Coney Island's Robotic 'Waterboard Thrill Ride' Evokes Guantanamo
Like us, you're worried about the coming robot invasion. But who isn't? Well, certainly not the artist who recreated a Guantanamo Bay-style waterboarding torture scene with robots out in New York's Coney Island. He's got his 'bots under strict control.
The installation, just steps from the location of the famous annual July 4 hot dog eating contest and the Cyclone roller coaster, depicts robots – one as a guard, one as a detainee – in a scene not meant for the faint of heart.
At the "Waterboard Thrill Ride," visitors pay a buck to look through a barred window while a hooded robot pours water into the face of an orange jumpsuit-wearing robot, who goes into a series of violent convulsions for 15 seconds.
"Robot waterboarding became a way of exploring the issue without doing any harm," artist Steve Powers told the New York Times. "It's putting a unique experience on the table. And it doesn't take a great leap of the imagination to look in there and say: 'That's really what's going on? That's crazy.'"
But isn't Coney Island a place for family fun? No worry there, as a sign on the outside shows SpongeBob SquarePants saying "It don't GITMO better!"
Maybe don't take the kids.
[Source: Associated Press.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
kitty sinned @ Aug 7th 2008 9:28PM
Barbaric! Where is the "my Daddy rapes me" booth and the Hiroshima bodies section? Sounds like New York State of Mind to Me!
Dr. Strange @ Aug 8th 2008 6:03PM
"Sounds like New York State of Mind to Me!"
Being a New Yorker, I find that comment amusing. If that sounds like "A New York State of mind to YOU" perhaps you should travel more...
I assure you, the vast majority of people I know do not condone the tactics of our overlords in Imperial City (D.C.).
It sounds more like an "American state of mind" to me, sad to say. But I suppose this is to be expected in a country where we all just sit back and watch TV...
93 93/93
JT @ Aug 8th 2008 2:20PM
Waterboarding is torture. How has America become so desensitized that it can accept torture? We are suposed to be the good guys, and the good guys NEVER use torture.
Sonny @ Aug 8th 2008 6:33PM
torture is a good thing to do to BAD people because just killing them is letting them off easy.
john @ Sep 4th 2008 3:35AM
i think you'll find you do, actually.
your ignorance is rather cute
Mary @ Aug 8th 2008 2:23PM
Please tell me this story is a joke!
Duude @ Aug 8th 2008 2:41PM
Yet more proof of how we Americans are detached from the violence we see and hear.
j @ Aug 8th 2008 5:32PM
I guess you don't get the sarcasm. It is meant to evoke an emotional responce. Come on people.
XSemperIdem5 @ Aug 8th 2008 2:45PM
What the!? I don't see the point in creating this.
john @ Sep 4th 2008 3:43AM
like your comment
Wendy @ Aug 8th 2008 2:48PM
"Waterboard Thrill Ride"? Excuse me, but a "ride" is something you, well, RIDE. And when I hear something described as a "thrill" ride I expect a ride that produces more intense motions than, say, driving to the grocery store. This is a "walk through attraction," and not very attractive at that. As part of a horror house, it might have a place, but as a single "act" show, I can't see who would pay for it.
E raymond @ Aug 8th 2008 2:50PM
Perhaps this is what nearly 8 years of the Bush regime brings us. We are desensitized to the suffering of others and care only for what's "fun" and easy. America is finished. (See the Roman Empire).
Jim Grayson @ Aug 8th 2008 11:30PM
I agree...
Christine @ Aug 8th 2008 7:40PM
Desensitized to others? Have you forgotten 9/11? Have you forgotten the beheadings? Have you forgotten the innocent civilians killed by these savages? I think you are the one who is desensitized. If waterboarding were to save Americans lives, would you be against it? Well it has already. Much needed info was gotten from one such terrorist which saved peoples lives. OK, quick question: Today you have a choice to be BEHEADED or WATERBOARDED.....which is your choice there Mr. Liberal Compassion?????????? I choose waterboarding hands down. These scum of the earth want to kill as many Americans as they can and spread their ideology around the world. WAKE UP LIBERAL.....
B.C. @ Aug 25th 2008 12:29AM
Christine, you sound like you've never left the country; let alone the flickering glow of FOX news on your tv.
If we have resort to torture to get our way, then the "scum of the earth" and their ideology of barbarism have already won.
It seems that they've already converted you with their hatred.
mchlsjoh @ Aug 8th 2008 3:25PM
Wait a minute. Let us exam just what we are dealing with. These people are not honorable soldiers of different nation. They wear no uniform, they are not defending their freedoms. They are not even going after "military targets". No they choose to go after the innocent civilians. They kidnap, rape, women and children. They film themselves beheading people, and cutting off their limbs one at a time. So many people have been found in mass graves with mutilated bodies. This is real torture. And we are to understand them? To try not to make them act this way? We need to appear less powerful as a nation as to calm their fears? We do not see or ear much of this. At Guantanamo they took very humiliating pictures of the prisoners naked in suggestive positions, and we poured water on them to make them "feel" as though they were drowning, even though they were not. This is not torture. C'mon America wake up! Remember the kid in grade school that said he hated all forms of violence? He was always getting beat up. There is only respect and peace through strength, not weakness. We treat these people like human beings even though they are truly animals and should be put down like one.
Dr. Strange @ Aug 8th 2008 6:05PM
See what I mean?
john @ Sep 4th 2008 3:44AM
"they are not defending their freedoms. They are not even going after "military targets". No they choose to go after the innocent civilians. They kidnap, rape, women and children"
i presume you are talking about the U.S army here.
Uncle Pullfinger @ Aug 8th 2008 3:27PM
sounds like fun now we can see first hand what goes on abroad...... and by the way if you dont like it then dont pay the buck real simple folks. I dont like ugly betty so i dont watch. this is america we all have choices dont we..
will boguslawski @ Aug 8th 2008 3:27PM
awsome love it im gonna check it out this weekend im like a half hour from there