Source accessed 6/4/08 http://www.mythinglinks.org/ct~wars.html
Addicting Children to Violence
Behind the Iron Door
By T. Smirnova
(Courtesy of Tradestone International
)
Author's Note:
Not many people know that the Nazis sponsored the distribution of the Grimms' fairy tales to all German schoolchildren. It was a time of nationalistic fervor and the Nazis considered the Grimms "quintessentially German" and "worthy standard-bearers for Germany at war" (see Ruth B. Bottigheimer, "The Publishing History of Grimms' Tales: Reception at the Cash Register," in The Reception of Grimms' Fairy Tales, ed. Donald Haase; Wayne State University Press, 1993:91-94).
Even less well known is the fact that immediately after the war, from 1945-1949, British and US occupying forces stripped the Grimms' books from all of Germany's schools and libraries and shipped them to libraries elsewhere. This was done because the Allies felt that those tales had desensitized the German public and thus bore a grave responsibility for Nazi horrors (see Bottigheimer, op.cit. ).
With so many other pressing matters, it still amazes me to think of occupying forces being detailed to go out and confiscate fairy tales! I can't imagine that the field of military history has anything else even remotely resembling that. It indicates the immense power given, rightly or wrongly, to the influence of often violent stories upon a general populace, especially in the formative years of its young....
http://www.paxchristiusa.org//pages/125.htm
When we have wars, it's our youth who fight them. We steal their innocence and teach them violence from a very young age. From a great many choices on the Pax Christi site (see below), this one caught my eye: "US Culture Fosters Message that Violence is Child's Play." It is an eloquent, hard hitting essay spawned by the Columbine massacre:
...What happens to our children's souls and psyches, we must ask, when they wrap their hands around toy guns attached to video games and "kill" in order to win? Violence becomes child's play, and our children become desensitized to the tragic consequences of violence.
World leaders reinforce the concept that "violence wins." In his comments to the people of Littleton, President Clinton stressed the importance of teaching children to resolve conflicts without violence and anger. However, this message came from the same president who authorized U.S. participation in NATO bombardments of Serbia and prior bombings of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Sudan. Violence is a standard component of U.S. foreign policy....
http://www.cnn.com/2000/fyi/teachers.tools/10/19/ask.expert.trampiets5/
Still on the subject of children and youthful violence, "Does violent media cause children to become violent?" is a brief but well done October 2000 CNN report by Fran Trampiets of the University of Dayton.
http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/children/07/26/children.violence.ap/
"Health Groups directly link media to child violence" is the title of another CNN report from July 2000: ...in one of the most definitive statements yet on violence in American culture, four national health associations link the violence in television, music, video games and movies to increasing violence among children.
The site includes excellent links to related CNN stories."Its effects are measurable and long-lasting," the four groups say in a statement. "Moreover, prolonged viewing of media violence can lead to emotional desensitization toward violence in real life."
The joint statement by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry was to be the centerpiece of a public health summit Wednesday on entertainment violence....
http://altreligion.miningco.com/religion/altreligion/library/weekly/aa042299.htm
For still more on youthful violence, check out "Why Blaming Gothic and Occult and Satanic Lifestyles is Not the Answer to School Violence..." This is a thought-provoking essay from about.com's Alternate Religions guide, Tammy Todd:
...The media, and modern society in general, loves to blame horrible acts on fringe movements, such as Goths, Satanists and Pagans. Very few like to address the more realistic causes of school shootings: alienation, ridicule and anger. "I think it's a red herring," says Dr. Fred Mathews, an expert on youth violence at Central Toronto Youth Services. "The fact that they were goths, that's inconsequential to me"....