Sucha Bizarre Made-Up Society

* See also Bioshock_Illogic
* See also Bugs_Bunny_Cartoon_Columbia
* See also Infinite_Stupidity
* See also Columbia_Police_State ( Sorry your creation is NOT America, Kenny )
* See also Huge_Signs ( Gianormous_Infinite_BS, and Gianormous_Statues and things )
* See also Columbia's Milquetoast_Racism
* See also The Founders
* See also Columbia_Immigration
* See also Levine's Faux-Religion In Columbia -- All the Faux-Whatever
* See also Show_City_Columbia 
* See also The_Raven_Guys
* See also The_Untermenschen 
* See also INFINITE-BS_REDO
* See also Faux-Economy and Funky_Columbia_Machinery and Finkton_Mega_Factory
* See also Tower_and_Siphon a centerpiece of Columbia
* See also Comstocks_Cult 
==SO MUCH IS LIKE THE THREE STOOGES RAN THE PLACE ...==
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Concept : Original Luddite Vs A-Racing-Modernity theme
'Evil' America 1900 theme
Whacky Quantum Fantasy theme reaching into quantum goddom
Player Comment : "For Such Religious Folk, Living in a City was Being in Satan's Parlor."
SO WHY THE HELL WOULD THIS CULT RECREATE SUCH A PLACE ???????? Hey Levine Boyo, It Does NOT Make Any Sense." '''
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This whole thing makes little sense, and certainly isn't anything America ( insulting dementia of the game writers ? )
Real World "Lynchings" were not something officially organized. Nor something Women sought to attend. But THIS in-game presentation is typical of a bankrupt/dishonest writer mindset.
Rich People could have a Fair every week. The Lower Orders need to be kept scared... "Lynchings and Carnival Games, That's the Ticket !!!" - Jeremiah Fink "Bread and Circus's" - keeping the people happy, Roman Style 
ALL Rather a feeble exaggeration - ALL staged to introduce a Melee Weapon and its bloody "Execution" moves.
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Much of the South (Old Confederacy) was poor -- With little industry and with Rich People with SlavesUndermining the Labor wages of any Whiteman laborer, and slave labor driving down wages for workers. "The South" owed the Northern banks 200 million dollars ( in THAT time's money !!! ) and there is speculation that could have been an important incentive for the rich borrowers to want to Secede to get out of paying their due debts. The North's industries were already (booming) building its economy and Wealth, and the South was largely stuck in an Agrarian economy selling cash crops like cotton.
Remember that many (not all) of America's Founding Fathers had slaves ( even if they were philosophically against it, the fact is they DID have slaves ), so for the Founders in Columbia to consider slavery an accepted concept would be natural (?). If you remember, the people from the North generally did not have Slaves. Many were against Slavery, and THEY also were "Founding Fathers" (Oops ...) - The forming of the country almost didn't happen over that issue. If Booker/Comstock was from the MidWest, then he likely would have been anti-slavery ... ( Oops Again ).
Infinite BS morphed from portraying the historical social issues from around the turn of the 20th century ( immigration culture shock, labor unrest, murderous anarchists, increasing technology advances, urbanization, ongoing racism ... ) into Re-fighting the American Civil War/Revolutionary War ( Slavery, Religion, economic manipulation, States Rights vs Federal, cultural Reactionism ... )
The part I want to hear is : The explanation for why all the 'Have Nots'/repressed class simply 'have not' left/escaped Columbia and gone to the Rest of America ( back in the USA people simply left such troubles behind, and moved to new areas where opportunities/freedoms existed ). Could people really be 'kept' in Columbia against their Will WITHOUT it becoming a significant problem ? (( Did the gamewriters think so, or think about this ????? ))
Consider : This story situation is exposing the normal 'white' inhabitants to (quite simply put) an un-American tyranny/Police State being within their close proximity - being too hard to deny/ignore ? If these "White People" ACCEPT such conditions, they would have represented a VERY SMALL part of the (THENTHEN - perhaps with more perhaps NOW being so willingly accepting having others run their lives and deny their personal Freedoms.) American population ... ( Oops ). 
So much for real 'social relevancy' in the game's story. ( Strike Eleven !! ) 
(( Half-Arsed ? I now 'coin' a term : "Quarter Assed" for such BS as what's in this game. ))
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I would think that Columbia originally ( when it was 'official' and normal -- when built for the 1893 World Exposition ), was a 'Show City' full of 'Actors' -- People acting out their roles to present how great America was to the 'heathens' ( and THE other foreigners ) - like they do at every Exposition. It would be a 'Potemkin Villagehttps://www.bing.com/images/search?q=potemkin+village+conservapedia&qpvt=potemkin+village+conservapedia'https://conservapedia.com/Potemkin_village , and not a real city -- all false-fronts and facades, and would(could) not be self-sufficient in any way. It would be funded/organized by the US government and/or rich people who thought it was a 'good idea' ( Prestigious - you'd see their names scrawled everywhere as the Project's Patrons ), and commercial interests/industries would showcase their products and new technological achievements.
OK, lets assume Comstock 'Wowed them' to get his floating exhibition added, but that is not a real city. So WHO then paid many times as much later to make it larger/habitable/comfortable/having industries and everything else Urban Life requires ?? ( Most likely this was done well AFTER its presentation at the Columbian Exposition, and even after it was sent on its World 'tour' - the Government and Taxpayer dollars would NOT be available for that.Gamemakers maybe don't actually really understand all that much about how things COST in the Real World, or how they get done. )
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For Comstock's reactionary/extremist racist Columbia, that there would be any large number of (impure/complicating) immigrants/'the wrong sort' being present initially is not overly logical nor acceptable to them. One would think that was what the majority of those 'White' inhabitants were escaping from in American society ( a few servants is one thing, significant population of workers is another completely ).
So then there was this 'Founding' ( Columbia Flies Free !!! ), and it would not be everyone's cup-of-tea". Suddenly it is not so 'American' any more (at all). Many of the original normal American 'crew' would try to leave ( BTW, taking with them alot of the know-how needed to operate/repair it all when they left. ) The whole City would have to be ringed with a 'Berlin Wall' to keep the Dissatisfied from leaving ( and so WHO now funds and supplies a whole city ?? Who pays for it ? ) -- So Columbia is a Wall built with guns facing inward. Very hard to pretend it is still 'America', no ???. ( Oops, and triple Oops ...)
So now Columbia is a Police State/Cultist Theocracy, with the 'haves' living in their gated/fortified compounds, and the 'Have Nots' slaving away in poverty and servitude ( and in kidnapped slavery even ) to provide for their 'betters'. Rather hard for anyone intelligent to equate with "America".
Huge amounts of supplies ( even for only a small town's population ) have to transported into the city, giving plenty of opportunity to 'jump ship' to those so inclined -- That is assuming someone is still clandestinely supplying the place ( else they turned thieves/pirate/extortionists/slavers, and then as obvious outlaws/disgrace/foreign-policy issues would have the USA and the World out to apprehend them/blow them out of the sky ). And even then, what air armada moves all the necessaries UP to Columbia ? We are talking BULK EVERYTHING ( wherever it magically comes from ).
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Needless Automation in Columbia :
Infinite BS's writers/designers Slavishly copying from the previous games -- Except the setting being decades earlier than Rapture's 1950s. Automated Systems are implied which were tenuous enough existing for the period ( even with some magical 'advancements' ). Oh yes, the Fink Just Used Stuff From the Future Ludicrous Fantasy ... a great Story Crutch to unimaginatively justify ANYTHING -- including Prop Assets which no longer made sense after 2 rewrites. 
