ACLU May Sue Troy, NY in Game Controversy…
The furor sparked by Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal’s controversial video game exhibit has seemingly taken on a life of its own.
In the latest news, officials of the New York Civil Liberties Union said that the organization may file suit against the city of Troy. As GamePolitics reported yesterday, city officials used local building codes to shut down Bilal’s exhibit at a local studio. Executive Director Melanie Trimble of the Capital Region chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union told the Schenectady Daily Gazette:
The city is suppressing free speech, and they will face consequences. You cannot prevent people from assembling. It is an infringement of their First Amendment rights.
At the heart of the issue is the role of political figure Bob Mirch (left), a Republican with deep political connections in local and state politics. As reported by the Daily Gazette:
Mirch is head of [Troy’s] Department of Public Works, works for [Republican] state Sen. Joseph Bruno as a constituent liaison and is Republican majority leader on the Rensselaer County Legislature.
Steve Pierce, director of the Sanctuary for Independent Media, which was shut down by Troy less than 24 hours after Bilal’s exhibit opened, said:
We have [Mirch] on video saying, ‘I am the director of public works, and I am organizing this protest.’ The next day they shut us down. It is an issue of selective enforcement.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Bet if this had supported the war, or the idiot who shut it down would have been singing a whole other song.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:52 am
For once, I think the ACLU might have a case. They can be frivolous at times, but I’m glad we have a group watching the watchers.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:53 am
do we need any more idiocy
March 13th, 2008 at 9:55 am
I hope that the ACLU has the best of luck and shuts down Mirch.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Good. I was hoping some organization would get involved in this. So, by this time 2010 Bilal’s exhibit will finally be allowed to see the light of day.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Eh 2010? I think that maybe be a little to soon. ACLA tends to babble on non choherntly at times.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:08 am
I’ll grant that I only hear of the ACLU intermittently (since I don’t live in the US), but whenever I do, they always seem to be on the right side of whatever case they’re involved in. I don’t see why they’ve got the reputation for frivolous lawsuits they’ve got. My first impulse is to suspect the American media’s conservative bias.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Maybe a lawyer could correct me on this, but wouldn’t the ACLU have to demonstrate intent in order to win?
March 13th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Am I the only one who finds it amusing that he has a Hitler-style stashe? Godwin’s Law aside, I hope the ACLU tears this idiot a new one, and I bet they’d have a hard time finding a judge who wouldn’t agree with them.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:12 am
@konrad_arflane
They tend at times to file lawsuits that are pointless and frivoulse, but yes there thends to be a great bais, mostly from neoconservatives.
But they don’t file frivously as the media would like people to think.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Hm, I’m not sure which side to take. On one hand, I wholeheartedly support free speech and the elimination of censorship, but on the other hand, I really don’t agree with calling Bilal’s exhibit “art”…
March 13th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Sounds like the right move to make, this guy sounds like a pompous self important wanker who felt a brief rush of power (presumably when it was on its way to someone important) and liked it.
Also, the more I look at the picture, I get the feeling that he reminds me of one of those characters in an english movie of the 60s or 70s and say things like “That adolph hitler, he had some good ideas”. Not saything he is even remotely connected to the nazi thing (and isn’t an application of that internet+nazi=irrelevant argument law) but he just kinda reminds me of that kind of character.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I hope the ACLU sues the town…
The government had no right to shut down that exhibit…
March 13th, 2008 at 10:23 am
@Dark Sovereign
“Maybe a lawyer could correct me on this, but wouldn’t the ACLU have to demonstrate intent in order to win?”
IANAL, but they could show a pattern of “selective” enforcement of the building codes. That the Sanctuary has only been targeted for violations when it suited the city politically. That and the fact that the prior to the exhibit, the building was cleared for use, and only after the Public Works Commissioner’s protest does the department reverse itself? That and they’ve got him on record stating that the show is not worthy of free speech protection… I think that clearly demonstrates that he allowed the abuse to happen, even if he wasn’t directly responsible. And that’s usually good enough for a civil suit.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Pretty much what I said yesterday.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:30 am
“Hm, I’m not sure which side to take. On one hand, I wholeheartedly support free speech and the elimination of censorship, but on the other hand, I really don’t agree with calling Bilal’s exhibit “art”…”
Fortunately, you don’t have to. Even if it isn’t art, it’s still clearly and unequivocally political speech, and is entitled to First Amendment protection. Indeed, the fact that art is protected in the first place seems to me to be a kind of “accident”, or at least an indirect consequence of the protection of political speech - since whether or not a work of art is “political”, censoring it is inevitably a political act.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:39 am
That reminds me — time to renew my membership.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:49 am
@NeW SpEcTrUM
“On one hand, I wholeheartedly support free speech and the elimination of censorship, but on the other hand, I really don’t agree with calling Bilal’s exhibit “art”…”
As Konrad_arflane said, political speech is protected too.
