Or this! 
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.
Look what happens now:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1545258/posts
We used pine cones as grenades!!!!
I'm a wargamer, so I still play with war toys!!!
THey need to stop all their bitchin and get back in the kitchen.
Yes, they do. Some of the folks who show up at their events may not be bright enough to see the big picture, but at the very least, all the honchos *do* know exactly what they're doing and on which side they stand.
I want them all to develop chronic, resistant yeast infections.
And as long as they're up, can they get us all a beer?
"There was a Lib on WRKO once who tried that experiment on his daughter. He bought her two fire trucks. She called them Mommie Truck and baby Truck."
That reminds me of when I was a wee lad and my family would visit friends who had a daughter; she would insist that I join her while she played with her Barbie dolls. She stopped inisisting that I do so after I made Barbie into a female Israeli commando or a female "hitter" for the mob. For some reason, she didn't appreciate it when Barbie negotiated for Ken's release from Iranian terrorists...before capping them.
"If you put a boy in a room for 20 minutes with nothing but 2 hangers, he's going to exit the room with a Car and a Gun."
Yep. Many a time I turned twigs and sticks into forts, bridges, catapaults, etc...
Or this!
As a boy in NC, we had a huge pine straw pile at the edge of the woods, that my friends and I would turn into a fort every winter (in summer it was full of chiggers). Every year it would get bigger and bigger as the pine straw from our yard was deposited there. We would go into the woods and get limbs from the ground for our guns. We killed many naziGermans and damnYankees from that fort.
Sounds like Combat Barbie. :-)
Nonsense, I'm just a parent who teaches her child the meaning of gratitude.
LOL!
I remeber one summer afternoon when my friends and I established a "checkpoint Caharlie" on our street and asked to see the IDs of drivers as they "left the American Zone". Almost everyone in the neighbourhood complied with our request and smiled as we "made sure everything was in order". Imagine a group of 10-13 year-old boys in fatigues with toy rifles and machineguns stopping drivers in order to inspect their IDs.
They became so good at this that they were able to embed metal objects deeply into tree trunks.
They finally told me this year (now that 2 are in college) the they had to learn to spackle and paint so that I would not know the damage they had done to the walls in the home. They said that they left a few places where you can still see the head of George Washington that the quarters would leave just to see if I would ever notice.
Oh yes, the arrow tips they made that embeded into the trees and my walls were cut out of old coke cans.
Although I agree with his points his research and grasp of the industry is suspect. It's Grand Theft Auto.
A. Yes, they are as you say
B. Seperating the Truth of Reality from Media portrayal is a big weakness I daily struggle with...and I sorely do wish that I didn't have to, but I'm not a loser.
C. You're right, but I actually didn't realize that what I was saying is a Liberal argument;
What I was meaning to imply was that such digital destruction can encourage and skew young minds toward such behaviorisms.
I DO FULLY AGREE that Everyone is responsible for their own actions and deeds that they commit. And I'm not biased against ALL video games;
I'm biased against Wicked, Lewd and Lawless content that is making a cancer of entertainment today.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.