It is Very Convenient for the Lazy Gamewriters. There really was no need for mechanical machine gunners, robots, vending machines, autopilots and such -- Except to make believe the game was 'BioShock' by having EXACTLY the SAME game elements/setting ( and used when severely 'out of place' / illogical ).
Like the Ancient Romans (lack of mechanization) : Why have machines do anything ( like water driven millstones ) WHEN you have Slaves to grind your grain ? 
And for Illogical Columbia : WHY have despised minorities/immigrants when you supposedly Have Machines ???
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REDO - It Can BE Done Much More Interestingly :
Could the case be : It really is all Mass Mind Control ? And the opposing faction just lets people out of the delusion, and becoming THEIR pawns to gain power for themselves ??? Booker the drunk isn't exactly a prime candidate for sanity, and so much of the game is of delusional/farcical quality. See those 'Vox' Storm Troopers on the side opposite the Founders ? They sure do seem awfully well equipped for an army of 'poor people'/the-down-trodden freedom fighters. 
Sorry Kenny Boyo, you don't just 'strap on' stolen equipment and become trained myrmidons - They probably will though be quite effective in fumbling and stumbling around killing themselves and others on their own side, and being slaughtered by the fully-trained professionals. 
Regular 'cullings' of any opposition by the tyrant's Paramilitaries - That is what happens in a real Police State. There really isn't much chance of hiding in Columbia, and paths of escape are limited and controlled. So again, the game plot's setting is faulty to the point of Nonsense. WE CAN FIX THAT IN A REDO
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Unsupported Writer-Spew Philosophy Columbia :
Columbia is some 'magi-economy', with unnaturally huge shops displaying a few showcase goods created at some mystic mega-assemblyline ( created/included to support a dubious game urban class-warfare setting, including ready-built slums ). It exists mysteriously with no real source of supply, and an inadequate consumer-base to justify its overblown form. Strangely, this Fantasy Faux-Economy is actually the LEAST of the game's sad fakery - The game's setting being Faux-America, of Faux-Religion, a Faux-Society, running under Faux-Science ( they are simply adding Faux-Economy ontop ). 
It is ALL a shallow/fantastical game setting too obviously designed just to provide Shooting Targets, instead of habitation for some real people ( It IS shown in its NORMAL 'un-fallen' state -- Some future further warped reality is shown via Time Travel, but that is a bunch of mumbo-jumbo - even more divorced from anything remotely real ).
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Infinite BS, What Kind of Weird Faux-Religion is This in Columbia ? :
Various game materials mention 'Popery' An Anti-Catholic term. , so this 'Church of Comstock' theocracy is supposedly some Protestant sect who should have that as an issue, and it is part of their animosity/revilement of immigrants, many of whom were Catholic - And they don't 'cotton to' Jews either, though little was made of that issue ( for some strange reason ) despite being highly prevalent in that era.
But THERE we see huge statuary(idols) of MEN ( as their Saints ? ) and of Angels, which IS considered 'Popery'/Papist Idolatry (graven images) by many of the 'Protestant' bent.
The game setting is allegedly Christian, but is there a Cross to be seen anywhere ? Not one mention of 'Jesus' -- which IS the epitome of ANY Christian faith. Any sign of the Ten Commandment, which is common to most Christians ???
Religious Americans in the US population of that time ( in an age of much greater religious belief ) WOULD VERY WELL know the difference between this strange cult religion and Christianity, and be repelled by virtually all of it.
Is it through ignorance that such a farce was created, or did the game company's lawyers tell them that they were better off removing anything that might be 'nailed down' as actual Christianity ( maybe when you consider some flack they got previously for showing Bibles and Crucifixes in previous games ).
Noticeable is almost a complete lack of Antisemitism ( some feeble defacement of a illogical 'Tailor' machine pays 'lip service' to the whole concept ), so I guess that whole subject was too edgy for Levine.
Alleging that the US Government would (even propose to) be spending even a dime of taxpayer money on such a pagan sect monstrosity is shear stupidity -- A matter of extremely ignorance on the writers part. Oh, so the inhabitants built all that religiosity later ??? ( How, and with what money, once it was flying about ?? We don't even know how the city was supplied basics, versus production of fancy monstrous statuary, etc ... )
If you are attempting to ridicule Christian religion, you might at least bother to represent it recognizably to the Player.
If you are attempting to show the so called 'evils' of America in that time ( as was endlessly Hyped as an 'important' concept/element in the pre-game PR interviews ), and THEN you go on to 'play so loose' with this historic societal aspect ... It IS rather hard for anyone to take seriously - that intended (hyped) exhibition of social relevancy of the place. ( It is a cheap 'dog and pony' show - without even the canine and equine elements - lame-arsed at best, dishonest otherwise ).
SO another layer of BS is smeared at the Player's feet ( and thrown in their face ).
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Miscegenationhttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miscegenation #77 BS :
A Woman to throw a ball at someone ( in some Racialist act ) ?? An Unheard of and Startling idea to see a White Woman act so ( in the real 1912 historic time/society ). A woman watching a man do it - pretty much the same ( Please look at old pix of lynchings where you find there's hardly a woman to be seen ). Sorry NO, evil Columbia isn't supposed to be changed so much - to allow that to happen .
So full of shit this Failtopia setting thing is for this game. 
Showing a whole Dog and Pony Show which offers some kind of weak Racist stunt to make believe the game is all about Social Issues ??? Actually, this scene shows the writers supreme ignorance about society of that era, as well as demonstrating the writers milk-toast cowardice for NOT showing something actually realistic - Something which would disturb the sensibilities of game critics, investors and arm the companies'/industry's detractors. But no, nothing of the sort to give it teeth. WEAK.
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SO Where's the "Hangin Tree" ? :
If you want an epitome representation of 'Historic' Racism in Columbia ( more than that lip-service rendition the cowardly PC game showed ), there should be a good Lynching every Saturday night in Columbia ( with a lever pull 'Will You Be the One' Raffle, with Prizes !!! Dancing afterwards, and CLOWNS !! -- Fun for the whole family -- Saturday, Saturday, Saturday !!! ).
In reality, oppression is more subtle (and effective) than this stupid gorp Levine & Co came up with , with 'visits' in the dead of night, by 'enforcers' with their faces hidden ( KKK sheets as REAL WORLD example or more practical masks ). Mystery and Fear are far better tools for such coercive subjugation. Any mandated public punishment has to be seen as serious and as a solid group-expression of the Society's Laws ( not made into a travesty like this ridiculous deluded carnival of Levine's warped imagination/laxity ).
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There's A Lynching This Saturday ( There Will Be Clowns and Balloons For the Kiddies ) ?? :
Fink's brother's music probably would have got him lynched. Think about it : In that militant pseudo-religious zealot-laden mega-reactionary society, when the Prophet's 'Bro' attempts to release and sell this new 'degenerate' music ( much which he takes from the future ) ... The whole city (or rather the People in Power) was infused with that ruling 'opinion' ( Ignore the claims this was 'America' of any flavor - that's just Kenny & Co's hype BS ), and any transgressions (like that music) would quickly be eliminated ( if the Iiscreant responsible did not get the message, right quick ).
So shoot down another of the "Oh, that's soooo neat" game elements, as ridiculous ( runs contrary to so much of the rest of the setting ) ?? Another bit of evidence of the Third Left Hand Turn (rewrite) the game's plot/setting took, and which they couldn't afford to discard ( with so much chopped out/discarded in the game already, and the remainder so spotty and poorly cobbled together ) ???
Seemingly innocuous, and safely independent of other game elements, but no less illogical and incongruous.
