Uppity Wisconsin

Apparently not content to be just the worlds biggest music festival, officials at Summerfest are hosting a military recruiting exhibit called Virtual Army Experience, an incredibly violent interactive “game” in which participants shoot at people displayed on a life-size computer screen while standing on a real Humvee equipped with machine guns...

I can’t imagine what the management of Summerfest was thinking in allowing this horror show of death and violence onto the grounds, or how it would help their image as a family-friendly event to let anyone set up something in such obvious poor taste.

Peace Action-Wisconsin began a campaign against the exhibit, and has had at least some success, as reported by Kristina Paris, a longtime peace activist who called Summerfest to complain:

I just got through to a person: they reviewed the situation, have upped the age to 18 years with an ID, stopped handing out free DVD's but are still allowing the virtual killing. When I asked if a peace and social justice group could be there with an alternative to killing, they said they would be very open to most groups who pay for the booth space.

Maybe next year there will be an antiwar exhibit. At Summerfest, apparently all it takes is money. Organizers of the Veterans Day parade in Milwaukee have barred participation by Veterans for Peace because VFP is "political."