Tea Party Embraces Racist, Anti-Immigrant Poster From Bioshock Infinite

By Nathaniel Downes

A Tea Party group’s use of a piece of zealous propaganda from the video game Bioshock Infinite could underscore the flawed dogma at the movement’s heart. – Mural of deity George Washington expelling ‘foreign hordes’ from Bioshock Infinite

The above picture graced the Facebook page of the National Liberty Foundation not too long ago, joining their rather anti-minority photo-stream. However, as noted, this is not some patriotic symbol of years past, or cherished words of wisdom. Instead, it is art from the video game Bioshock Infinite.

Its use by the Tea Party affiliated group was intended to be some kind of rallying point, but instead it revealed how accurate the depiction of the fusion of politics and religion within Bioshock Infinite truly is.

Bioshock, The Series Which Cast A Spotlight On The Darkest Corners Of Utopian Thought.

Bioshock Infinite was released to much fanfare in March of this year. With years of anticipation, this continuation of the hugely successful Bioshock series sold millions of copies since release, and is considered a huge success. The Bioshock series has been part of popular culture since the original title was released in 2007, with references to it found in popular culture.

Every Bioshock title has picked on a radical element of society, and cast a cold spotlight on to it. The original Bioshock was heralded for its dissection of Ayn Rand Objectivism with its depiction of the final and ultimate expression of Objectivism in the dystopia of Rapture.

Bioshock 2 turned this on its head, with a harsh critique of Altruism and Communism, and its expression of their own impossibility in the wreckage of Rapture. In both games, it was not the root philosophy at fault, but that both philosophies requiring a super-human level of perfection in order to work. Their systems fail not because of the philosophy, but because those who are to implement and manage the systems are flawed, imperfect humans.

Much as with the earlier titles, Bioshock Infinite picked a segment of society, in this case those who bring religious fervor to politics. Set in the flying city of Columbia, Bioshock Infinite deals with a society in which a fanatical religious cult controls all, with the base of their tenants being that the founding fathers are akin to saints or gods, and the Constitution is religious scripture. One could point out the similarity of this deification of the founding fathers, with the fusion of religion and politics, to the Tea Party and their absolute dogma that this nation is one for theocratic rule and not democratic.

And as with the earlier titles, while a theocratic state works in theory (who would not love a nation ruled by the love and kindness of Jesus or the peace and harmony of Buddhism?) they are being managed by people, and the human element always destroys the utopian society in which the player finds themselves.

In Bioshock Infinite, a radical religious group based on the idea that America was divinely created as if god itself reached down the drew the lines on the map, has seceeded from the Union. They view the founding fathers as gods or saints, and worship them. They call those who do not follow their narrow view of the nation as heretics, those who are beneath contempt. The ideals of democracy and freedom are perverted, replaced with blind loyalty and a slavery to their fanatical leader.

Sounds like the Tea Party to me.

The launch trailer for Bioshock Infinite.



Should the Tea Party reach their pinnacle and reach the utopian future they imagine, the results would be as tragic as the closed cities found within the Bioshock games. That the National Liberty Foundation took a prime piece of that failure and promoted it on their wall, complete with its stated desire to eliminate any non-Anglo-Saxon from the continent, speaks poorly of the group and their mission. The other photos on their site show an ignorance for democracy, and the United States form of government as found in the US Constitution.

Once they realized that they had used a piece of video game propaganda which was criticizing their movement, the page took it down. However, here is the evidence, preserved for us:


The Bioshock series is an excellent dissection of the insanity which grips the fanatics across this nation. For the National Liberty Foundation to confuse this dissection with reality is, at the least disturbing. Or, do they honestly believe in the divinity of the founding fathers, as the Latter Day Saints have proclaimed? Do they believe that the US Constitution a divine document, given by god?

Bioshock Infinite explored the dangers of such a utopic vision. It would do the National Liberty Foundation, and all Tea Party groups in fact, to learn from it.