected species

-Child abuse laws – no spanking allowed. Children are taught in schools that they can call the police if their parents “mistreat” them. A mother tries to correct her daughter’s behavior by telling her she cannot visit with a group of kids that the mother knows to be drug users. The child tells the mother that the mother had better let her go or she will call the police and tell them that the mother is abusing her…

-Sexual harassment laws – no winking

-Domestic violence laws – if the police are called to a house they are required by law to

arrest somebody. In the vast majority of the cases, it’s the man, regardless of

what actually happened

A man was arguing with his wife. He deliberately turned his back to her so as not to hurt her. To release his anger, he threw a lamp against the wall, in the opposite direction from where she was standing. The police were called and he was arrested for domestic violence.

A man argues with his wife. He tries to leave the room. She blocks the doorway. He moves her aside and leaves. Two days later he is arrested for domestic violence.

-The term “date rape”

-Illegal drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin. (We always hear about the Columbian drug lords. But it has been documented that the major illegal drug assault of the 1950’s, and beyond, on this country, originated as a Soviet plan to help bring about their goal of destroying America. The Red Chinese got into the game early as growers and producers. Communist agents from the eastern block European nations did most of the foot work in setting up the elaborate distribution systems needed to assure a steady flow of drugs into this country. Columbia is just one of the places where the drugs are grown. In Peru, the Cuban backed Marxist Tupac Amaru and Shining Path terrorist organizations protected the drug growers from the local law enforcement agencies. The terrorists used the money paid to them by the drug producers to help in their violent revolution against the Peruvian government. You won’t hear about any of this in the mainstream media because they are too busy telling us that the Soviet Union no longer exists and that the Red Chinese are our trading partners. And, after all, our friends the Russians and Red Chinese are helping us fight terrorism!)

-Handicap bathrooms

“No smoking” laws

Warning labels on cigarettes and other items

Law suits against the tobacco industry

Capping aspirin tablet bottles so that neither children nor adults can get into them

The inheritance tax

No caffeine

No Big Macs

No red meat

ACLU

No manger scenes at Christmas

No prayer in schools

No ten commandments in the courthouse

No pledge of allegiance in school

No Bible teaching in school

Children taught:

--George Washington was a slave owner

--Karl Marx was a great thinker whose meritorious ideas were never really put into practice

The average person under 35 years of age does not know who Douglas MacArthur is

Campaigns against Indian sports logos

“Take back the night” rallies on College Campuses

The emasculation of the American male

Men wearing necklaces

Men wearing earrings

Tattooing is now part of the “lesson plan”, at Corner Co-op Nursery School, in

Brookline, Mass. (Detroit Free Press, 3/19/06)

Teaching grade-school children that homosexuality is normal, just as normal as

heterosexuality.

With regard to these last two (2) examples, see: Matt. Ch. 18: v. 6; Luke Ch. 17: vs.

1-2.

Referring to groups of people as hyphenated Americans, such as African – American or

Hispanic – American

National Public Radio (NPR)

Public Television

Mister Rogers

Sesame Street

Pornography

Hunger coalitions in churches

Churches teaching the social gospel in place of individual redemption

Security checkpoints at Airports

People losing their jobs for making politically incorrect statements

Hate crime laws

Judges that are too soft on criminals

The LA riots

Riots in Benton Harbor, Michigan

Riots outside Buffalo Wild Wings, Pearl St., Ypsilanti, Michigan

Police accused of “Police brutality”

Police being called “Pigs”

Civilian review boards

Police seen as the enemy

Lawsuits brought against individual police officers in situations where they were

following police protocol and they were just doing their job

In general, the attempt to make it difficult, if not impossible, for the police to do their job

Gov’t run or gov’t financed childcare programs

NEA (National Education Association)

“Goals 2000”

“Outcome-Based Education”

“School-to-Work”

The “new math”

Wide spread use of drugs to treat questionable disorders like “Attention deficit disorder”

The Beatles (Domestic & International)

Joan Baez

“Folk music”

“Hip-hop”

Christian rock music

Sub-woofers Sub-woofers Sub-woofers Sub-woofers Sub-woofers Sub-woofers Sub-woofers Sub-woofers S

The acceptance and wide usage of foul and uncouth language

Ponytails on men

The lack of manners

Widespread sexual promiscuity

Premarital sex

Unwed couples living together

“Swingers”

Easy divorce

No-Fault divorce

The gay rights movement

Homosexual marriages

Homosexual couples receiving the same job benefits as married heterosexual couples

Homosexual couples adopting children

Rights for cross dressers

NAMBLA

Homosexual characters appearing as healthy and normal in TV shows and movies

Employees that cannot write an understandable sentence

Bank tellers making errors that result in $2,000.00 errors on your bank statement.

Patricia Ireland has been hired to become the chief executive officer of the Young

Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). Ireland is the former leader of

the radical feminist group NOW (National Organization for Women) and

according to some reports, she is a lesbian.

Medicare

Medicaid

Social Security

Mandatory recycling

Rent control

Road signs that use diagrams instead of words

States being required to administer drivers license tests in Spanish, rather than requiring applicant to learn English

Mandatory handicap entrance ramps to privately owned buildings

The failed effort to convert the USA to the use of the Metric measuring system

The gigantic trade deficit that the USA has with Communist China

Disarmament

The closure of military bases in the USA

The fact that the USA has no weapons to defend our mainland against incoming nuclear tipped missiles

Not allowed to use the word niggardly