Prior to the first chapter, Ishmael describes a brief conversation he had with his high school friends in New York City. How do you feel about his friends' response that seeing people running around and shooting each other is cool? Do you think that response is an expected one for students here in the United States? If so, what do you think has attributed to thinking things like that are cool?
Now please take time to critique one of your classmate's comments. Remember that good comments justify, specify, argue, extend, question, explain or elaborate!
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I think the conversation described by Ishmael was a very accurate one. We see movies, TV shows, and video games glamorize these types of things. And although I believe these are not inappropriate acts, they should not be dealt with lightly and deserve a certain mindset. I can say from experience that these kinds of things are not to be taken lightly, and if they are there will ALWAYS be consequences. The sensitivity towards these topics has been seriously reduced by the media, and I can vouch for the consequences that brings. These topics definitely need to be talked about, just in the right manner.
ReplyDeleteVERY DEEP, Jared! To begin, I completely agree with Jared on one matter that in America media demonstrates a different perspective on violence and is expressed even more through entertainment. Different forms of entertainment, such as movies, video-games, and sometimes even books express the fantasy world of the real world, simply for the purpose of entertainment. Most simple Americans or non-veterans have probably never experienced the sound of a gunshot except through movies and video games, therefore not understanding the full capacity of its power. When we are entertained by media, we enjoy it, therefore think it is "cool." Again, I agree with Jared that there will always be consequences when situations like these are taken lightly or just are not taken seriously. I wouldn't condone someone pretending to do one of these violent acts and neither would the law. Though, it is still a much lighter thing taken, than it would be in Africa. People involved in the conflict would jump if they heard the sound of leaves crunching thinking it was gunshots.
ReplyDelete--Victor
It is hard for children who were born in peace to understand how the war really is.Moreover,during the 2oth century,the facts of the wars in africa still far from people in many other nations.Ishmael's friends said "cool" because they heard just about"people running around with guns and shooting each other ".Would they say cool if they see by theie eyes people shooting or torturing each other until die?Would they still feel cool if they see many little soldier about their ages ,or maybe younger than they are,wielding AK-47s?I'm sure they wouldn't.Every body,especially children should to be shown that violence is absolutely uncool,wars are nonsene.I agree with Jared that these topics need to be seriously talked about
ReplyDeleteI disagree about three people. I think the people running around and shooting each other are not cool. Because it is inappropriate things to do. And I know these are going to be terrable. I see a magazine and news which are relative about these topic. some people are thinking seriously.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what Jared said how video games, movies, and TV shows glamorize these types of things. They leave a strong influence on what people think about war. One reason that these electronic items leave such a strong influence is because many Americans are not exposed to war directly and many do not have family members to tell them about war. So they assume that what they see on these electronics is the real deal. This is a completely false assumption, of course. And even though I find those kind of video games to be fun does not mean that that is my perception of what war really is. If his 'friends' in New York were exposed to war like he was, they would have a totally different understanding of war and would be able to relate to Ishmael.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the previous comments above. The dialogue between Ishmael and his friend is a perfect example of how people who do not witness the shooting of guns, explosions, or see death are ignorant and oblivious and take advantage of saying what is "cool" and what is not cool. They do not really know what it is truly like or how scary it is to be in that situation where your life could be over in a matter of seconds. People who do not witness scary things such as killing and shooting only get the perspective that the movies and video games show it as. Just as Jared said the media does not make it look as bad; therefore, the oblivious people do not get the firsthand view of it and may get the wrong idea like Ishmaels friend did and think it is cool when it truly is not.
ReplyDeleteJared, Dean and Robert are right.Video games, such as the very popular call of duty modern warfare 2, have desensitized today's generation on the atrocities of war and violence (as well as when parts of the Iraq war and the Gulf War were televised by CNN). Video games and media shows that promote crime and violence, such as Grand Theft Auto and others, seem to bring a message that violence is "cool". Those that have actually experienced the horrors of war know the reality of the matter. The difference is one's actual presence there, versus virtual presence. For example, generals and other army officials make decisions with missiles from thousands of miles away, to kill hundreds of people. The question is would they really have killed all of those people if they had to look each and every one of them in the eye? This "virtual presence" is misleading as it takes away the human aspect from shooting a gun at someone, the video games and tv programs don't show the real blood and guts that are spilling out (usually), most of the time you don't hear a scream come from whatever you're killing, but most importantly the look of life that things seem to have in their eyes does not disappear from a virtual foe's face. These are the reasons people are desensitized by the media, and why the response would be "that's cool" from someone in our generation.
ReplyDelete-Andreas
A philosopher Hobbes once said that humans are naturally cruel and violent. Since humans have existed in the earth, there were always endless wars. As long as humans think, people want more than others and will do anything to get what he wants. That was the way of human and what it will be. War is a result of human instinct or nature itself. Survival of fitness, law of the jungle... They also applies to human. There might be other factors that led to kids answering "cool." However, I think human nature itself plays the biggest role in their answers.
ReplyDeleteAs far as gun shooting I feel as though have no true meaning to people who are not there where this is being taking place. so its easy for someone to be abke to say something such as shooting guns is cool because we dont know the true meaning of the reason behind the gun shooting. if half the people who say gun shooting is cool was put in the positions of those boys who were shooting and killing in order to save their lives, we wouldnt know how to handle it. then video games dont make it any better because they make it seem as though its cool to do all the things that some people are risking their lives for, simply because if your character in the game dies all you simply have to do is start over the level or reload the game and start it all over. but in the boys of Africa's case if they are shot thats it, no restarts of a level...
ReplyDeleteI think it is pretty much "expected" from kids who are from and live in America because in recent years we haven't experienced an actual war. We haven't see people running around shooting eachother or people getting taken away from their homes and burned. So, it's definitely not a suprise that the boys made that comment because they hadn't see what Ishmel had. I agree 100 percent with Leon because we really wouldn't know how to react or what to do if our people started a civil war. !
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the comments that have been made. Violence has been presented to the youth of today as normal. In a way, the video games/hollywood movies/TV shows are taking away their innocence. The kids think it is normal to kill people on games such as Call of Duty and they think blood and gore is cool.
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