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Issues to Make Their Game 'Relevant' 
Hey, Wheres : Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" - first published in 1905
How could the Infinite BS miss having this Golden 'issue'Unsanitary Practices in the Food suppliers included in their game ??? Another of the one paragraph or less school 'history' subjects the game's authors counted on to try to make their game historically relevant.
Like These :
: Industrial Workers vs laissez faire business
: Immigrants
: Anarchists
: Religious Missionary-ism and Theocracy
: Actual KKK Jim Crow and Racism (Lynchings)
: Guns Guns Guns
: Rich White People 
: Crass Commercialism
: Craze for Modernity and Technology
: Paternalism
: Minority Servitude
: Imperialism
: Native American Treatment
: Patriarchism/Sexism
: Underground RR
: Yellow Menace
: Convict Treatment
: WW1-ish imagery
: Exaggerated Patriotism
: 'Da Pig' - Police State
: Child Labor 
: Quack Medicine
: Insanitary Industrial
: Killer Pollution
: Self-Aggrandizement
: Prohibition 
: Women's Sufferage ( The Vote/Jobs/etc ... )
: Mysticism (seances)
: Classism
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Why not go 'Full-Retard' c and have a Slave Market in Columbia ? Why not ? ( Make THEM 'Evil' White People TRULY 'Evil' ... )
Other overt things they DID include in the game (that Public Stoning) were AS absurd as having that. ( That Auctioning of Piece-work Labor was rather stupidly dim, but has 'deniability' for any more controversial implications the writers DID NOT WANT TO FACE. ) 
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City of What ??? :
Columbia - SO it is supposed to be a 'City' with all those over-sized buildings, but then is supposed to NOT be the Den Of Iniquity which all Cities are to Pseudo-Bible-Thumpers ??? Eden wasn't a 'city'. Businessmen (and Worse Big Businessmen) and no "Passing Through the Eye of The Needle/Heaven" - YES ? Comstock's flying farce WE know is all Charlatanry, AND it would NOT have fooled most good people in that era. These 'White' 'ruling' inhabitants are problematic, really NOT that much like typical Americans ( whom the writers, seeking relevancy, claimed 'were like that' ). No it is more a Nazi or Southern Slave Owner kind of people who are there ( and it is a Shame that Ken Levine apparently thinks of Americans and America's Past 'That Way' ).
Perhaps small town/village stuff just was not as impressive enough a setting for the game, which required Comstock to create a grand urban Sepulcher ( white and shiny on the outside, but full of corruption inside ). This bizarre situation is a rather awful 'writer' creation to force the 'Dystopia' the BioShock games had as their setting ( really not very imaginative because villages can be made just as frightening - with hidden evil as much as ANY city ).
The game creators did not even do the evil 'city' properly. Example : "Shantytown" should have been where Founders went for a little 'flavor' ( Columbia is run with that Ante Bellum Plantation mentality, where the 'Massah' visits the slave cabins for entertainment when he feels like it, No ? ) The city's Untermenschen being reduced to barbarity and depravity ( and kept 'in line' by the Police State ) 'just to survive', all the while hidden under the streets - THAT would have been much more horrifying, and could have made the whole Founder-created story situation much more evil.
As someone said : "A Feeble, Milque-toast Representation of Such Things" 
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Where Do All The People In Columbia Actually Live ? :
It is kind of like MainStreet in Disneyland. Lotsa fancy frontage, but ( in Disneyland's case ) the people who work there go home when the park closes. "World Building" ? No, it is more just cheap stage prop building. Merely a Cardboard Cutout creation. 'Pretty' - in a Coney Island phoniness kind of way ... The game says that People supposedly live in it ? Riiiiight ... Hardly looks like they could - in so many ways -- Even with all those vague floaty chunks off in the distance. It would have been simple enough to just have some mentions/posters - such like they had in Rapture.
People don't live in Monuments. - John Muir
A few huge-ified rich people's homes, and the "Shantytown" squalor, but where do the 'decent' White People all reside ( those few distant multi-storied buildings ) ? Real Cities aren't built in this Columbia-type caricature wedding cake higgledy-piggledy arrangement. It would take LOTS of taller ( typically 5 story - old fireman-ladder-height-limit tall ... ) buildings. Block after block after block of them to pack sufficient people into this lopsided Game World environment to even justify it being called a 'town'. ( Even small 'towns' have blocks and blocks of Single Story Houses to justify that title. )
At least in Rapture we saw LOTS of big buildings in the distances and large apartment buildings.
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The "Irish Problem" Was Sooooo 1860s. :
By the 1890s In America THEY WERE the police and the firemen, and well established in the business communities. These game writers need to get their history straight. By 1900, massive numbers of Eastern European Jews were starting to arrive. Wasn't Levine recently playing up his ( never previously heard of before ) Game Character "Authentic Diversity" ??? Or is THAT kind of racism/bigotry just " Too Controversial " for this game writer's endless Hype on its supposedly dealing with 'real' social issues, and all the alleged 'Shortcomings of America' in Infinite BS ????
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An Awful Lot of Columbia Feels Like Some Weird Amusement Park. : 
* It is not like a place anyone would live.
* Old time America also wasn't just the front 'Main' street --- Most of it wasn't.
* Too much caricature, too little character. Built as a Player limiting linear game maze. 
* Decrepit structures/environs which LOOK to have been purposefully built decrepit.
* Illogical expenses of effort and resources for : huge amounts of wasted space, being needlessly overbuilt structures, enormous excessive signs ... So much is there with little real reason/justification to exist in a realistic world.
* Areas seemingly designed to have mass gun battle in (arena-esque)
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"Beast of America - Online Promotional Video " :
What delusional crap is this (Internetz Trailer) ? What "America" exactly is THIS ? Oh yes, a 'catchy tune' as a promotional gimmick, but is this truly what Ken Levine and his 'clever' writers think America was ?
His dream "Beast of Columbia", is creepily distorted and twisted from some half-remembered 'modern progressive' high school representation/distortion of that time in American history ?? ( ... Something Created so as to resonate with average 'public school' demographic Gamedude's misunderstandings ? )
But, But, But ... Real/True historical representations would only distract from the mass-murder activities of the Player ?? ( Your Typical Player is always hoping to Discover yet another 'Execution' Move Action done with that stupid Skyhook thing ??? )
The only Non-Faux thing in this 'game' IS the Level of Bullshit : '10 out of 10'Game Drivel Magazine, Oct 2013 - WE GIVE 10 out of 10 Stars to our Advertiser's new game Infinite BS. !!!
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Seriously 'Thick Armor' Wen Out With The Renaissance ( Bullets could go thru ANY armor a man could wear ). This is typical/average Dim Game Maker Numb-skullism.
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Fall Of The House of Levine ...
Nails For Their Coffin : Irrational Games :
You just need to look at the contents of irrationalgames.com to see the endless hype and marketing stuff they claimed, which later then fell apart and never was delivered. As has been said : "Talk is Cheap", but it looks like they spent far too much money/resources on all that "Talk", rather than on actually producing a good game. Apparently they fooled themselves with all that talk ( and disappointed the Players on Game Release day ), and so much of Effort was wasted on things that 'never panned out'. The failure can be coupled with simple mismanagement. 
Nails in their own coffin, one interview at a time. Did the game even pay for itself or make ANY profit (For Years) ? Unfortunately, real success is defined by things like that. Maybe in future more effort can be put into delivering a GOOD game instead of just talking ?????
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1900 America - Sorry Ken, Your Faked American Times WOULD HAVE Moved Forward : 
I was watching the recent PBS documentary about the Roosevelts (Teddy in particular), and seeing how much America change during that period. It struck me that much of the Hype this (Infinite BS) game had in its Trailers and endless Interviews supposedly reflecting the 'Social Ills' of the 1900's was itself a big pointless distortion. With the rewrites, the game discarded/diminished those 'issues', or turned them into mere caricature in favor of all the Quantum BS and an obvious attempt to belittle/smear Christianity. 
