Question. Answer.
children live what they see and what they're taught. if you grow up around war and that's all you see, that's what you'll do, because that is what is done. older children can follow other paths, but small children don't know there are other ways of living yet. they merely do what their elders do. rather than sanctimoniously bemoaning the fact that, simply, iraqi children are inured to what they grew up in (just as kids who grow up in the projects play with needles), focus on how to change what they grow up in. maybe the next generation -even this generation's younger half- will be lucky enough to grow up around something else. then you'll see different toys.
posted by sara. @ 1:53 PM
3 Comments:
I really enjoyed Nerf and Lazertag wars as a child, and I hereby challenge any psychoanalyst to discover the elder of mine who runs around with buzzing shoulder-lights shooting yellow foam balls at other adults.
I agree with Ben. Your entry neglects a key factor: fantasy. Escapism. It's what children are best at, it's what they love to do--yes, children play house or with baby dolls, but more often they also play space explorer or racecar driver.
I'm bewildered because there's no escapism when the Iraqi children play with plastic AK-47s.
I can't imagine how anyone could ever even think of ascribing a word like "sanctimonious" to me ;).
I think we may have lost sight of the argument here. What's interesting about this situation, which is what we were originally pointing out, is that real-life misery and death are taking the place of flashy advertising in Iraq -- that these toys imitate the deadly reality, not some escapist fantasy.
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