I find the “it’s not art” defense to be, well, lame. When Madison first proposed the 1st Amendment, he wanted to protect the right to speak, to write, or to publish your sentiments. Clearly he was thinking of the expression of ideas, probably not just those confined by writing or oral communication. But at the time, that’s really all he had. You either had a newspaper, or you stood on a soapbox. Art itself wasn’t really understood as a “conveyor” of ideas…
In Canada, our constitution uses the line “freedom of expression”, mostly because it was written in 1982, so we understood that conveying of ideas could be done by more than just a mouth or a pen…
March 13th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Free speech my ass. The ACLU wouldn’t be shaking any trees if it were a CAUCASIAN spouting similar nastiness towards a different ethnic group (pick one, it doesn’t matter except for, perhaps one of Jewish decent). The ACLU may have once had very noble ideals, but they’ve fallen so far from their tree they’ve become, at best, a nuisance. IMHO, they’re media whores who are just as bad, if not worse, as JT. They live in a theoretic world where reality has no place and human nature doesn’t exist. They share the same stage as life-long academics, sheltered from the world as most of the rest of us know it.
IMO, YMMV.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Mirch is the kind of person who simply should not be in a position of governmental authority. Imagine how he would abuse his power if he held a higher station than Director of Public Works.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:58 am
@Jabrwock
The Canadian constitution is only 26 years old? Does this mean I’m older than Canada?
March 13th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Canada’s latest constitution reform was done in 1982, before that we needed London’s consent to modify it. As a confederation, Canada exist since 1867, before that, each province were considered different colonies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Act%2C_1982
March 13th, 2008 at 11:35 am
@Aliasalpha
“The Canadian constitution is only 26 years old? Does this mean I’m older than Canada?”
Heh, no. We were created by the British North America Act of 1867. I meant the current form of the constitution, which was re-written in 1982 to include both the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (sort of like your amendments, only the whole document was re-written to include them), and to formalize our complete independence from the UK (since the 30’s though it’s pretty much been a given anyway).
@Joke
“Free speech my ass. The ACLU wouldn’t be shaking any trees if it were a CAUCASIAN spouting similar nastiness towards a different ethnic group”
Uh, yes they have. They’ve defended the Westboro Baptist Church’s right to be arseholes at funerals, they’ve defended SPAM. Heck didn’t you watch The Blues Brothers, they defended Illinois Nazis!
March 13th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Well, I’m terrified and I’m an athiest american of irish descent. Reading that gave me a terrible chill down my spine. When I close my eyes I can see the flecks of spittle starting to foam at the corner of that scumbag politician’s mouth.
March 13th, 2008 at 11:48 am
D’oh! Wrong article.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
What happened? There was a story up about an interview Mirsch did, now it’s gone.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
It crashed aand burned from out scorned anger, like a prevoise acticle said
“Hell hath no scorn like an angry gamer”
March 13th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Wups. Tried to post a comment - got blown out - oh well, will retype.
At the risk of being painted as partially evil myself, I will point out that his comments about muslims having a history of violence isn’t COMPLETELY off-base. There is a long historical record of such, the problem with that logic is that just about every religion in the world, short of maybe hindu and some of the more peaceful forms of eastern religions have a long historical record of violence, so picking on the muslims for it, hardly serves a purpose.
That said, it’s obvious that somebody needs to shut this guy up. Maybe the ACLU, maybe someone over him in the chain of command needs to have him fired. Maybe just somebody who cares about him needs to sit down with and say, “dude…LISTEN TO WHAT YOU ARE SAYING”. Doesn’t really matter, I’m not going to judge him, the bottom line is he needs to stop talking. QUICKLY.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
What happened to the article about Bilal and Mirch on the talk show?
