<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[The Dish]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[http://dish.andrewsullivan.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Andrew Sullivan]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://dish.andrewsullivan.com/author/sullydish/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Virtual Taliban]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[
<p><em><span style="font-size: 12px;">by Patrick Appel</span></em></p>
<p>Adam Serwer, a video game aficionado, <a href="http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/adam_serwer_archive?month=08&amp;year=2010&amp;base_name=wargames">doesn&#39;t like</a> realistic games. Building off a <a href="http://motherjones.com/riff/2010/08/medal-of-honor-taliban-cash-jihad-video-game-electronic-arts-war-profiteer">post</a> by Adam Weinstein, Serwer cringes at &quot;the Afghanistan-based edition of Medal of Honor, a First Person Shooter in which you have the option of playing as a member of the Taliban&quot;:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don&#39;t think any of this stuff should be forbidden. I just have no desire to be a Nazi foot soldier in World War II or a G.I. in a trench in 1917. For that matter, I don&#39;t even want to to be a drug dealer in some fictionalized Grand Theft Auto version of 1990s South Central Los Angeles. There are living people I know who have the real experiences those scenarios are drawn from. I&#39;m playing video games to escape from the frustrations of the real world, I don&#39;t want to be thrust into another, realistic existence far more bleak than the one I&#39;m currently living.</p>
</blockquote>
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