Subject:
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Re: Children and Violence
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 1 Oct 2001 02:14:40 GMT
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Viewed:
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302 times
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Larry Pieniazek wrote:
>
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
>
> > What, in your mind, is the difference between playing graphically violent >video
> > games and playing cops'n'robbers or cowboys'n'indians as far as that goes?
> > Particularly in the latter example, isn't it just celebrating the abuse of
> > others? I guess at least you're getting excercize...
>
> This is a great question!
>
> A few days/weeks back Dan J, when asked about Hamas and Hezbollah training
> kids with tinfoil wrapped wooden knives to kill Israeli soldiers, responded
> that it was the same (or essentially the same) as American kids playing
> violent video games.
>
> Is that valid? Is there a difference in kind there somewhere or is it just
> degree? I think there IS a difference in kind but can't point to the exact
> border point.
One difference I see "in kind" is the "training" aspect of it. When I
played cowboys and indians or whatever as a kid (actually, I think I did
more "allies vs axis" WWII play than cowboys and indians), I was not
being taught by my elders that violence was an acceptable means of
dealing with life.
I'm really not sure where my stance on video games is. We didn't have
such graphic media when I was a kid. Sure, there was violence on TV and
the movies, but violent as Road Runner is, it just isn't real. Of course
I also didn't watch very much TV as a kid. When I was very young, we
were allowed either half an hour or an hour of TV a day, though as I
remember it, it was acceptable to watch a sibling's share of TV.
Instead, we were encouraged to read (our library had a summer program
where you read something like 6 or 8 books [no, 10, I just found the
"evidence" in my scrapbook] and wrote a little one or two paragraph
report on each, and then got a gold star or something when you finished,
one summer I read 30 books - I think the interesting thing about that
program was that it set a modest goal, but didn't let that goal stop a
child who was much more committed). These days, I watch almost no TV and
hardly go to movies.
I personally find video games relatively unsatisfying. Of course I don't
have the patience to develop the reflexes to do well at them (for
example I enjoyed Lemmings until the need for reflexes dominated the
puzzle solving skills). I also find them a huge suck on time and not
very interactive. I also have never been much of a fan of
competitiveness (which is what won me over to role playing games - what
a neat concept, a game which develops cooperation, even between the
players and the GM).
> For the record we have had a policy of no toy guns or knives in our house,
> although it has had some leakage (the LEGO(r) Pirates have guns and
> cutlasses, as do the Wild West guys and the Ninjas, etc.), it has held
> fairly well. But we had some other leakage with video games. We don't have
> Doom or Quake but we DO have Super Smash Brothers (it was bought without my
> knowledge or approval but I haven't had the heart (or willpower?) to take it
> away) on the n64...
>
> I think it worked pretty well as a policy but my kids still do beat on each
> other.
I'm pretty ambivalent about toy weapons. I always had them, and played
various games all through my childhood. I got into war games quite
early, probably before 5th grade (I remember sometime before 6th grade
playing "little wars" with my dad, and I had Avalon Hill's Tactics II
before that). Of course all of this war play developed into a deep
interest in the history of war and probably a much greater appreciation
for the enormity of war than someone not so closely exposed to it.
I think what is more important is to look at how the child is playing.
If the violence is mostly just in the roughhousing category, or doesn't
seem to intense or directed inappropriately (not that I know how to
define that, but I think I know it when I see it), then I think it is
best to let it go. If it seems out of hand, then it may be time for a
talk with the child to try and find out what the real issue is.
Just my thoughts
Frank
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Children and Violence
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| (...) This IS a great question, and I have trouble putting my finger on the difference too. Actually I'm not terribly familiar with many video games at all, so most of what I have heard is secondhand (and I prefer to keep it that way). My impression (...) (23 years ago, 2-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Children and Violence
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| (...) This is a great question! A few days/weeks back Dan J, when asked about Hamas and Hezbollah training kids with tinfoil wrapped wooden knives to kill Israeli soldiers, responded that it was the same (or essentially the same) as American kids (...) (23 years ago, 30-Sep-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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