March 13th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
@ jadedcritic
His comments about Muslims being violent may not be COMPLETELY off base, but like you pointed out, many other religions have a similar history. Let’s face facts, they say prostitution is the oldest profession, but I’d say killer is even older. Humans have been fighting and killing each other since pre-history. It’s in our nature. Yes, some Muslim clerics promote violence on “infidels,” but so do many world leaders and random people on the street (in their own ways).
If we’re going to censor people based on whether they’re ancestors were violent, we might as well shut down all communication. About the only person who MIGHT pass would be the Dali Lama.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
I am not a fan of the ACLU, but I support them on this one. You do not ban or abridge speech just because you do not like it.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
@ Gameboy
Samething chould be said about christianity, also which Dala Lama? Some I would say some are as close to white on humanity as you could get.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Thank God for the ACLU.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
@Joker
It’s one thing to imply the ACLU is too ivory tower for your taste, but I think your accusation of racism is out of line. Opinion or not, that’s pretty heavy accusation to lay down without any support or examples.
I question that you are as familiar with the organization’s work as you think you are.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I’m happy they’re planning a lawsuit over this. The sudden reversal of building code approval is what really upsets me about this.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Random note, that is a very unflattering picture.
March 13th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Damn, I just already hate Bob Mirch. Just look at his picture. Is the face of the hypocresy.
March 13th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Wait, that dude in the pic is Mirch?
I guess is some cases you can judge a book by the cover.
March 13th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
@ Ebonheart
That was my point. Every religion, country, even the individual people have said or done things that are wrong. Look at the United States. We’ve held slaves, denied people the right to vote, stolen lands from native peoples, we’re the only country to ever use a nuclear bomb (and we did it twice). If someone wants to deny a Muslim (or a Christian for that matter) a public forum, why shouldn’t we Americans be denied the same? Why shouldn’t we deny the French a forum? Hindu?
The Dali Lama is the head of the Tibetan Buddhist monks. At one time the Dali Lama was the leader of the Tibetan government. Today, he resides in India after being deposed by the Chinese government.
March 13th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
“At the risk of being painted as partially evil myself, I will point out that his comments about muslims having a history of violence isn’t COMPLETELY off-base. There is a long historical record of such, the problem with that logic is that just about every religion in the world, short of maybe hindu and some of the more peaceful forms of eastern religions have a long historical record of violence, so picking on the muslims for it, hardly serves a purpose.”
(Since the comment ended up here, I’ll respond here, even if the article it relates to was removed)
Hinduism certainly has its share of violent adherents. Hindu nationalists in India, for example (though they don’t get much attention in the Western press, possibly because they’re mainly attacking Muslims…). Or Hindu fundamentalists attacking people who break the rules of the caste system.
The only world religion, AFAIK, that doesn’t get much violence in its name is Buddhism. But maybe someone will enlighten me (pardon the pun).
March 13th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
@ Joker
Free speech my ass. The ACLU wouldn’t be shaking any trees if it were a CAUCASIAN spouting similar nastiness towards a different ethnic group
Nice rant, too bad you have no clue what you’re talking about. The ACLU has assisted Neo-Nazi groups protect their right to speech and assembly in the past. They don’t care what kind of unpopular speech it is, they care that it’s protected.
March 13th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
konrad: Prior to China’s invasion of Tibet and Tenzin Gyatsu becoming the current Dali Lama, Tibet was an absolute hellhole, even moreso than today. It was nothing but an absolutely cruel theocracy. Of course, Tenzin Gyatsu doesn’t practice that, but he wasn’t in power for very long, and probably would have continued with it had China not invaded.
March 13th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I’ve never known much about Tibet, only that the Dali Lama once lived there and that China invaded. Thats all I know about the place.
I’m sick of the word “un-American” being used to keep Bilal’s exibit from being shown. It’s “Un-American” to keep Bilal’s exibit from being shown.
March 13th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Dark Sovereign said: “Maybe a lawyer could correct me on this, but wouldn’t the ACLU have to demonstrate intent in order to win?”
Check out the next post. I think it’s got intent pretty well covered.
March 13th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
D’oh, nevermind, I read the NEXT next story and found out it was redacted. Nevermind me here.
March 13th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Retracted, rather. Redacted is something else.
…I’ll just be going now.
March 13th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
@konrad_arflane
Every culture and religion in history have a violent past (and present).
March 13th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2816
They’ve got a video of the Sanctuary intro presentation.
