dead in iraq, America's Army online protest/memorial

The project dead-in-iraq is an online memorial and protest taking place within the US Army recruiting game, "America's Army". I enter the game as "dead-in-iraq" in order to manually type the name, age, service branch, date of death of each service person who has died to date in Iraq using the game's text message. The work is essentially a fleeting, online memorial to those military personnel who have been killed in this ongoing conflict. My actions are also intended as a cautionary gesture.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• war
• in
• iraq
• computer
• games
• online
• protest
• memorial
• delappe
• performance
• art
• media
• politics

[bschott]

Delappe: Why did you not respond to a soldier who posted earlier?

"TheLonelyMP (11 months ago)

If I die downrange please do not use my name to protest what I was trying to fight to protect. While I know you mean well, this is not the kind of support we need nor want. Those of us who die feel we do so in honor, so please let us keep that honor.You may feel we die in vain but we don't."

[delappe]

We as a nation have been insulated, protected and coddled as to the true cost of the war in Iraq. The AA game is part of a larger context that one could refer to as the virtualization of warfare. This war was/is a mistake propagated by lies. The desire to feel that the war in Iraq is honorable is understandable yet fails to consider the facts of the situation. I see no honor in 80,000-1.2million dead Iraqis, do you?

[whatever890327897895]

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. John Stuart Mill

[delappe]

One could consider my actions in AA as being a virtual conscientious objector. Does this not add a bit of realism to the military simulation?

You are incorrect in your assumption that I would not fight. I would be the first to defend out country for the right reasons. In my actions I am fighting to remember those who have died and encourage others who might consider signing up to consider the very real possibility of dying in an unjust war as being something to think about very carefully.

[xgunmetalx]

@delappe You are disgusting. You are using the deaths of American soldiers as political cannon fodder. The fact is there are terrorists who want to destroy us because we are Christian nation, and this is a historical fact. Are you also one who protests against Christianity?

For someone who probably views himself as an intelligent person, your actions are incredibly stupid. Perhaps it is you who is INSULATED from the truth, you sound absolutely brain washed by the liberal educational system.

[chanolongo]

Not only watching hollywood movies but also critical art pieces, it seems that people from Irak are still invisible as persons.

[SforzandoFilms]

@IamE0N The "game" in question is more of a propaganda tool for the military. Don't forget that it was created by the U.S. Army itself specifically to convince young teenagers to enlist and possibly die for a cause that they don't really understand. In that sense it is perfectly justified to inform the idiots playing the game that war in reality is not a game. There's no game over. You're fucking dead and all those that have grown to love you in your lifetime will have lost you forever.

[delappe]

@IamE0N I see your point but I am not sure your analogy is entirely accurate. If, say, the hypothetical movie you are referring to was a piece of pro-war propaganda created purely to encourage impressionable 13 year olds to think about joining the military through a cartoonish and unrealistic depiction of war, then yes, standing up in the middle of such a film would be an appropriate manner in which to protest or memorialize those individuals who have actually died in combat.

[IamE0N]

@SforzandoFilms Actually it proves they were trying to play a video game and didn't appreciate the douchebaggy attempt at a lecture. How about if you go to see a movie and I stand up in the middle of it and start loudly informing you of how terrible rape is? When you tell me to STFU does that mean you're blind to the horrors of rape or does it mean I'm an idiot? But at least it would take some balls to stand up in public like that.

[IamE0N]

As yet another combat veteran posting on this video -- if I died in Iraq and you posted my name in this propaganda video game as a fleeting memorial... uh, so what? You're a tool. If you want to raise awareness, commemorate, or protest something, then find a way that actually matters a little bit. Patting yourself on the back for spamming a handful of people who vote you out of an online video game is absolutely retarded.

[JamesKernaghan92]

Truth hurts, we don't wanna hear it so we'll kick him!

[sarsfieldusmc]

@delappe When i join the US Army,and God forbid i was to die, don't use my name.

Btw i would rather a kid play this game and get an idea of how an Army operation works than COD. I have a feeling that COD recruites more innocent souls than this game does. Mainly being that this game has shit graphics and you would have to be a dedicated wargamer either planning to join the military or not join the military. :p

[saucengine]

@CommieKid its fucking people trying to play a video game.

[CommieKid]

@saucengine its a fucking video game