War Toys and Political Beliefs

[Delta4Embassy]

Did you grow up playing with toy guns or other simulated weapons?

How do you align yourself politically now?

 

[September]

I used to love training with shinai and nunchuks at a local dojo when I was a girl. Before I was ten I was also training techniques with sais, bo staffs and katanas, and eventually my dad taught me how to use various firearms. He'd also bought me some butterfly knives, lol.

The church I went to also taught me archery, for some reason. We got to train in archery, but sometimes even 9mm and shotguns at the church members' ranches. Before I was even in third grade! Fucking Texas lol. But my dad had already been taking me hunting often, so I had plenty of shooting experience already.

My only "toys" were a Sega Genesis and most consoles onward. I fucking loved videogames, but that's all I ever really got to "play" with when I wasn't with friends. I was obviously never into dolls, lol, and during much of my spare time I was drawing everything I could.

My political alignment is nothing. I'm neither a liberal nor a conservative but I get accused of being a liberal all the time, and numerous online tests I took declared that I am a fascist, supposedly. I just believe what I Will regardless of who else believes it.

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[Abishai100]

Nerf: Nerdism & Nukes


I remember the delightful and brilliant Hollywood (USA) movie "Toys" (1992) starring the late, great Robin Williams which presented the imaginarium-paranoia story of an eccentric prince who inherits his father's lucrative toy manufacturing company and finds himself plunged into a dastardly conspiracy involving the dangerous marketing of war-glorifying toys which a corrupt consultant seeks to promote.

I used to play with bow-and-arrow sets and water-pistols as a child, and I've grown up in America where consumerism culture caters to a laissez-faire attitude towards symbol philosophy. I used to watch episodes of the paramilitary fantasy-adventure animated series "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero" (Hasbro) which presented stories about patriotic crusaders called G.I. Joes vying with a deadly terrorist organization called Cobra for dominion over social control. This series prompted the selling of various action-figures and war-themed vehicles and miniature weapons/guns and even Halloween costumes.

Populism/democracy comes at a price. Remember those news reports in the 1990s that people were committing copycat crimes modeled after scenes from the violence-glorification Hollywood (USA) movie "Natural Born Killers" (1994)?

In my honest opinion, water guns and water-pistols provide adequate fodder for debate in this arena. Do water guns promote violence or do they offer youngsters a creative way to think about alternatives to violence? I remember watching a gangster-rap video shown on MTV which depicted African-American gang members engaging in nonviolent street battles with sophisticated battery-operated water guns.

The Nerf Electrostorm water gun is a battery-operated toy that holds a good deal of water and shoots a great deal of water with a motorized mechanism before needing a refill of 'ammunition.'

We know that America makes the best batteries (i.e., Duracell, Energizer, etc.). We also know that America celebrates vigilantism-themed and combat-themed comic book avatars such as Captain America (Marvel Comics) and Nuclear Man (DC Comics). Should America's fascination with consumerism and confetti make us wary of the likes of Nuclear Man? I think that as long as DC Comics' heroic Superman (defender of democracy) is around...nukes will be considered dangerous by our toy-shopping and comic book reading kids.

How old do you think your child should be before he/she can get a battery-operated Nerf Electrostorm water gun from a consumerism-capitalism iconic toy store/company such as Toys R Us?






Nuclear Man (DC Donnerverse)

Nerf Electrostorm Water Gun (Wiki)

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Was "Wait, I wrote this? Oh, long time ago" Thanks for the bump.