Postscript on the fate of "Jerusalem, Israel" and the new edition of Monopoly
As has been noted before in this diary, the international consensus is that the status of Jerusalem has yet to be decided.
The United Nations partition vote of 1947 held that the city should be a "corpus separatum", under international supervision. That vote has not been superseded in the UN.
When approached, Hasbro, the American manufacturers of Monopoly, promised that they would not second-guess the UN, should Jerusalem be included.
In an email to the BBC, they stated: "Due to space limitations no selected city's board space will have any descriptive text aside from said city's common name."
Yet to be resolved is how much Jerusalem will cost. The Old Kent Road (Mediterranean Avenue) or Mayfair (Boardwalk)?
So, this is how they play:-
Hasbro, the parent of Parker Brothers issued the following statement about their decision:
Parker Brothers, the makers of board game Monopoly has embarked upon an exercise to find the world's most popular cities as voted for by the public. It was never our intention to print any countries on the final boards and any online tags were merely used as a geographic reference to help with city selection. This is clearly stated in the terms and conditions of our campaign.
We would never want to enter into any political debate. We apologise for any upset this has caused our Monopoly fans and hope that they continue to support their favourite cities, all of which are deserving of a place on our final board - Monopoly Here and Now : The World Edition which will be released in Autumn 2008. The 20 pre-selected cities with the highest worldwide votes on February 29 2008 will make it onto the board. Plus voters will have from February 29 to March 9 2008 to vote on the most nominated Wildcard cities. Only the top two will make it on the board.
All country tags are currently being removed from the websites – cities will only be represented by their common name as they will appear on the board. I hope this does not stop you from supporting Jerusalem a very worthy and wonderful city.
Found this over at Atlas Shrugs from here.
UPDATE
Was informed that "last night when I went to vote I noted the wild card cities still had their countries listed."
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2 comments:
I find it fascinating that this thing has becom basically the number-one online Jewish activist cause - despite the fact that long before some know-nothing marketing fellas at Parker Brothers deicded to take a stab at int'l diplomacy, the US has omitted Israel from next to Jerusalem in our passports and birth certificates.
I guess its always easier to register outrage at a board game - no risk of being charged with dual loyalty.
Ezra,
I think we take it where we can get it, and we're not letting even the smallest opportunities fall through the cracks. Besides, do you really want to see Montreal do better than Jerusalem?
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