November 21, 2009
UTNE READER

Breaking Through the Fog of War

(Page 2 of 2)

June 21, 2007
Chris Gehrke Utne.com 
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Bilal hoped his performance would be an engaging, even playful, attempt at encouraging dialogue about the technical and often impersonal face of modern warfare. But after the first few days, the sympathetic comments left on the website's message board began?degrading into incendiary jargon. As Bilal told In These Times: 'I learned all these new things about myself. I learned I was a nigger, and a sand nigger. That I was gay. Part of it is demonization, then you can justify trying to shoot me.' Hackers even broke into the system and programmed the gun to shoot almost constantly. By the twentieth day, more than 40,000 shots had been fired. After a month of seclusion and a constant barrage of fire, Bilal finally ended his project on June 4.

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Go there >> Bringing The War Home

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