Do you remember that stupid Robin Williams movie titled “Toys?” In the movie, a general takes over a toy company and develops video games and toys to train children to become perfect fighters. In the final stage of the plan, children would actually be controlling planes without knowing it and essentially fighting a war from a video game console.
Isn’t that a stupid and horrifying idea? Well, guess what. It’s becoming a reality.
The U.S. Army has now come out with a video game titled “America’s Army: Rise of the Soldier,” available on Xbox systems and PS2. This game is like any military game; it features combat scenarios in what looks like either the Iraqi War or the Gulf War. Soldiers running around, dying around you. Enemy soldiers shooting at you. Things blowing up. And you still have to shoot enemy soldiers. In fact, this came looks a lot like the recent Xbox 360 game “Call to Duty.” Only now the game comes fully backed by the U.S. Army and apparently the American government as well.
Doesn’t anyone see a problem with this?
Since the Vietnam War, more people have been questioning the ethics of war. Of course, this was because the general population could now see footage from war and the absolute devastation it brings to all the soldiers and civilians in the area. Americans were seeing what actually happens and that war is not all about glory and honor. After all, who can have honor when there are 5-year-old children dying in crossfire?
Since then, war has become hotly debated. Many people say that war, while not the best course of action, is necessary to protect American and human rights. Still, many others say that war is wrong and that diplomacy should take its place. For the past few years, people have even debated that we are not at war since we are technically not fighting another country.
So what happens to the war footage that moved people so much in the ’60s?
The media is still there, although it seems that it is harder to see actual scenes from the Iraqi War. Twenty-four-hour news shows are so repetitive and filled with filler material that finding actual news footage is difficult. The scenes that do get released are shown so many times in a row that we become jaded to them. It’s as if the scenes were a pop song on the radio-we hear the song so many times that we forget why we thought it was good in the first place.
Now the footage is the weapon.
War footage no longer moves us against the war. We have become too jaded against it because we’ve seen too much of it. It is no longer shocking. It takes images of sexual torture to anger us, and even that is becoming “pass‹¨.”
So, war footage gets put in a video game. Not any video game-a video game made by the U.S. Army. Yes, the Army has had a video game since 2002 as a part of recruitment on its Web site. But now the Army is getting into marketing. They wish to bring this video game to a wider-and younger-audience.
Now, you may say that rating the game Teen or Mature will keep the youngsters from playing “Rise of the Soldier.” But that never kept 12-year-olds from playing “Grand Theft Auto” or seeing an R-rated film. And the rating certainly doesn’t change the fact that a video game, no matter what subject material is included, is essentially a toy.
We now have a toy that trains soldiers.
The Army knows that prolonged exposure to scenes of combat and violence jade people. That’s what’s been happening since the ’60s. Now it is using scenes of violence in a toy form to jade children against the violence of war. If the children can get used to killing before joining the Army, maybe the Army won’t have to deal with soldiers with a respect for human life or that pesky post-traumatic stress syndrome.
When I saw the advertisement for “Rise of the Soldier,” I couldn’t help but think of so many soldiers coming back from war as different people. They find it more difficult to form human relationships. They have nightmares. They must fight depression and other mental disorders. Not to mention the ones who come back from war with missing body parts and other injuries. These soldiers haven’t risen-they’ve fallen.
I respect soldiers. I respect people who give their lives, even when I don’t agree with the reasons and principles behind the particular war. I respect the pain of people who must go through war.
I do not, however, respect an organization that targets children and young teenagers in ad campaigns for a game that deadens them to violence. Yes, violence is sometimes necessary, but never for children.