Posted on 12/22/2005 6:37:05 AM PST by Hadean
For kids, Christmas means toys. For boys in particular, the hottest toys often have a martial theme — BB guns, army men, light sabers and the like.
But this Christmas season, some parents trudging to the malls for G.I. Joes have had to meet the politically correct platoons now infiltrating the local Toys R' Us.
Code Pink, a leftist women's outfit that's a fixture at antiwar rallies, is taking a break from protesting real conflict in Iraq to campaign against so-called "war toys." As the Pink website warns: "Every holiday season manufactures prey on our children with pro-war propaganda disguised as innocent toys. Don't let your child be a victim of G.I. Joe!"
I feel compelled to note that the gracefully aging ladies of Code Pink obviously never have watched an actual G.I. Joe cartoon since the Real American Hero's enemies are famous for rolling, flying, or parachuting their way out of danger. The Teletubbies have a better kill rate than Joe and his comrades.
Nevertheless, Code Pink is calling for parents to boycott purveyors of pretend weaponry. Fair enough, I suppose. If American parents really think that a cowboy hat and plastic six shooter will turn their little darling into a senseless killer, then by all means: Send a message by buying "The Rainforest Playset" or "Sensitivity: The Boardgame" instead. Voting with your dollars — it's the free market at work. Code Pinkers horrified by a foam ninja throwing stars or a water gun can avoid these things and argue that others should too.
Yet Code Pink goes way beyond the venerable boycott. While the group urges activists to don pink camouflage and distribute sidewalk propaganda on the evils of war toys, it also instructs would-be peace warriors to pursue their campaign inside stores.
One suggested tactic is the "buy and return." The idea is for activists themselves to purchase war toys and then head straight to customer service. There they return the offending products while engaging in a verbal strike — imploring managers to take "violent" toys off the shelves and pestering fellow customers about war toys' dangers. (Certainly, there's no better way to win converts than to gum up the return and exchange lines during the holiday rush.) Code Pink suggests pre-arranging local media to cover the impending ruckus.
At least Code Pink's "buy and return" silliness is probably legal. Operation "Stick It To 'Em," however, encourages activists to deface private property by placing surgeon general-style warning labels on offending toys. The Code Pink website includes helpful samples that, they explain, are easily printed on sticky mailing labels. One sums up the heart of the campaign: "Violent Toys=Violent Boys."
That equation just doesn't add up. Clearly, not all toys are virtuous or appropriate for children. Video games like Grand Theft Audio, in which players can decapitate police officers (or alternatively, set them on fire or brutalize them with a chainsaw), are unhealthy for children — and probably for everyone else. Some toys have few redeeming values.
Yet there's a big difference between GTA: Vice City and G.I. Joe, plastic army men, or Super Soakers. As Code Pink says, wars — real wars — aren't games. But the reverse also is true: Games aren't wars. Neither research nor common sense supports quashing the natural tendency of little boys to play soldier, cowboy, or cop. And like it or not, violence is a reality in the world and soldiers and policemen aren't villains to most Americans. These professions embody the discipline, responsibility, and self-sacrifice that most parents want to nurture in their children. What better way for kids to express admiration and explore these virtues than through games and make believe?
Sometimes games turn ugly. Rough-and-tumble play can lead to bruised egos as well as bruised knees and elbows. Parents should set limits and exercise supervision to ensure that games and play don't go too far. Such parental involvement — teaching limits and under what circumstances aggressive behavior is appropriate — will do far more to shape boys into honorable young men than costumed whining at toy stores.
Do these pinheads like or admire anything or anyone? Good Lord, what a bunch of whiners.
I need to go buy some war toys.
I made a US Army servicewoman cry in the airport this past weekend when I told my toddler to go up and hug her and say "Thank you". Best Christmas present ever, to see the joy on her face and the awe in my son's eyes.
No kidding! Cobra and his minions always lived to fight another day. G.I. Joe wasn't very good at killing the enemy!
Good job! America needs more pansy boys!
They are not, however, protesting the sales of the "Li'l Libs Home Castration Kit".
I wonder why.
They admire Al Qaeda...I don't know why the article refers to them as "anti war"...hell, they finance the enemy.
HA!!! Thse Ladies are so bad...they even get the MATH wrong!
It's NOT the violent toys--It's the violent Video Games like Grand Theft Auto, WWF Smackdown, etc. that pervertes young mens minds.
That's awesome. Wish I could have seen that.
This makes me want to buy "war toys" and donate them to Toys for Tots (run by the Marines).
Useful idiots...
Yes, I read about that. What's the source of that report?
God, they actually sent $ to terrorists? That is disgusting and traitorous.
My 4 boys have been doing nothing but playing laser tag since school got out. I have to buy another set because they only come with two guns. Any parent of boys knows that a stick becomes a gun or a lightsaber. Just more feminization attempts by the left.
Code Pinko: The 'After' picture of
the effects of Feminist Radical Gene
Progression through Irradiation.
Ish! Do you know that youth violence is on the decline over the last few decades while games have gotten more realistic?
Typical fundy, “I don’t like it, so you can’t have it.”
My favorite was "Beach head"
I got a 21 month old son. I went shopping at ToysRUs yesterday, not realizing their toy gun policy. It's absolutely silly.
I want to buy my son a toy gun for him - but I planned on waiting until next year when he actually knows what it is. Now I wonder if I should just go buy a few in case they get banned everywhere......
I wish to God that they would protest at the Toys R' Us here in Tampa. I would go buy a Cobra Commander mask and drive my car through them, screaming out the window: "Cobra la-la-la-la-la!" My wife would be Baronness.
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