Strangely, Columbia was shown locked into some earlier period of when Columbia was launched ( 1893 - almost 20 years before ). 
Columbia ( what little of it reflected anything real ) was frozen ( being Hyper Reactionary even for that time ), while America in that era significantly changed and moved forward. The game's Dystopia setting missed alot of the social reforms that did happen in America. Major reforms were happening which Columbia was not a part of ( so further becoming an Anachronism ). That largely made irrelevant all the writers attempts at 'Finger Pointing' Something derisively called 'Virtue Signalling' these days. about America's alleged "evils". 
I've seen various people defend the game's exaggeration of American society ( ie- the Farce theocracy they created which has absolutely nothing to do with any American religion ), thinking it was serving 'to make a Point' - to be an illustrative device. But hey Kenny&Co, a 'Strawman Argument' https://www.conservapedia.com/Straw_man_fallacy is still a LIE, and the validity of your point is lost in its dishonesty. The game situation was warped out of any semblance to what America's problems/ills were 'talked-up into' by these game writers.
Rapture had some similar aspects, except that those gamemakers DID clearly imply that Rapture was intentionally founded as Libertarian/Objectivist ( and voluntarily had its occupants escaping from a growing Socialism-tainted World ). Rapture had its society built around backing away from the Wilsonian/New Deal/Post-WW2 government-heavy American society. ( That versus Columbia with its kidnapped/trapped Lower Class of servitors, forcibly serving its rulers, but conveniently and illogically unable to escape or revolt. )
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Sorry Kennyboy, This Isn't America or Christianity You Think You Have Portrayed Here :
Alot of the American Bible-Thumpers ( note- no Bibles seen in Columbia (?) ) are against ostentatious religious buildings and vain expressions of their religion ( being too 'Papist' for them ). So where does this leave this delusional vision of 'Christianity' of Ken Levine's ?? ( Note - not a single Crucifix nor mention of 'Jesus' in Columbia ). Merely an ignorant intentional-mislabeling/implication of it, thinking that its presence makes the game 'relevant' to 1900/America/Real-World. So sorry, again -- Making shit up to 'make a point' is crap and IS basically dishonest.
At least in Rapture, 'the Church of Lamb' was a bunch of insane Splicers.
Worshiping a 'prophet' as if he were a god is simple idolatry - not something 'Christians' do.
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The Idolatry in Columbia :
Faux Religion ... ( Kenny L said he knows very little about Religion, yet shoves it big time into his game ??? )
Absurd and Ridiculous ( or shear ignorance if it is seriously presented as Representatively 'historic' ) to think what is shown in the (Infinite BS) game has ANYTHING to do with Christianity. Might as well have tickets sold to "Lick the Prophets Arse to obtain Grace", etc... IF you wanted to belittle real religion. 
Delusional writers, much ? ('America BAAddddd, Derrrrp !!!')
Simple Ignorance and Carelessness ? ( Nah, they are too Clever for that ... )
Demented Anti-Religion Writer's Ideology, much ? ( 'Religionnnnn BAAddddd, Derrrrp !!!' )
"But But But, The Players Will Know What We Mean !!!" ... 
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Racial Ideals ?
Columbia is a city supposedly founded on an imagined return to America’s true "Ideals"; Racial Purity and Superiority, and having a Divine Mission. A Puritan City on a Hill.
Except, that the Racial "Purity" thing wasn't any Ideal in America for a long time (if ever). Some subsets of the population only, besides the Anti-Immigrant aspect often being for Economic reasons. IT REALLY DID NOT SEEM an ideal of Columbia's "Founders" either ( Why allow or even BRING all the 'mud races' there to the Holy Floating Ark then ?? ). America's existence has been seen as a "divine mission" by some ( for many more it was much more Freedom from other's 'Divine' OR Government impositions ). Most of the REAL American Founders were NOT "Puritans" 
( Neither are these Idol-Pushing inhabitants of Columbia - They are a Strange Cult built around Comstock and 'the Lamb'- NOT of the Christian God. )
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Columbia's Ruling Class are Segregationist's :
They reject outsiders - Those who are different than themselves -- and see them as a threat, diluting and destroying THEIR own culture. "Holiness is Race Cleanliness" ... A Problem : Are we supposed to ignore that weird Cultist Crap right out in front of us ? THAT 'wormy apple' really does NOT 'fit too well' IF this is allegedly/supposed-to-be some "American" subgroup ( as the writers mentioned in their numerous 'historyism-like' declarations ) ??? 
OK, so WHY IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY PROPHET did they allow all those annoying sub-human 'others' to continue to exist in 'Holy' Columbia ? Why keep that obviously problematic contamination amongst themselves ? Should not Fink's manufactured Wonders have eliminated the necessity for having such menial lower-orders ? Saying they 'Just-keep-them-around to Lord It Over' as tolerated inferior subjects, that flies in the face of any Segregationist's goal of 'Purity'. A Flying town is too small ( being a tiny Failtopian ecosystem ) -- The whole "purity" construct 'fails the test' when the 'inferiors' are 'right there' always in the worthy inhabitant's face.
Unless the majority of the citizens never 'bought into' that cult ... But then the question is : Why (conveniently) did THEY ( some more moderate majority ) THEN never 'got rid of' that overstrict '15-ton-weigh' imposed by Columbia's anti-American-freedom theocratic societal system ?? Who needs Theocratic Tyranny when you've got a good ole Southron circa 1900 with its "We are right and 'in charge' because we say so ( and we hang or shoot anyone who says otherwise )" precedence already available ????
(( That Antebellum flavor seems to have been the original setting concept BEFORE Quantum Weirdness fermented, and then that creepy, rather-atypically-American, religious cultism was rewritten into the games storyline )).
There are FAR too many disordered overlapping and contradictory elements to have the given game story setting make sense (( And I have hardly gotten into that crazy Faux-Science crap yet )). They just dump it on you the Player, and then start handing you guns and whisper 'Evvvvvil peoples be here', and start sending them at you ( and you then start your Mass-Murder-Shoot-a-thon(tm) ).
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An Illogical "Shanty Town" :
In the Police State that Ken Levine has made Columbia into, little public opposition would be allowed. 'Shanty Town' would be seen organized more like a prison, well regimented and patrolled/controlled and forced to be cleaned-up/made-tidy by the inmates. Informers would be everywhere, and no dissent by the thralls would be allowed to offend the 'pureness' of Columbia in any way. A more frightful experience for the Player might have been : Walking thru this place and seeing the (mandated/pained) Forced Smiles on every one of the faces of the oppressed. Grumbling might be heard hidden away and in whispers, lest the whisperer wind up hanging on the local scaffold ( or simply just be 'disappeared' - "One Way Ticket To Hell" - a 10000 foot plunge, or worse - Being sent to Fink's rumored 'experiments'). There is no need for a flying slum when the 'poor' can be so easily coerced into making their prison 'pretty' and proper and OBEDIENT.
Typical for a Police State, many others in Columbia have the same 'Forced Smiles'.
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"Burden Not Columbia With Your Chaff !" : 
OK. But then WHY have you (Comstock) brought a whole lot of minorities and unwanted immigrant people into your City to contaminate and imperil it then ????? Kinda dumb, dontcha think ? And with all the modern marvels (we see all about), there should be no need for that kind of 'servant' labor anymore ... No ?
It is almost like someone did it on purpose to cause trouble, and maybe even to bring destruction to your Holy City.
Even, if assuming, the Place was Controlled by the US Government FIRST - THEY wouldn't have a whole lot of Minorities and Riff-Raff in their American Show City, either.
