DCML digest, Vol 1 #671 - 7 msgs

Dan Shane danshane at bellsouth.net
Wed Sep 19 15:18:30 CEST 2001


JOHN GARVIN WROTE:

> The Disneyland theme park is currently in the process of
> removing all of the pretend "guns" from its park.  What will this
> accomplish?  Do the whining parents who have complained about armed
> pirates and frontiersmen really believe that these pretend gun fights
> are going to turn their children into violent criminals?  The censors in
> Disney comics are even more ridiculous:  They removed a six-shooter from
> a Don Rosa Uncle Scrooge story which took place in the old west!

Before Disney or anyone trying to "protect" us performs such a "service", I
would like them to offer any documentation that shows exposure of children
to guns in a historical context turns them into bad kids bent on killing
their neighbors.

Yes, I will agree that we don't need Donald's nephews dressing up like Rambo
imitating Keanu Reeves in THE MATRIX, but how does showing an outlaw holding
a pistol encourage violence?  If we teach our children that the Pirates of
the Caribbean managed to take over an entire town by pointing their fingers
at the citizens, how is that serving them?

Your reference to the removal of guns in Disneyland may only mean those that
the kids can interact with directly, such as the air guns mounted in Tom
Sawyer's Fort, rather than the firearms held by animatronic "actors."  If
so, I have an easier solution.  I don't let my kids play with them.

I don't own a gun.  I've never owned a gun.  I will never own a gun.  I used
to hunt with my father's rifle when I was a child because it was an
inexpensive source of meat for our poor farming family.  When hunting became
more expensive than visiting the grocery, we never shot another animal.  But
it is not my business, or anyone else's, to pretend nobody in history ever
used a gun.

Can what we see on the screen or in comics have an effect on our kids'
attitudes?  Most certainly.  One of my sons seemed to enjoy Popeye always
beating Bluto to a pulp, and I didn't like my 5-year-old boy running around
punching people in imitation of what he saw on TV.  I fixed that.  He did
not get to watch Popeye for a couple of years.  And I love Popeye.  Once
Forrest reached the age that he could understand that you cannot use
cartoons as an example for how you deal with people, that problem went away.

My one example does not provide a basis for how all kids should be raised.
It doesn't even apply to how I had to discipline my other 3 children.  But
one feature of discipline is constant -- the parents need to be there, know
what their kids are doing, and take action when necessary.  That's not a
guarantee that the kids will grow up perfect (mine didn't, though they're
all doing fine now), but pretending that violence doesn't exist hasn't been
working either.






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