America's Lethal Toys

Just walk down any toy aisle in the US and you will be overwhelmed with a number of lethal toys.

No, I am not talking about the millions of hazardous Chinese-made toys being recalled because of their toxicity in the lead paint or magnets that can be swallowed by children.

Instead, the toys I mention in this article are emotionally and psychologically deadly. They have long-term effects and, as you read, keep in mind that they are advertised for age five and up.

For a few dollars you can purchase a Black Ops GI Joe with the code name Shock War. The camouflaged box says, "His expertise is urban combat and night operations."

He also has "special training in enemy location along with weapons proficiency in missiles, rockets and cannons".

Turning over the packaged Black Ops GI Joe, you notice that his "tactics are strategic weapons combinations with a background in ammunition and field artillery".

With massive black armor and night-vision goggles, he looks like a modern-day version of RoboCop.

If this does not satisfy your little trooper, you can purchase the GI Joe Combat squad leader with a missile-launching blaster (which is much larger than the GI Joe). Shown with muscular Nordic features, this toy would have made Adolf Hitler very proud.

Next to it is an unlimited supply of other GI Joes, such as the GI Joe Sigma 6, GI Joe Grenadier, and a GI Joe Gung-Ho Marine.

The GI Joe Gung-Ho Marine has a multi-weapons tool complete with bayonet, knife and shovel. It harks back to Julius Caesar's Roman legions and the Pax Romana slogan of "I came, I saw, I conquered."

It also has an M60 machine-gun with a "pull-through ammo strip". Wow! In bold letters it promises the child "fast-strike units to large-scale assaults", and then it mentions that the tool can be used to "break down reinforced doors", which harkens to the Pax Americana in Iraq.

For a few more dollars you can buy the Twelve Special Force Unit called the CORP. On the back of a flashy and colorful box it says:

"In a time of darkness, a fearful and terror-stricken world requires men of honor to step forward, heroes whose mettle has been tested and whose skills have been honed. From around the world they step forward, the best of the best, and take up the mantle of the 'special force units'."

It then promises "An ever-ready team devoted to protecting every person, every country in our world."

Although it may sound very similar to a page from Bush's State of the Union addresses, at least our five-year-olds will have a concept of internationalism. Of course, what kind of internationalism is another matter.

It also comes with a set of dog tags that read, "Devoted to serving and protecting our world." Each action figure is holding either a laser, a blaster, a knife or some other type of weapons system.

Still unsatisfied? The Ultra Corps Battle Underground Squad has militant-looking-like figures with the names of Shark, Firestorm, Flashbang, Rick Ranger, Flash Fire, Large Sarge, Stryker, and Hawk.

It advertises, "Wars are won on the back of soldiers on the ground. The best of the free world - first into battle and last to leave." (Senator John Kerry would probably disagree with the last statement.)

This All Terrain Lethal Attack Squad is "hardened in battle and ready to 'bring it on'!"

The Stealth Underway Brigade SUB action figure performs "covert missions under seas and beach assaults".

Urban Recon Ballistics and Neutralization URBAN proclaims, "When enemies attack, the civilian street URBAN scrambles into action and is the most effective lethal anti-terror figure in the world."

The Ballistic Launch Assault and Stealth Team BLAST (getting ready for those military acronyms?), says, "When the going gets tough - the tough starts blasting," and promises a lot of fun and excitement with "bunker-busting bombs and an anti-personnel shrapnel shredder that delivers a BIG BLAST!"

(Some of the figures are completely weaponized and have no resemblance to a human.)

Thousands of more simplistic toy-like weapons that line the aisles, such as the Double Shot Dart Blaster, water guns and water cannons, offer "Xtreme Blasting Power".

For young children who will turn into future soldiers and fight futuristic high-tech wars, the "advanced flash blast wins every time!"

When I asked the store clerk where the large Humvee mission vehicles were, and where children could sit on and operate a 50-caliber machine-gun, a laser weapon and M60, or where the Abrams battle tank replica was (which was also advertised), he said they were sold out and were the most popular toy items.

Even the seemingly innocent Pirates of the Caribbean - At the World's End (Preparing for Armageddon?) shows two pirate ships shooting at and attacking each other.

It comes with seven action figures (each with a weapon), a launcher, a powder-keg launcher, a shooting cannon, a dead man's chest, swords, eyes, and rings with the skull-and-bones symbol.

The recent popular movie Transformers has produced Transformers rockets in disguise and then adds, "Here is Optimus Prime as millions remember him; a massive steel warrior whose commanding visage and booming voice encompasses what it means to be a true leader and hero."

The red-white-and-blue Transformer has a digital video disc in which children can hear real movie sounds. (They don't call it branding for nothing.)

Remember Star Wars? The Star Wars Attack Battle Figure game has three objectives: (1) Build your squad. (2) Make your moves. (3) ATTACK - the last one standing wins.

It has four battle figures, and on the back of the package it says, "Lead a squad into battle and knock down your opponent's toys with real attack moves and with launching missiles, light sabers, lasers, power punches, and more. Plan your strategy, plot your move - THE LAST ONE STANDING WINS."

Next to Star Wars were several Asian martial-arts toys. I thought surely they would offer self-control and how to avoid fighting. About this same time, two children came running down the toy aisle and grabbed the last Naruto "weapons arsenal".

While they sat on the floor and counted their dollar bills and their small amount of change, I noticed the box was filled with plastic Japanese stars, razor-like discs, knives and swords.

As I watched them run away, the professional-wrestling elimination chamber with a steel cage, chain and "who will survive" in bold letters caught my eye. (I wonder if steroids are included?)

Since 2003, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission has reported that at least one child has died and 19 others have needed surgery after swallowing magnets. I wonder how many children have died because of the making, promoting, purchasing, and playing with militant war toys?

It is also called socialization - the process through which individuals learn proper ways of acting in a culture and usually involves the acquisition of language, values, rules, and behaviors of militant and war-like toys.

It is well known that children confuse fantasy and reality. They are also impressionable and place tremendous meaning and values on to and into objects such as toys.

If this is the case, the Me Generation will turn into a Militant Generation (if this has not already occurred), and playful imagination and cooperation will become perpetual militarism and selfish aggression. Is it time for an M (military) chip?

tags: war  toys  indoctrination  militaristic  

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