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A Potemkin Shithouse ... :
(( "Potemkin Village" - Any construction (literal or figurative) whose sole purpose is to provide an external facade to a country which is faring poorly, making people believe that the country is faring better. ))
Massive Manufacturing shown at Fink's Manufacturing in Columbia (yes, yes, it is there to HAVE to have a 'downtrodden' Working Class needed for the lame social theme's backdrop ...), but there are all those (Disneyland Main Street) shops selling multitudes of goods - where is all that stuff made ? Stolen from the Surface ?? - Where are all the SMALL businesses - craftsmen ( the REAL AMERICA Levine & Co ignores in their divisive simpleton's hatchet job society ) ???? "Sorry, such boring 'reality' stuff gets in the way of the shooting", ( and of the lame Faux-Science ?? )
A Huge cliche Bank (10 X what's needed for the population - Ka-ching $$$!! - Religion == Money is Levine's take ?) ... maybe the shoemakers, seamstresses, cabinetmakers, farmers are all hidden underground ( a Tear "Subway" to the rest of Columbia ) ??? An Exhibition "Show City" was all Columbia was - all a Lathe & Plaster and Chickenwire mockup, meant to last only a year. THAT would have been a sight - Columbia fallen into utter rubbish, with the delusional people pretending it wasn't so ( kindof an allegory of today's Game Industry ... ).
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Laid On Thick - The Faux Religion At the Starting 'Tour' Game Segment in Columbia : 
Kinda huge, Medievalish and Pope-ish ( all those candles and worshiped icon images ), no ?
Cultish weirdness (oddly) 'Imagineered' through the mind of Ken Levine. Remember THIS was supposed to be 'America' dontcha know ? You keep going in this BS game and it only gets worse.
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BTW, what you saw was the "White" peoples entrance. What kind of passage into Columbia do you think the "damned"/unwashed masses of immigrants/blacks/Irish went through ???? Remind us again Ken, WHY THOSE kind of people were even allowed in the Blessed Floating Eden ?? OR Why THEY want to live in a Cultish Tyranny Police State ? OR Why these Racists would ALLOW them to Contaminate their Holy Place ???
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Vigor Advertisements and Machines Selling Them all over Columbia :
But no one ( those racist bigoted white Citizens ) ever seems to have any of the Gearz/Vigors/other gimcracks which the Player gets ahold of so many of ( very often found just laying on the ground ).
Numerous advertisements aimed at Citizens who never seem to have bought any of these 'Vigors'. Indeed most seem to cost a years salary... (But in Easily broken into Machines accessible to the City's enemies ... Now that's very thoughtful of them.)
Couldn't we have had these enhancements just be seen used in Pre-canned-viewed Scenes where you might have a Joe Q Republic citizen turn on some Vox scum ( all being a fixed sequence NOT having to deal with the Player's wildcard reactions/interaction ). Or possibly have some limited 'First Shot' general NPC use, where the game scene/situation can use a precise initial placement/positionings (So it could be simply-scripted, with little tactical AI intelligence thus being required ... ).
Most of the problem is : Having NPCs actually tactically use the Vigors properly - ESPECIALLY in combinations - is fairly difficult to program ( Making such AI takes Skill, Effort, Time, and Development $$$ ). Instead, repetitious generic-icity is what you get in this game.
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Huge Signs on Things in Columbia ( and Later in Infantized Rapture ) :
When was the last time you saw a sign that large even in our World ??? Somehow the developers think that something blown up in scale will cover for the general lack of unique detail. "Make it big or the dumb Player will miss OUR MESSAGE" ??? Compare it to how such things were done in BS1/BS2 ( Even the overblown Ryan propaganda was far subtler than this Infinite gorp. ) 
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Columbia : Even if they had German SS style Slave Labor to lower expenses, where did all the REQUIRED Money come from to build such monstrosities for so few people ?? Remember this is 'back when' most real world people couldn't afford to buy a small house, and rich people were too smart to fall for a charlatan like Comstock. So there simply WASN'T money for this excessive hugeness. Huge signs, near empty voluminous shops - it is kinda bass-ackwards there. (( L Fran Baum's 'Oz' was far more Realistic ))
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_telephone#20th_century_developments
"By 1904 there were over Three Million Telephones in the U.S" 
BUT No Telephones in Columbia ?? Can't use the excuse that Columbia was launched in 1893, as Telephones existed then too AND at the same time Columbia is shown with all kinds of other 'advanced stuff' that wasn't invented for decades (or ever).
Telephones WOULD be presented as modernity in (THEN) America (Columbia the Show City, paid-for/organized-by the US Gov).
And the place hasn't fallen apart like Rapture had ( though it would have been fun with the Phones in Rapture to get some deranged Splicer on the other end ranting at you --- A dozen or so different Rants would have been sufficient mixed in with dead-lines and busy signals, buzzings, and ringing but with no answer ). Heh - getting Andrew Ryan on the line, but then it turns out to be a crazy prankster Splicer.
Same gimmick phone events for Columbia :
* The Informer's Hot Line (report anyone not 'holy' enough, or seen fraternizing with the 'lesser' races)
* City Maintenance - Report a malfunction before something bursts into quantum flames ...
* Police - use the "Come Discipline the 'Servant' Service" (Policemen love their work...)
* Pray for/to the Prophet (Toll Call)
* City Planning department (My residence isn't voluminous enough, I would like an upgrade.)
* Prank call - "Do you have Prince Albert in a Can ?" ... "Well I just saw him in a trash can at the park..."
* Phone call from the Luteces ... "What the Hell is Taking You So Long ..."
* Interesting Phone directory entries - Comstock's number - used for a prank call by Elizabeth ("666" ??)
* Clues used in some part of the plot. "Information ... How may I help you ?" ... "Handymen? You shoot them through that nicely displayed windowed Heart. May I help you with Anything else ?" ...
* Cliche phone call by Elizabeth - some long inane teenager type dialogue for 20 minutes.
* Pizza delivery callback ... (Oh that's right, no conscientious WASP would ever eat such foreign Papist muck).
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Columbia - Worse Than a Crazy Cult Compound :
Illogical.
Why all these specialized (weird) weapons and Vigors that NPC opponents use in Columbia ? Who ( as in Comstock/City budget ) would pay for them, or their development, when they produce nothing and have little utility value for the inhabitants normal existence ? All that work and effort ( by the people in the story ) going to create such things, and YET we see the rest of the 'city' still in a pathetic half-assed backward 1890s state. These are Jarringly out-of-place things ( an unneeded drain on whatever unexplained economy Columbia might have had ) which were ONLY OBVIOUSLY intended simply to enable the copied game mechanics - to pretend to be 'BioShock'.
For realistic military or Police, look at pictures of real history to see the practical shape of such things. Even for the over-armed martial presence seen ( Columbia's heavily armed police presence makes East Germany look a free society by comparison ). A 'militia' would be equipped with basic arms and equipment instead of those fancy/bizaarely useless/unrealistic things we see so much of in this game.
Fake mechanical horses, etc ... Look at pictures of cities at that time to see how things were rapidly advancing across all parts of life. The simplest things get improved first. It is the clumsy inconsistency and lack of attention/research. If Did Reactionary people/societal-thinking blocked all the possible 'normal' advancements ?? Then WHY the many gadgetry things we saw which should be 'from the first' avoided/banished/feared ?
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Columbia - The Illogical Pretty Caricature :
All those lights in Columbia - light bulbs cost money, so does the electric power for them ( someone has to make both ) -- and that was EXPENSIVE high-tech in the 1890s and decades after that). It also consumed alot of fuel.
