Geek Tracts
Cleaning up my room I came across something I've been meaning to share for a while now and just haven't gotten around to. A couple of weeks ago I spent a couple days in Indianapolis attending Gen Con. For those of you who are unaware, Gen Con is the biggest gaming convention in all the land. I was there for two days, and I saw a lot of cool people, played some games, bought some cool junk, got some free convention swag, and had a great time.
I picked up something at Gen Con that I wasn't expecting, but at the same time I wasn't surprised at all by it. While walking around downtown Indianapolis I was offered a few tracts by some street-corner proselytizers. As an Atheist I have mixed feelings about this kind of idealogical advertisement. On one hand, I'm annoyed that I can't just walk down the street to get some lunch without someone trying to foist their sin and guilt onto me. On the other hand, I tend to find these things immensely humorous. I managed to pick up two interesting, and fairly laughable tracts while walking around outside the Convention Center. No word yet on whether any geeks saw the light and converted.
Here's the first one:
I find this one particularly interesting. First of all I wonder if they're legally using these images. Not that I'm any fan of intellectual property laws. Still, these people either went out of their way to legally use these images, or they're flat out breaking the law. I may be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that promoting your religion doesn't fall under fair use. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
Still, I have to hand it to them. They know their audience and they're trying to appeal to it. There were probably more Star Wars themed costumes (yes, one of them is wearing a kilt) at Gen Con than anything else. I even came upon a pretty convincing Darth Vader, and a life-sized remote control R2-D2.
Our next candidate is a bit less audience specific, but still filled with lulz. Meet the million dollar bill:
Sure, this is an obvious fake, but in a world run by Reaganites a million-dollars-bill with a Christian message isn't too far-fetched. It also wouldn't be that uncommon, either. The way our economy is going you might be using something like that to buy your groceries sometime soon.
I had a great time at Gen Con this year, despite being hassled by Christians. Maybe next time this happens I'll have time to stop and go over their tract point-by-point with them so they know just exactly how I feel about this kind of silly nonsense.
