This is a powerful element of BioShock Infinite, because it points to a couple profound truths: Since arcade games are built to be played by children and families, their themes often reveal a society's unquestioned assumptions. And here is another thing: Racist arcade games like those in BioShock Infinite really did exist in America , and were popular in many parts of the country:

The most disturbing elements in BioShock infinite are probably not the violent action of the game itself, but the games within the game -- that is to say, the racist arcade games that you as the protagonist can play, as you explore the floating city of Columbia. In Bioshock's alternate history, Columbia is created by the US government in the early 20th century to be a shining symbol of American exceptionalism, but actually becomes a dystopia of religious fundamentalism and racism. So in Columbia's arcades, you have a chance to shoot targets of a grotesquely caricatured black man from the sky, and even more crucial (in a now famous scene) the option to throw a baseball at an interracial couple. (Video below.)

The African Dodger, also known as "Hit the Nig*** Baby" or "Hit the Coon" was as commonplace in local fairs, carnivals, and circuses as Ferris wheels and roller coasters are today. The purpose of the game was to hit the target with a ball-with one of your three throws-and win a prize. It sounds like a common carnival target game, but there was one unsettling part of the game, namely, the game's target was a real live human being, a "negro" human being. In St. Louis in 1913, it was reported that carnival organizers were "unable for hours today to secure an 'African Dodger' who would allow baseballs to be thrown at his cranium at the usual rate of three for 5 cents;" the reason was that future Hall of Fame fastball pitcher Walter Johnson was rumored to be at the fair ("Don't Want", 1913). The game was so popular nationwide that newspapers mentioned the African Dodger game along with trained animals, illusionists, penny arcades, merry-go-rounds and magic shows in the list of a carnival's attractions. Dodgers made headlines when they were seriously and horrifically injured-otherwise, they were nameless victims.

Read more about this here. So like its predecessor, the original BioShock, lead designer Ken Levine has managed to evoke dark or unsettled truths about America's past that uncannily echo our present. The first BioShock evoked the Cold War-era libertarian philosophy of Ayn Rand just before the author experienced a new vogue largely provoked by Obama's election, and was cited as an influence by figures like Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan, and Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, who's actually funding an ocean-based city people compare to the city of Rapture in BioShock.

And here's the thing: With BioShock infinite, its racist arcade games not only expose dark realities of America's past, but also echo our still unsettled present. Because when I started writing this post, and Googled "racist arcade games", expecting to mainly find examples from a hundred years gone by, I instead found link after link of racist games currently playable on the web -- including one where you can "slap some sense" into the first African-American president. Just as Columbia's racist behavior leads it to secede from the union, President Obama's reelection has reignited a wave of unfettered racism from many who oppose him, and many who want to secede from the union (again). And so sad to say (though it's no surprise), in certain parts of the country, our own unquestioned assumptions about the wrongness of racism are being questioned again. And as if they appeared through a rupture in time, games depicted in BioShock Infinite are once again part of our present reality.

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