But Magic Unicorn Tear Powered Stuff made things like that no problem ( ?? Then why didn't they light the building interiors the same way - Where it would have made a much bigger improvement ???). It is because the writers just didn't 'get' the need for logically-consistent details like that. ( The outside looked like a circus, so why not the inside ? Or at least nice and bright ... ) 
They just couldn't realize that the tech changes ( the effects of which the game was SUPPOSED to be about ) should have significantly affected Columbia's society, and driven the story ( like the previous game's "Bio" Shock was about powerful genetic tech effects upon Society ). The Racist Cult Police State society was there with or without the magic stuff Floatyshit(tm) and those minor mechanical toys ( like the skyline, which barely seems to even be used and bringing no significant changes to society ) .
We could have had : Stealing Tech from the Future, Creative cyborg-ish enslavement, Creepy tech worship ... But no, it was just some weak social justice warrior crap, ignorance of historical religion, magic Faux-Science story crutches, a cardboard cutout capitalistic economy to force class warfare. THAT was what they ladled out of their 'Witches Caldron of Too Many Half-Arsed Themes '.
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A Laughable Economy - Simpleton Props By Hack Game Designers :
Maybe if they had the imagination and writing-competency to explain with something like : Columbia EXPORTED its manufactured goods, as it flew around the World ( like selling guns/ammunition to dictators in banana republics ) to get money and supplies to keep the city operating ( and maybe Columbia itself did alot of robbing various backward parts of the World ) --- THEN it might have made alot more sense to explain the economics vacuum.
SEE IT TOOK ONLY ONE AUDIO DIARY TO FILL IN THIS STORY GAP ...
More than one commentary about the game said : "How thrown-together the whole game was ( in story and content ), with a general lack of coherency/consistency" AND IT IS : "Trying to be too clever", with too many ideas stuffed into it making it one big mess. 
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Comstock is God (Sorry Ken, NOT An American Anything There) :
Columbia sure seemed to be replicating 'Sodom on the Surface' for it to supposedly claim be the New Ark or Eden in the Clouds. Mammon still seems to be King/God. The Prophet is a Charlatan. Idols abound. Maybe this is how the game writers (YOU Levine) see American Religion ? The only real (unintended) "Point Being Made" was that the writers of this game were pretty Clueless ( They gushingly went on, interview after interview, at how clever they were at making it 'relevant' to the Real World. Delusion or Bullshit ? )
Profound Thought (?) : Columbia was run like Ken Levine ran Irrational Games ????? (Naaaaaah)
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But WHY WOULD IMPURE UNTERMENSCHEN IMMIGRANTS AND SUCH LOWER BEINGS *THEN* BE ALLOWED TO CONTAMINATE THE HOLY FLOATING ARK/EDEN ????
Out of Sight serfs/slaves might've made sense so that the 'Elect' didn't have to even see them.
There was that early 'class warfare' ( writer's evil capitalist America ) theme. It was still in the game, but glombed together with half a dozen other 'evils' themes -- Churned til NONE of them make alot sense any more.
It is NOT Clever, just a half-assed mess.
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ONLY ONE BALL and two criminals ? WHAAAA ??? You win the Grand Prize if you bounce the baseball off BOTH Heads in one throw ?? Ball and not a Baseball Bat ??? (No 'fun' targets that if you hit a bulls eye : "Crush Them" ... "Drown Them" ... "Burn Them" ... "Hang Them" - which takes effect immediately ( Emulating those 'Dunk the guy in the water booths at so many county fairs ... )
SO, What is the Player to do ? They aren't even given the option of WHICH of the two lawbreakers to throw their 'punishment' ball at.
No doubt there would be additional number drawings or maybe after the 'First Pitch' EVERYONE got to throw their ball -- What a scene THAT would have made !!!
And what happens AFTER the ball hits, and the criminal is hanging limp - the master of ceremonies uses his revolver to administer a Coup De Grace execution ? Or are two nooses then brought out and a nice quantumz-floating scaffold ready to administer the sentence appears ???
As Players, Don't we have the right to know what all this staged scene REALLY was ???? ( Instead of some dim caricature Racist Passion Play - Ken&Co ladling their PC BS on thick ... )
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Easter & Sons Premium Automated Stallions (Established 1904) :
And before 1904 ?
Before that, Columbia had real horses for 10 years ? Either way, the disconnected design of the city is one problem, and all those levels ( horses don't go up stairs too well ). Slight problem getting them to ride the Skyline, or even to get on a 'Tram' or 'Gondola'. Even with ramps, dung and urine makes a slippery mess and WAS a real world issue ...
Now a Flying Mechanical Horse ... now THAT would have been interesting. (Comstock riding in a Chariot behind some ...) A shame.
"Developed by Fink Industries for our troops" ... Cavalry enemies might have made a nice change (and another target type).
"family-owned business" ?? But it says "Developed by Fink Industries" that seems a contradiction.
2 front legs ( a horse's power is in its rear legs ), mechanism out of phase and mismatched in ratio to the much larger 'wheel'. Trying to get traction ( especially when heavy wagons are mentioned ) using narrow wheels on cobblestones, or even any better road surface, is totally ineffective ( It is why we have large rubber wheels on OUR cars ). It might run well enough downhill.
And LOOK - Magic blue crystals. Exactly how do (the assumed) 'quantum particles' generate power ?
These thing's "motors" must be inside the contraptions backside ( *** horse's ass joke needed here *** ).
Now having one of these things breath 'cold' and forming an icy slime trail as it glides along while chasing the Player -- THAT may have been one of those 'scenes' we would want to see ( and then shoot the hell out of it ). Of course at that point it should have been "Easter & Sons Premium Automated Snails" .
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Radios in Columbia (Proper Future Tech Example) :
Radios were a revolution of the NEXT Age ... ( They had rather inept 'Stealing From the Future' )
Even though the base design time for Columbia's objects/styles/clothing should have been pre-1900, they should (?) have rushed forward with select technological advancements as everyone on the Surface had done in a significantly way (by 1912). The game-presented tech 'shifts' would have been spotty, with new 'high tech' anachronistic Tear caused whizzbangs ( quite futuristic even of 1912 ) alongside the older things ( from 1893 + 1912 ).
We saw Radios (private and public) in many places, constantly playing 'patriotic' music, praise for the prophet, advertisements for Fink's everything, anachronistic pop-music, news and public safety admonishments. Such an element was adopted and WAS used effectively by many Police States ( of the kind Levine has lamely created here for his fake America ) .
Alot of the problem with the 'advanced' props seen in-game, was that the gamedesigners stopped projecting forward -- still with too much influence from the Steam-Age, and without enough jarring temporal discordance typical of this kind of fantasy situation ( Not just flying things, but the vast range of more common everyday articles ). The gamemakers missed a significant chance for some proper 'Shock' ( which isn't really 'Bio' anyway - blatant misuseof the game Title for $$$ ). Sci-Fi ( let us pretend this was ) is supposed to highlight the EFFECTS upon Society of Technology, not so much with trying to explain it ( and attempting to explain using such Faux-Science was just lazy, dumb and cheap ).
It would have been different for Rapture, with its late-1940s/early-1950s base technologies, with a more normal ( if somewhat accelerated ) technical progression, alongside the never-seen-before (vague) Genetic 'Shock' stuff.
Infinite BS - Simply not enough creativity of thought there. ( The Timetravel/Dimensional Travel stuff was already so passe', such that long ago the Sci-Fi pulp magazines gave such up ).
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1912 Columbia Raffle & Fair ( The 'Stone the Colored-Lover and his *Bleep*' Scene ) :
The design was A little too fixated on justifying their fabricated game plot, and NOT on making the game show the way real people of the time thought ( supposedly a 'big' game element, hyped endlessly, allegedly portraying America 1912, Yada, yada, yada ... ).
