That’s the premise behind a game on the web that kids can play for free. Terrorists break into the White House, then by setting off bombs, they blast their way into the Oval Office. At that moment, George W. Bush pulls out a machine gun and goes on a killing rampage. If you’re good enough, you might make it to the level that includes Secretary of State Condolezza Rice. And yes, Condi gets into the action too by blasting away with two handheld machine pistols.
And that game rating? It’s useless. No matter your age, if you click ‘Play’, you’re old enough to shoot.
Don’t get me wrong, games like this are kinda fun to play, but given the subject matter, I’m wondering what message this sends to kids who can’t distinguish fact from fiction. The idea of terrorists busting into the Oval Office to try and kill the president is not funny. Just as a game about a suicide bomber blowing themselves up while riding a city bus wouldn’t be funny. Yet, here we have a scene which teeters on the edge of reality and trivializes what otherwise would be an extremely traumatic event for Americans. In its most basic terms, ‘Bush Shoot-Out’ is an assassination attempt on the President of the United States, yet because it’s cartoon-ish and somehow fits a caricature of Bush the ‘cowboy’, it’s kid entertainment.
What’s next? A game where Jesus Christ pulls an Uzi and fires away at the Roman soldiers who attempt to capture him in the Garden of Gethsemane?
I’m not calling for a boycott of Miniclip.com or anything like that, after all, as parents, it’s up to us to use common sense and allow or disallow things like this in the home. But, there are a lot of ignorant, inattentive parents in the world. Want proof? Guess how many times this game has been played? According to the web page, at least 100 million times. That’s a lot of bullets fired at the president.
And that’s nothing to laugh about.