To stop violent toys, just change culture

Springfield News-Leader ^ | Robert Leger

[Holly_P]

Something called The Lion & Lamb Project wants parents to keep Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Matrix and the Terminator away from their kids. The group is offended that this "Dirty Dozen" of toys and entertainment carries a message that violence solves problems. If parents stopped buying these violent products for kids, the group suggests, we could build a more peaceful society.

[dighton]

Saki: The Toys of Peace

[RogueIsland]

The group is offended that this "Dirty Dozen" of toys and entertainment carries a message that violence solves problems.

The dirty little secret of the human race that too many people would like to ignore because it makes them confront unpleasant things about the species is that yes, Virginia, violence sometimes solves problems.

The "violence never solves anything" crowd may be well intentioned, but they have no grasp of human nature. There will always be a certain number of people who cannot be dealt with through group hugs and patient understanding of their "pain", and if you try to do so, they will take that as a sign of weekness and use the first opportunity to bash your head in with a rock and take your stuff.

As the great student of human nature "Dogbert" observed, "I wish there were no weapons in the world. If everyone else was disarmed, I could take over this whole stupid planet with a butter knife".

[17th Miss Regt]

Toy doctor sets have always been popular and are not violent. The Lion and the Lamb would approve of those. And I know these folks approve of abortion on demand. So how about a doctors's playset with the specialty being women's choice services? Forceps, scissors, suction device, etc. Wouldn't that be charming to see your 5 year old performing his first play abortion? Merry Christmas!

[ARCADIA]

Perhaps these people should just castrate their little boys.

[DustyMoment]

Sounds to me like the chicken and egg argument: which came first, the violence, or the human nature?

I remain unconvinced that the nonsense of eliminating violent toys from society will, somehow, curb the violence in ours or any other society. As the author notes, violence is almost as old as mankind, itself.

Schools may decide that scores can no longer be kept in atheletic contests, but the kids still know who won and who lost. Taking toy guns from the store shelves still won't stop boys (particularly) from pointing sticks at one another and saying "bang!".

Perhaps someone should help these social do-gooders find a more productive way to spend their day than fretting over simplistic, esoteric nonsense.

[ladylib]

They're castrated when they enter the public school system.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Thought police are on duty.

[Long Cut]

A friend and I the other day were talking, and we figured out that, there being such a purge of "violent" (read: toys that boys would LIKE) toys from stores at the behest of the castrators, an honest man could make him a killin' if he only began making realistic-looking, durable toy guns (and accessories) for kids to play with. You need only sell them directly over the Net to avoid the PC Peace-and-love police.

Surely, there must be a demand for such things out there, especially in the less-feminized areas of the country. In my job, I regularly visit foreign countries, and outside of Europe, realistic, fun-looking toys are widely available, and sell well. Also, with a war on, and the fact that many young lads ALWAYS want to imitate the heroes they see on TV, I'm sure one could sell quite a few toy M16s and M4s.

We both agreed that all we needed was an appropriate material to make them out of (strong enough to take a young boy's abuse, but inexpensive enough to sell reasonably), a facility to make them, and a website.

Hell, even if we went broke, just watching the castrators of our society get hives over it would be worth it.

[Russ]

Another example of what I call the sissyfying (sp?) of America.

[stainlessbanner]

The games make them think

More like the opposite.

[fourdeuce82d]

violence solves problems

only if it is skillfully applied...