It should be written 'FAIR' before 'Raffle' was mentioned (if at all) - unless everyone there is on some psychotic drug or SO bent on expressing their Righteous Outrage about miscegenation in Columbia. Historic Americans would NOT be formally lining up to attempt murder against people guilty of miscegenation (race mixing). That's something that was handled 'in the dead of night', or outside town so as not to offend sensibilities of women and such. 
Imagine if Levine had the guts to show the case where it was a 'colored' man and a white woman. THAT would have been some scene, and apparently a little out of Levine's "comfort zone" -- For all his talk about "pushing the envelope" and such other blather. ( A number of game critics mention the milque-toast lip-service paid (in the game) to the American 'Social Ills' which the game was alleged/supposed to exhibit/denounce. ) 
Talking about such things in the endless interviews was NOT a replacement for actually showing them in the game See Virtue Signaling Vaporware .
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Zion City, Illinois :
Google it. Sounds alot like Columbia, so I wonder if it was possible as a root of the idea for Infinite BS's Columbia ( except that it wasn't the Cultist Idolater Police State that Columbia was ) .
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Battleship Bay Implication of 'Surfing' :
It is a bit of an Anachronism, with Surfing not really being popular (existing) until the 1920s ( and that really only being as expositions by surfers from Hawaii ). For ordinary 'White' people to be doing it large-scale -- That wasn't til the 1940s when it was popularized. That game-shown artificial 'surf' environment - THAT made it Triply Strange ( There are these things called 'waves' being required ... ) Expecting waves to be in Columbia, large enough to warrant surfing, is almost funny.
Boats (like rowboats) you can operate sufficiently in only 2 feet of water. You could have small waves to have the surge up a very shallow beach for effect ( but not a very long 'run' ... ). For Surfing, where waves propel the surfboard, the waves have to be large/tall enough - 3 4 5 feet for 'easy' ( there are wave machines that generate such in the Real World ). You also need length' to surf a wave long enough for it to matter.
And the whole scene hardly looks to me like it is in 'the middle of a Civil War/Rebellion/Slave Uprising', so the story plot was a setting of a 'Powder Keg', with the actions of Booker 'igniting' it.
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This issue of Water reminds me of how much Water modern people use, and where THAT would come from in Columbia ( adds up to more bulk/weight than for food and other supplies ). (( Again, with Fantasy, such things are "just taken care of" ( kind of like how many 'modern' people think/assume - so many people haven't a clue about where everything that they are-familiar-with/are-dependent-to-live-on comes from ). ))
There is the large boardwalk (on left) and whatever the Battleship Bay buildings are ( an indoor swimming pool ? Band Dance Hall ? Casino ? ). A segment of not-too-deep water ( enough for a 'dip' - could only extend 50 feet to the right - with that length of Beach ) wouldn't be that much -- less then all that other stuff you see. That whole 'stretch of sand' weighs more than a little by itself --- but Cuz - Derp !!!!.
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The New Eden at 80 Proof :
No 'Prohibition' in Columbia ? The Anti-Saloon Leaguehttps://www.conservapedia.com/Anti-Saloon_league and other temperance groups were very strong and active in the USA ( particularly in the South and Rural North ), and often attached to 'white' religious groups. Reactionary religion is usually coupled with 'moral correction' ...
But that would get in the way of the Prophet's Profits (and the Gamewriters 'Cuz'-based story ) -- After all, how else did a Cliche Northern 'Carpetbagger' like Fink get away with contaminating Columbia with 'colored' convicts and 'The Irish' (cheap labor)? 
It would have been a nice game element to make more/better/logical connections with the reality of those times. 
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The REALLY 'White City' :
The 'good' parts of Columbia are so weirdly antiseptic. Sections the Player goes through at night should have an army of cleaners (serfs) be seen swarming all about, eliminating any/all grunge to make it ready for the 'White People' the next day. Of course, that would mean the overseers would be there too, and probably make it impossible for Booker & Elizabeth to pass through unchallenged ( Sneaking past them all MIGHT have been a good game mechanism shift of gameplay -- instead of slaughtering everything in sight ).
Having to 'silence' an unfortunate 'Darkie' would be required/forced ( for the Player to get past ). Now THAT would be 'pushing the envelope', as Levine promised. Playing Levine's games, YOU really are NOT given a choice of NOT being made a mass-murderer --- Think about THAT when considering how 'good' this game supposedly was.
BTW, The 1893 Exposition was called 'The White City', because all the 'Beaux Art' buildings were covered in white plaster/paint ( and was brightly lit electrically at night ). 
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Creepy Alternate : The off-white paint of Columbia is made from the 'ground up' bones of its victims ...
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Bank Of The Prophet's Tithe Economic Absurdity/Ignorance :
"Fifty percent of all transactions go to Comstock as a Tithe ???"
It sounded like that's what the game says.
A little excessive (as in being *absurd*) as nobody/few would THEN keep their money there ( or use it for ANY 'transactions' unless forced to do so ). And in those days, there were few other services real Banks did besides giving loans/holding money for people. Few people used 'checks' ( employees were usually paid directly ). There were no credit/debit cards or simple investment departments.
SO, is there no wonder we find money just about anywhere you look ( even in Garbage Cans ) - Nobody is keeping it in ( or rather losing it to ) this "Bank" ??
Seriously, just (a traditional) 10% forced "Tithe" would have been absurd enough to dissuade most people - in an era where you rarely got more than 3% annual interest.
"and the biggest and most used bank in Columbia." IS there any OTHER 'Bank' in Columbia ??
With tithes attached like that, most people would keep their money under their mattress at home. It seems a bit blatantly excessive ( and decidedly gamemaker ignorant ), as no Bank could ever operate with that kind of arrangement. ( You might as well have had 'Offering Kiosks' with the words "HAND IT ALL OVER TO THE PROPHET - OR ELSE". ) Except for the gamemaker's ridiculous Fantasy fiction of "This is America, circa 1900", You might have had a better game story saying : "In Heaven/Eden, noone NEEDS ANY money".
An Irony probably unmeant/unrealized : Does it seem the game's writers were more delusional than the people presented IN the game ( for them living in a place like Columbia ? ) ? Thinking America was EVER anything like that - OR pretending it was ????
"Fifty percent of everything people earn here goes right to Comstock as a Tithe." -- "I gotta get me a job in that Prophet business."
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BTW - In America of today, if you add up the various taxes and fees imparted on the income/spending of those who work to make a living, it adds up to near 50 % being taken out of every dollar you earn. Except (at least so far), that is NOT 'taken out' at every Bank Transaction. 
It is all a rather nonsensical economic systemActually rather ignorant of how banks work - I guess the writers are pretty clueless/dumbed-down, and it just 'sounded good' to them. Seriously, did NOBODY at the studio review the game story to catch retarded Crap like this ??? -- Just more absurd fictional/fantasy, as as much as in the other Faux-Religion/Faux-Science/Faux-History/Faux-Economy aspects of this game ( Despite all claims to the contrary ). 
(( SERIOUSLY - I WOULD BE ASHAMED TO PUT MY NAME TO ANYTHING WRITTEN LIKE THIS. ))
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Relevancy THIS Sucka !!! :
The Temperance Movement, prevalent in America at that time, might've been a good element to include in the Infinite BS Columbia ( if you actually wanted 'historic' ). With all this "We Be Holy" stuff ( and Booker's/Comstock's own booze issues, it might've been another 'idea' to present - Coulda been called "Proscription" instead of "Prohibition" ). Clandestine alcohol and action of (immigrant culture) 'Wets' should have been a sideline issue to include in the games environment ( Heck, regurgitate the whole 'Smuggling' element - They tried to clone just about everything else from BioShock Rapture ).
