Coney Island's Robotic 'Waterboard Thrill Ride' Evokes Guantanamo

by Will Safer on August 7, 2008 at 04:41 PM

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.]

Tags: art, breaking news, BreakingNews, Coney Island, ConeyIsland, nyc, protests, robotics, Robots, summernews, Torture

Comments

SonnyAug 8th 2008 6:42PM

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torture is a good thing for bad people. it beats killing them fast cause then all you are doing is letting them off easy. let em suffer alot like all the familys suffer every day from their loss on 9/11/ f**k em

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fklftmanAug 8th 2008 7:29PM

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I'd be using acid instead of water to get the SOB's that killed or had a part of killing 3000 innocent Americans to tell us where the leaders are. The hell with what others think about us, this is about survival. We are gonna get our asses kicked again when Osama Obama gets in. Then see if waterboarding is a bad thing. You'll wish they had cut their nuts off.

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MarkAug 9th 2008 12:18AM

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We waterboard our own Airmen during SERE Training at Fairchild AFB, to teach them to resist interrogation techniques. If it was torture would we really do it to our own service members???

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BrianAug 9th 2008 10:48PM

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You may waterboard your own airmen but the question should be asked, not whether this is a torture technique but why are they waterboarding them if it isn't?

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fklftmanAug 8th 2008 7:04PM

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They should use acid instead of water on the SOB's that had anything to do with or any knowledge of 9/11. To hell with the softies, this is about survival. Just wait til Osama Obama gets in. We will wish we had cut all their nuts off, like Jesse said.

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JIMAug 8th 2008 7:02PM

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Screw all you bleeding hearts! Have you all forgotten about 9-11? These lousy bastards don'thave the guts or the military to back up their big mouths so they go after civilians. Those people in N.Y. were not soldiers, they were regular people doing their 9-5 thing. Those cowardly bastards get a little payback and they cry like little girls pissing their panties! I have no sympathy for these punks. They torture and kill civilians and call it a holy war. Boy, are they gonna have a shock when they die and wake up in Hell where they belong! Long Live The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

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TomAug 8th 2008 7:45PM

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Thanks for editing my comment. If you don't want to print someones comment, then don't ask for it.

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FrenchGirlAug 8th 2008 7:48PM

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This seems really sick to me. I'm not necessarily against the torture of terrorists who kill innocent people just because they don't agree with their extremist views (when carried out by the military of course.) But, it is not something that I would subject myself to. Somethings are better left behind closed doors.

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PaulAug 8th 2008 8:01PM

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i couldnt agree more kitty sinned

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BrianAug 9th 2008 7:53AM

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The use of torture at Guantanamo Bay is merely yet another example of how hypocritical George W. Bush has been. In 2003 he declared that "freedom from torture" is an "inalienable right" (see http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/06/20030626-3.html) at the same time he was ordering the torturing of prisoners who were merely suspected of being Terrorists. When he did that, he opened the floodgates and allowed the barbarians through the gates. That torture led directly to Abu Graihab and other episodes where people were humilated, even killed by American Torturers (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilawar_(human_rights_victim ). America has looked in the mirror and found that it is exactly like its enemies. It has joined the "axis of evil". Bush has squandered the good will that was created by 11 September. Those Americans who cheer him on are encouraging idiots like him to destroy any moral high ground that the US attempts to assume when it fights against the evil of Terrorism. You should hang your heads in shame. Nearly 20 years ago, President Reagan helped created the anti-Torture Convention. Bush has undone all that great work and destroyed it and many here cheer him on.

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