FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1968
The Daily Nebraskan
Page 5
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And now the talking GI Joe doll.
And further more . . .
Cops out with (lie megaphones.
Telling people 'Stay Inside your homes,'
Man, can't they see the world's on fire?
Mamas and Papas.
Take your place on the Great Mandclla,
As it moves through your brief moment of time.
Win or lose now, you must choose now
And if you lose you're only losing your life.
Peter, Paul and Mary
I hate war.
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
by Lurry Kckbolt
Nebraskan Staff Writer
Toy guns and Christmas. O.I. Joe and peace.
Violence and children. Do these words mean con
flict; are they interrelated? It depends . . .
Following the assassinations of Martin Luther
King and Robert F. Kennedy this year, an Indignant
section of the American population demanded an
end to the violence which permeated the country.
STRICTER GUN control was demanded; some
was legislated. Violence on television and in the
movies was blamed for attitudes which seemd
to glorify killing. Some producers promised to get
rid of portions of this violence.
Then there were children's toys.
Toys like G.I. Joe, the Barbie doll of the
military set. Joe comes in many selves. He is a
marine or a navy man, even as astronaut. Joe
has a complete line of military hardware rifles,
hand grenades, bayonets.
Toys like the arsenal of guns found in most
toy departments during the Christmas season. Lone
Ranger holster sets; rifles and shot guns; secret
ray guns for outer space travel.
A NEW TOY on the market this year is a
"riot control police car," which, according to
advertising, "clears out rioters in a zig-zag fashion
and has a sound like machine gunning." Toy rioters
are not furnished.
There are others. Miniature factories that make
plastic monsters; games like "Commando" and
"Hit the Beach" which are similar to war games.
During the summer. Sears, Roebuck and Co.,
announced that it would no longer sell children's
toy guns or toys which were connected with
violence. The Sears Christmas catalog contained
no toy guns. G.I. Joe is represented only in his
skin-diving or space-exploring forms.
The Sears store in Lincoln has a small selection
of toy guns, left-overs from last year's stock, ac
cording to Paul Aberle, manager of the toy depart
ment. "We did not reorder any toy guns and we don't
intend to," Aberle said.
Gold's toy department, managed by Doris
Creweson, has a large assortment of guns, war
games, and monster factories but does not have
the riot control police car.
(A check of all toy departments in Lincoln's
major department stores revealed that the riot
car is apparently not available in Lincoln.)
"I HAVEN'T noticed a significant decline in
sales of toy guns," she said, adding that there
"hasn't been any greater demand either."
Spokesmen for other toy departments in the
city substantiate that statement, the popularity of
toy guns and military-orientated toys has not suf
fered greatly from the summer's demand for their
extinction.
As in the control of real guns, there has been
a public debate concerning the effectiveness of
the regulation of a child's entertainment, including
toy guns.
One question which nearly always is raised
concerns the actual effect of violence, real or
imagined, on the impressionable child.
"MUCH VIOLENCE is impulsive," wrote
Leonard Berokwitz in the September issue of
Psychology Today. He is chairman of the
psychology department at the University of
Wisconsin.
"It (violence) is not primarily a planned
purposeful activity; neither is it the 'inevitable'
result of internal drives or maladjustments."
Berkowitz believes that "things set the stage"
for violent action "and help carry the action
forward." He continued that "it is important that
there be a stimulus or immediate cue to trigger
aggression."
In a study conducted at the University of In
diana it was found that toy guns "did more than
lower the child's restraints against aggression: they
seemed to pull out aggressive reactions thai would
not otherwise have occurred."
But such results are inconclusive, other persons
say.
"It's hard to say who is right," said Dr. Ann
Duke, a child Psychologist at the University.
"Evidence points in both directions. Toy guns often
do stimulate violent action; to some, they have
little effect."
Parental denial of playing with toy guns may
have adverse effects, too, Miss Duke said.
"THERE ARE problems in denying toy guns,"
she said. "Some children then think it's a big
thing to run into a toy store and start playing
with the guns. Denial of aggressive toys is not
always the right answer."
Instead of putting blame entirely on aggressive
toys or violent programs, Miss Duke believes that
parents encourage their children to be aggressive.
"They tell their kids to hit back if they are
hit, they praise war and the armed soldier. It's
only natural that children would want aggressive
toys to be aggressive in play," she said.
MISS DUKE believes that "toys reflect adult
society."
"The majority of parents respect and admire
the way the police handle riots," she explained.
"So it would follow that a toy would reflect that
attitude."
What can be done, then, since clear cause-and-
pliect relationships can not be determined concern
ing violence and children's toys?
If a child is taught to respect a gun through
the use of toys, some good may evolve, Miss Duke
said.
"We should teach a child how to properly
handle a gun, not pretend he's killing off the
nieghhorhood kids." she stated.
The pie-school child can be taught much, but
when he is exposed to other children he is laced
with a crisis: other children don't act us he does.
This problem has not been solved either, Miss
Duke added.
There are other ways to approach the effects
of violence on a child. Some studies show a high
correlation between the amount of physical
punishment used by a parent when disciplining
and the amount of aggression in a child. The mass
media has "an even greater effect," Miss Duke
said.
Creative toys, designed to stimulate the child
into "doing his own thing" are growing in
popularity but their consequences are "a matter
of opinion."
"I LIKE them the best," Miss Duke said. "But
no one knows for sure what will be their end
result."
Some persons think that toys of today lack
imagination on the child's part. They say that
the "specialty doll" which talks, walks, crawls,
wets, etc., has taken the fun out of play.
Others believe there are too many toys period.
But at Christmas time, a child's fancy often
turns into reality. The toys which he wants are
often given to him.
THE TOYS may not last until next Christmas
but their effects may be with him for a lifetime.
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Childhood heroes: the fast-drawing gunslingcrs. Wild Bill Hickok ... the Lone Ranger ... the Cisco
Kid . . . Billy the Kid . . . Matt Dillon . . . Paladin . . . Wyatt Earp ... Bat Masterson.
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Marauder One who invades for the sake of booty; who ravages; plun
ders. One who roves about plundering or robbing. One who pillages. (Funk
and Wagnalls' New Practical Standard Dictionary.)
The Soul's Desert
They are warming up the old horrors; and all
that they say is echoes of echoes.
Beware of taking sides; only watch.
These are not criminals, nor hucksters and little
journalists, but the governments
Of the great nations; men favorably
Representative of massed humanity. Observe them.
Wrath and laughter
Are quite irrelevant. Clearly it is tune
To become disillusioned, each person to enter his
own soul's desert
And look for God- having seen man.
Robinson Jeffers
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