And you thought the NYC mosque row was bad

Just when I was starting to think that the U.S. was (sadly) catching up with Europe on Islamophobia comes this gem from Austria: A far-right party in Austria has sparked outrage by launching an online video game which allows players to shoot down minarets and muezzins calling for prayer. The game’s name, "Moschee Baba," translates ...

Just when I was starting to think that the U.S. was (sadly) catching up with Europe on Islamophobia comes this gem from Austria:

Just when I was starting to think that the U.S. was (sadly) catching up with Europe on Islamophobia comes this gem from Austria:

A far-right party in Austria has sparked outrage by launching an online video game which allows players to shoot down minarets and muezzins calling for prayer.

The game’s name, "Moschee Baba," translates to the not particularly clever "Bye Bye Mosque." It was created by the infamous Austian Freedom Party to promote the candidacy of Gerhard Kurzmann, running in local elections in Styria. Unsurprisingly, there aren’t even any "mosques with minarets" in Styria, and there are only four in the entire country.

Freedom Party Secretary Herbert Kickl defended the game by saying that the game didn’t even involve shooting, but "the pushing of a stop-button to halt a bad political decision." Yeah, a stop button that just so happens to appear in the middle of an circle closely resembling a crosshair.

(Apparently the end sequence translates to "Game Over. Styria is now full of minarets and mosques!" which reminds me at least of the infamous "All your base are belong to us" meme.)

Andrew Swift is an editorial researcher at Foreign Policy.

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