Need a drinking game idea for tonight’s debate? Amnesty’s got you covered.
Amnesty International unveiled its newest offering on Twitter this morning: Presidential debate human rights bingo!
The interactive page on Amnesty's website displays a bingo card with some big ticket human rights issues in the boxes (such as Syria, Torture, Housing, and Justice System, among others).
When one of the candidates addresses an issues on their card, a player can just click the box, turning it yellow. Or, to share and play at home with friends, there are also downloadable versions to print out. (Regular bingo rules apply.)
Amnesty's bingo was created by Amnesty USA online marketing manager Kyra Stoddart, who told GlobalPost that the rights organization "wanted to do something fun that raised awareness about the key issues."
As of this morning, the bugs are still being worked out, said Stoddart, but she thinks it will be a fun way to get people engaged in the issues the human rights community is passionate about.
"[The idea for bingo] was about trying to track what the candidates are talking about and keep and eye on what they're saying," said Stoddart, who added that the cards should be used through all the presidential debates, not just tonight's. "It may take three debates to get all our issues talked about, to get bingo!"
In addition to the bingo boards, Amnesty also released 12 questions for the candidates to address, both on domestic and foreign policy issues, ranging from the prison industrial complex to ensuring the presence of women at any future peace talks in Afghanistan. The questions are part of the "12 for 2012" campaign, which challenges whomever wins the election to commit to putting a priority on human rights, both at home and abroad.
“The next four years will be pivotal in determining whether the United States will be a human rights trailblazer, or just an occasional actor when principles coincide with a narrow conception of U.S. national interests,” said Suzanne Nossel, executive director of Amnesty USA.
As far as we can see this morning, no other major human rights groups has created a game specific to the presidential debates, however, Human Rights Campaign does have a page called "The Truth About Mitt Romney," which includes easy-to-digest infographics and videos.
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If you're not into human rights issues, or if the candidates don't bring them up and bingo becomes a bore, BuzzFeed also has a presidential debate game with some interesting rules.
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