March 13th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
“I’m sick of the word “un-American” being used to keep Bilal’s exibit from being shown. It’s “Un-American” to keep Bilal’s exibit from being shown.”
@Ebonheart: “Un-American” is a simple poisoning of the well. It’s used frequently because, sadly, it’s extremely effective. Just look at Joe McCarthy’s reign of terror in the 50s. In post-9/11 USA, the term is heavily used by the Right to silence any views they disagree with.
March 13th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
@ Creature 9
Huh, I thought it was the phrase you with us, or you agianst us.
@ Jabrwock
Many thanks for the link to watch the exibit.
March 13th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Sorry if anyone else posted this…
Did anyone notice that one of the blurred out faces in the video sounded an awful lot like Thompson? I think it was the guy in the red and black jacket. Someone correct me if I’m wrong plz.
March 13th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
quis custodiet ipsos custodes.
March 13th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
@ deathnote29
I doubt it was JT. If it were he’d be in front of the crowd (probably claiming he organized it) trying to stir them up. Besides, Jack wouldn’t be that honest or have his faced blurred. He probably has too much on his plate right now to fly up there anyway.
March 13th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
They have multiple videos up on the protest.
I think it is interesting. I wish the journalist doing the interview would hold their feet to the fire.
There is one question that I would ask each one of them “Is alright to have a game depicting the assassinating Saddam?”
I want the journalist to ask question on the facts of the matter before they get to the opinions. Make sure the people know what they are talking about before asking their opinion. By just asking for their opinion there is no basis to how they drew their conclusion besides on speculation that they just heard about it and didnt like it.
It is apparent from the interview that people know nothing about the art besides the selective reports. There is showing their ignorants.
March 13th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I was watching the third video with a guy with a sign bombing iraq saying virtual Jihad.
He said he made it because he is American. What kind bullshit answer is that?
But anyways he was saying that if someone had done something like this in Iraq he would be beheaded. But isnt that why America is the land of the Free? the Freedom to speak your mind?
I love the quote from the other guy, “If someone came to my town and did it, I would be out there kicking their ass”
Isnt that what the “terrorist” are doing to soldiers from America? They came to their country, killed their leader (made a theater out of it by having a ‘trial’), so they are going back kicking their ass.
There could have been questions that could have been asked.
March 13th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Second video of people interview in Troy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KlczicOXF4
Third Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9Gr3lJXy1Y
March 13th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Thank you for the video link, Jabrwock! I’m glad I got to see it.
March 13th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I hope they sue. It will wake some politicians up that games are an art form.
March 14th, 2008 at 6:41 am
Its alittle to bad, we can not view this exhibit, just to see what is really being spoken and protested on. Do the nice folks at GP have something like that?
The ACLU usually, tries cases that uphold the consitition. They have had a few questionable cases in the past. But it seems, this is one case, that should be fought for justice and the the US Consitition. As civil ordinances, town laws, etc…..can never superseed, the US Constitition(spelling?). So the folks in Troy may want to seriously ask their elected officals to allow the exhibit, before a costly legal battle makes them have to take cuts in services like police, fire, medical, roads, etc. This one sounds like a done deal.
On another note, when a civil servant (Mirch), takes a political action, it does make people rightly worried that abuse of power and corruption, can and will fuel something even more sinister. Again, hope the folks in Troy, NY, get to the bottom of this issue.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:21 am
I’m not sure how many of you live, work, or have any sort of business dealings in Troy, but I can tell you from experience as a construction project manager that the code enforcement in Troy is VERY strict. I’m surprised they were allowed to open as a place of assembly at all if the door widths were incorrect and crash bars weren’t installed.
They’re going to have a hard time proving selective enforcement of the code, I myself could provide them with the names of at least 10 local businesses that were shut down for violations that were more minor then failing to have crash bars on the doors.
If you look at the video, there is a wheelchair ramp on the front of the building. I’m not sure where the door widths are below minimum standards, but if they are in a wheelchair accessible area then they are an extreme danger for handicapped people in the need to evacuate.
It may be easy to THINK this is selective enforcement, however look at it from the other side. Perhaps the fire inspector got a complaint from one of the protesters and HAD to act on the complaint and ban assembly untill such time as the building was brought up to code. Otherwise the city would be liable if there was an evacuation and a handicapped person got trapped inside…because they knew about the violation and allowed assembly to continue.
