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Re: Operation Oatmeal
by bettie_x (strangersangel@hotmail.com)
on Apr 12, 2002 - 11:26 PM
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http://bettie_x.tripod.com/strangeasangels/
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Of course media affects children....but I watched television...back when they still played the old ones where daffy would get drunk and chase daisy, smoke cigars etc. I watched the news...I was old enough to understand what was going on when they showed the attempted assasination of regan, the challenger explosion, the LA and Chicago riots, the murders, the rot of society. We had video games too..not like kids do now...I'm talking atari (frogger, pacman, riverraid, iceberg bob) and later nintendo and such. Granted, video games are a LOT more violent now, but I also watched horror movies (when mom was at work..my dad was the best babysitter in the world. Don't cry and don't tell your mother *grin*) I turned out okay, so did my sisters. We watched soap operas with mom when she was doing dishes or something, and we all know what THOSE are like.
The difference? I had parents around that when I saw something they felt could influence me, they explained it. If it was fictional violence, they explained it was fake, and that in real life it would hurt/kill someone and it was bad and wrong. If I heard dirty words in the street or on television or in movies, I would be told that it was not a nice way to talk to someone (okay, so I've got a mouth like a drunken pirate, but I can CONTROL it)
When mortal combat came out and I played it in video arcades, my mom actually asked me if I understood that if I did the things in the video game to other kids that they'd get really really hurt! I was like "duh mom" because I KNEW it was fake because they had guided me and educated me since I was aware of it.
When my little nephew plays "smackdown" on his playstation (which WE bought him) he thought it would be cool to try it on his little brother when they were playing on the bed. I caught him about to do something *ack!* and stopped him. He said he saw it on the game, and I asked him if he knew that if he did it to his brother, his brother wouldn't get back up, that he'd be hurt bad. I asked him how he would feel if he hurt his brother or a friend because of what he saw on a video game or on tv. He thought, and then said he would feel very sad and sorry. I asked him if he knew it was fake. He THOUGHT, and said "yes". I asked him if he wasn't going to do things on tv and games to others. He said no. I've not seen him do anything like it again.
Kids have brains..kids are sponges...you have to put as much good into the sponge as bad stuff gets in. It's called balance...it's called parenting...it's time consuming, difficult, and well worth it.
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