This year’s Milwaukee Summerfest (June 26-July 6) features a “Virtual Army Experience Exhibit” at the north end of the grounds. The tent contains a real Humvee mounted with 4 machine guns that interacts with a huge screen. The screen projects the virtual experience of traveling through a town. You can shoot the machine guns at people on the street as you pass through. The people are generic-looking – could be from anywhere. You must be at least 13 years old to enter the exhibit and identification is asked. They take down that information and it will likely be used for recruitment purposes. They also give away a free DVD video game of a similar virtual experience when you leave the tent.
Points to make:
- War games should NOT be presented as entertainment. War is NOT a game.
- Summerfest is meant to bring people together for a good time in peace, not to present opportunities to practice shooting people. The exhibit is totally inappropriate and offensive and should be removed immediately.
The person you talk with will fill out a form with your concerns and will ask for your name and phone number. You do not have to give your phone number but they will want your zip code.
Please act now. The more calls of complaint they receive the better. (Please remember to be pleasant to the person on the phone – the exhibit is not her fault.)