It’s very suspicious that the man in charge of code enforcement was the man organizing the protest, however denying him his right to protest simply because of his political position would be a violation of HIS civil rights.
In the video the owner/operator of the video says that the reason the work hasn’t been done yet is that they don’t have the money but that they are working on it. This leads me to believe they were ALREADY informed about the violations before they opened this assembly.
I would say if people are so concerned about having this voice heard, which I can completely understand, start a donation fund to pay for the work to the building. This will show the city of Troy that people are serious about this exhibit. $10 each from 1000 people would pay for 3 door replacements and the hardware. It’s just more convenient for people to be able to plead poverty and expect special treatment.
Handicapped accessibility and door sizing/crash bar rules exist for a reason. A place of assembly MUST follow these rules for the safety of the patrons. A city MUST enforce the code once a violation is found or they can be sued. The inspectors were being generous allowing the exhibit to open, and very well could have closed it after a complaint. How do you know some handicapped person attending the talk didn’t complain when his wheelchair got stuck in a door?
If the place burned down with a handicapped person stuck inside because of known code violations it may not be an article on GamePolitics but you can be damn sure there would be investigations into why the city allowed an assembly in a handicapped accessible building that was not up to code.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Didn’t they get approval on the day but then got a reversal after it was opened? I thought that was the point of the problem.
March 14th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Yes, Aliasalpha. THAT is the selective enforcement, Will. This was a known issue going back something like a year already; they were given until April ‘08 to finish it, and the construction to do so has been ongoing.
They were cleared for this assembly by the Troy FD and the Dept. of Public Works earlier in the day, but then after a call from Mirch, it was reversed.
March 14th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Lumi, that’s my point though. I still haven’t seen where anyone can show Mirch called and told them to shut down the place. Not to say he didn’t, but unless he admitted to it or the person who shut them down provided that fact somewhere I don’t see how people can find it ok to jump to the conclusion that he made a call and got them shut down. Wouldn’t he have just done it the day before?
Giving someone almost a year to fix something seems more then reasonable to me. By the same logic you’ve presented, that this is selective enforcement because they were shut down after this event, they could have a hot-bed political event EVERY night simply to stay open….since if they were shut down after any one of them it would be “selective enforcement”.
Selective enforcement would be if they were treated differently then anyone else. I do see selective enforcement, but it’s in allowing them to have assemblies for almost a year with code violations…not shutting them down like they do for other businesses.
If someone can produce proof that Mirch shut them down, I would be inclined to agree with you and if sitting on a jury would find his dept. civilly responsible. Otherwise, I can’t see it as a problem.
I’ve had buildings shut down because I didn’t complete promised repairs in time, and it’s not usually on-the-spot. It’s usually a couple days later when the building inspectors file their paperwork and realize I had already promised to complete the work once.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Produce proof that mirch shut them down
Ha, I m betting getting the proof will to lead to block in trying to get the documents. Probably the typical government run around. Legal action will probably need to be taken to get the documents. I am also betting that there is no paper work, it was all done by mouth or phone. So yeah good luck at getting proof. If there is 1 thing politicians can do is remove the blame from themselves and find a scapegoat for a majority of their political actions.
If circumstantial evidence can be used to convict people for crimes in court, then I see no reason why it cannot be used here. Based on the timing of how building was closed just screams censorship.
March 14th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
@ Will:
I don’t have it off the top of my head, but it’s been in print/video from a few sources. Some of which he is included in, and at no point has he or any of his supporters denied it at all.
I will look through the articles and youTube stuff I’ve seen this week, it’s somewhere in there.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
A protest is planned right in front of City Hall Tuesday March 18 at 5:30pm. Please come and show your support for free speech and the arts in Troy, and speak out against local bullies who use their political power to silence those who don’t agree with them. FREE TROY!!!
March 15th, 2008 at 9:05 am
One of the purest cases of suppression of political speech yet in a game issue.
Millions have gone to war and hundreds of thousands have died for the right to say something people might not want to hear.
Everyone waving a ‘freedom’ sign outside that exhibit should just commit suicide now so they might prevent their bloodline from being tainted by the shame of such public displays of hypocrisy and ignorance.
March 15th, 2008 at 9:19 am
@PennyLane
Please tell me someone has organised a trojan horse. Naturally one with doors that are within one micrometer of the recommended size…
March 16th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
[…] ACLU May Sue Troy, NY in Game Controversy… […]