Women's Suffrage might've been another aspect ( condemned by Patriarchal Comstock of course ). Yet they have Women Police/Paramilitary made obvious to the Players.
Why are the non-whites and 'foreigners there ? Consider that you really don't want a bunch of drunken Untermenschen serfs menacing the 'Holy'/'Devout'/'Saved' population - It makes them forget their 'proper' place, and their subsequent surliness ( and then the public whippings, and penalty of throwing repeat offenders 'Over the Edge' (execution) -- You start to run out of serfs/slaves then, and they ARE a bit expensive to replace Until the great genius Jeremiah Fink perfects his 'Servitor' machines. ).
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Times Relentless March On Columbia :
Scummy Fountains and Dirty Statues ( Columbia has been floating about for almost 20 years - plenty of time for corrosion/decay and dirt/clogs to have its affect ) :
Where are all the cranes and scaffolding needed to get the cleaners up on those ridiculous Huge-ified statues ? What ? Flying things for that ? SO the worker-class drudges won't then *INSTANTLY* use those to zoom off, and make their Escape from Columbia ? The premise of this game is full of 'Holes you could fly Zeppelins through' ( That avowal is 'spot on' for this game, even though I first used it over 25 years ago with something unrelated, but similarly flawed ).
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Comstock Refers To The World Below As "Sodom" :
But isn't Columbia a flying "Sodom" full of evil and arrogance - filled with unholy idolatry ( "A White Sepulcher Filled With Corruption" ) ??
That Would NOT be lost on any real Christian people. So maybe there really weren't that many of THOSE in Columbia (the religion there isn't "Christian" anyway'Christians' have NOTHING to do with that strange Columbia religion, which seems to exist in the game. Seriously, Levine really shows he does NOT know anything about Christian 'religion' ( He admits this in an interview ) OR he does NOT actually care about misrepresenting it as it existed HISTORICALLY in America. Hack. - So the writers really aren't that clever -- just divisive. So many there maybe are just Opportunists in Columbia, who make a good living enslaving those Untermenschen unfortunates, who somehow fell under their power (( Why would those victims EVER come to Columbia, or STAY there ?? -- Don't look to the game writers for any logical answer to THAT question. ))
Sad, if THAT all is the flawed impression that Levine has of religious people (Why else does he portray (so heavy-handedly) all these attempted associations with "America", if it is NOT trying to be a negative generalization ??) 
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Historic Columbia - It is Fifth Graders 'Causes Of The Civil War' Assignment level 'History' :
Faux-History is not a good basis for pretending to 'Illustrate the Evils and Issues of America's Past - It's supposed Awful Society'. 
It makes for Crappy Storytelling.
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Candied Tripe :
Levine & Co basically "Hummelized" ( look up "Hummel Figurines" on The Web ) what they claim to be Turn of the Century America, which then is supposed to illustrate 'Social Ills' of that period, and then be a setting for endless bloody combat firefights. That's kinda like IF your were given a shotgun to use when you go on "Its A Small World" at Disneyland. That goes for the story/plot, as well as the landscape and characters. (( "Its a Small World" is allegedly called the "Asylum ride" by the Disney employees, who had to operate that ride -- Because listening to that repeated cute singing theme endlessly will drive you crazy. Actually having to live in Levine's creepy too-shiney floating city probably would have had the same effect. ))
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Ordinary Workingmen of the 1890s. 
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Supposed "Middle Class" For Columbia. What type of people would continue to live in this Un-American Cultist Police State ??? (( More a stupid idea of ignorant game-writers, than anyone supposedly 'American' ( 1900 or anytime else. ))
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Women as Police Officers/Soldiers is Rather BIZARRELY Odd for Columbia :
Sorry, In Columbia There Would Be NO Women Police Officers/Constables/ParaMilitaries ( even the Nazis did not have Women soldiers ) 
For a place allegedly claiming to be based on 1900 America ( and a rather reactionary element as well ), Infinite BS contained alot of gratingly stupid/unlikely/incoherent things -- FAR more Fantasy than anything a Bio Shock should be.
Columbia was Toxic Reactionaries - Remember ? ( Seriously, The Writers had no Consistency AT ALL ).
Infinite BS's incohesive story setting just adds more Fantasyland to the whole genre ( making any points about it's relating to the Real World and Real History rather Negligible ).
1918 in Progressive America ( in DC - a first 'police woman' Directed Traffic ) - BUT In Reactionary Columbia ???
This is modern writers showing ignorance of The Past - the History they are supposedly presenting.
 
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That 'Bank of the Prophet' was so huge, when a mere branch office sized bank building would have sufficed for Columbia's limited population ( Look at pictures of streets of real cities - just one block shows more people in them than all that we saw in Columbia across the whole game ).
Described as : "The Bank of the Prophet was established in 1894 as a place for citizens to deposit their savings, establish credit, and receive loans. The central financial institution of Columbia, it was a symbol of the floating city's economic independence and stability." 
Just more of the typical Gianourmity of the things the gamemakers had to make up their game ('giant detail' means less 'fine detail' being required). 
50% Tithe on Bank deposits ?? What imbecile let that utterly ignorant thing get into the game ?????? 
Swindler : Anyone who runs a Bank where half the deposit is taken as a 'Tithe' is as crooked as most other thieves ( "Moneychangers in The Temple" ... )
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Not a good idea to be showing such sentiments when you have 'The South Shall Rise Again' Fanatics all around.
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SO much Stuff Just Laying Around AND In The Trash
I could see the Vox arming an army with all the resources we find in the various trash recepticles and various other containers, and simply laying about Columbia.
Rapture was ruins with the leavings of dead people and the insane Splicers. Columbia is not a ruin and still has a normal population for most of the game.
The constant (and everywhere) resupply of the Player unfortunately requires Manic_Magpie looting which is too mcuh like one of the old platform games.
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A Prudish Reactionary Society ?? This should not have gone over well in Columbia.
Such a fancy expensive bottle, easily breakable and carried in a pocket, being quickly consumed and disposed with.
(( For these Gamemakers, logic was irrelevant for these few fancy game assets . ))
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I don't think the Makers of this Game ( or this Level Developer ) understood (or cared) about what a SHANTYTOWN is supposed to be. Just tossing in Props like this which don't really belong.
Even having a 'ShantyTown' within Columbia seemed too contrived. The Worker Compounds should have more looked like the Segregation Townships in South Africa ( If you are to have proper 'Segregational Racism', then you will have Racial Separation of 'Poor People' also.
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Questions about Columbia : 
Do they follow the Latest Fashions of "The Sodom Below" ??? 
OR is Columbia full of people dressed With rather reserved Clothing, even for 1893 ??? 
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They never really got into what a dangerous and criminal-filled places such sub-tenement environments are.
And NO, Daisy Fitzroy wouldn't really be able to do much to stop that kind of thing.
Strange that we did not see many bunches of Founders 'walled up' in their homes with their guns, and the piles of dead Vox outside who thought revolutions are easy. 
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Wow : Books with Duke & Dimwit ...
Must be popular with all those ... Are they even games ??? 
Game-wise, it is rather lame STAGED SETTING - Remember "Epstein the Swami" ???
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It Be Historic :
We can at least have : "Comstock's Cure All" - 'Now with more Radium !' ( Real World - Radioactivity was the magic public buzzword in that first decade of the 20th century ) Quack Medicine - and since Comstock was the biggest duck in Columbia ... Of course REAL Radium is something so expensive you'd probably have to steal it ( Sorry no easy 'Lutece magic' to produce it ).
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