Monday, September 14, 2009

The "Bill of Rights" revisionist game

My wife and I wandered into a store this weekend and found among the games that the store sells: "The Bill of Rights - A Game of Historic Revision".
In the Top Ten series of games you and your friends change some of the more pivotal documents in history. Each player takes on a secret agenda. Changing these historical documents to match their agendas will score players more points. Play as the loud-mouthed talk radio host, the militant protester, the greedy economist, or dozens of other personalities, struggling to recreate these bits of history in line with your own values, goals, and agendas. Once you know your own secret agenda, compromise, cajole, and convince your fellow players to support the amendments you favor. Can you predict what goals your opponents are striving for? Or will you be left behind as the other players re-writen [sic] them to match their goals?

I picked it up from the shelf thinking that it may be an educational tool for "ages 8+". But no, it's premise is to re-write the Bill of Rights to match the player's agenda. No where on the box did it mention anything about Locke or unalienable rights. It encourages the player to be an agenda-driven activist.

Needless to say I didn't buy it.

Updated for punctuation.

I found this in the heart of Iowa's lefty-liberal, socialist Iowa City.

6 comments:

Tangalor said...

That's some kind of serious wrong right there.

Windy Wilson said...

"It encourages the player to be an agenda-driven activist."
Of course it does! The orginal Constitution and Bill of Rights we labor under today was, after all, designed by that racist, sexist, homophobic, classest, ageist, bourgeous bunch of founding fathers in a bid to get wealth and power, not from any principled philosophy.
[/disgusted sarcasm]


I gotta wash my mouth out, now.

Unknown said...

You can bet that if someone in an office space has this card on their cube wall: http://www.drawnandpoised.net/images/obamatine_web.jpg then they probably have or would like to have this game in a desk drawer...

strandediniowa said...

I described the game to my No 1 son and his reply: "That's just stupid."

Sarcasm is generally welcome here, Windy, so long as it's good (and not directed towards me).

strandediniowa said...

Bagel - I'm glad I digested supper before I saw that.

Unknown said...

It wasn't the one I had in mind, but it was the one I could find online.

I work in an EDU so I've seen plenty of examples from last February... Some outright Messianic in appearance (surprise surprise).