The problems teachers face:

[roody]

Our "unruly" kids usually play with stuff like this. In elementary school:

Violent Video Game Simulates Castro's Assassination
Tell retailers you're not buyin' it!

On Nov. 9, 2010, just in time for the holiday sales season, Activision released "Call of
Duty; Black Ops." The M-rated video game, set in Cuba, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam,
is a hyper-realistic violent Cold War role-playing game in which the player joins
the Bay of Pigs invasion and then carves bloody mayhem through Cuba with the mission
to assassinate a young Fidel Castro.

The Cuban government has strongly criticized the game stating, "This new video game
is doubly perverse. On the one hand, it glorifies the illegal assassination attempts the
United States government planned against the Cuban leader ... and on the other, it
stimulates sociopathic attitudes in North American children and adolescents."


Industry review site, g4tv.com, wrote "...I think Cuba's reaction is understandable.
Imagine how incensed Americans would be if a game came out that featured the
assignation of a respected leader? How would we like it if there was a 'murder-Reagan'
level in a widely available game?"

Atlantic magazine reviewer, Sam Machkovech, wrote of the advertising for thegame,
"Activision's ad, on the other hand, comes closer to selling real death than any
video game possibly could. I'm not buying it."

And our children shouldn't either. This video game is so violent that it has been
censored in Germany and Japan. The game went on sale on Nov. 9 in 4,400 outlets
nationwide. Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and dozens of other retailers in your community are
today dealing this pornography to the children in your community. It is part of
the whole culture of US militarism with the entertainment industry's role being
to desensitize us to violence. Our children are the most vulnerable.

Take action now to derail the industry projection that Call to Duty: Black Ops will
be the biggest video game seller of the holiday season. Tell the retailers in your
community that the game is a violation of your community's values and you demand
that they take it off their shelves.

What you can do:


* Send the letter below or some variation of it to your local retailers.
* Pass out this flier
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=l5csqsbab&et=1103909924651&s=10069&e=001lAMfD_qhD3_vQmdpankMtS09kxUPNkK_AB_NAoOxVcA9BKXok_K6Ya8485BRiG3AxJg0hZL4DnI9qwje-sbnLoadGw124Cz8AGGB5mD30q3vYORVjxzj0iLX1cOKtrUcXdLvJDjlleoA4J2NmQloMQJBBhPsfaS9r3E1kDVF424=>
at the entrances of stores that sell the game.
* Ask for a meeting with the store manager by yourself or for your group.
* Ask your city council to declare the game a violation under local pornography
laws
* Get your church, civic organization, PTA or club to pass a resolution and send
it to the store manager and corporate headquarters.
* Think up your own creative direct action
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alliance for Global Justice
1247 E St., SE
Washington, DC 20003
[phone]
[e-mail]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[cynatnite]

1. It's a game I wouldn't let my kid play, but the responsiblity of "unruly" kids...

usually is with the parents. That is unless there is something else going on with the kid such as ADHD, for example.

I'll exercise my right to not buy the game.

[Drale]

3. And you have that right

but it is up to the parents to monitor what their children play and watch, as well as teach them right from wrong.

[cynatnite]

4. Exactly right. n/t

[roody]

6. The parents pay for the game. My fifth graders do not have an income.

[Drale]

2. You better be joking

The problem is not violent videos games, the problem is parents WHO DONT FUCKING PARENT! I've been playing video games my entire life, not once have I ever gotten into a fight. I have parents who have always been there, I know the limits and I know whats right and wrong because they taught me. Whether you like it or not Video Games are art and protected under the first amendment. If we start censoring games, whats next movies, books, real life? When you talk about circumventing the 1st amendment, you join the Right wing and we all know what goes on there. FUCK I AM so TIRED OF THIS BULLSHIT!

[roody]

5. I'm sure you are not trying to teach 30 kids

something worthwhile or you would be tired of some other bullshit.

[Drale]

7. My mother is a teacher

right now she teaches 1st grade but for a long time she taught 5th and I used to help out in her class room, I know what they are like, and you can tell the ones whos parents dont care.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Well he is correct

this game is rated M... for MATURE. We see this crap every so often (San Andreas comes to mind) that a violent game is released.

I don't play them... but if I had a kid I am also aware of what M... that is Mature means... that means little johnny should not be playing this.

Now as a teacher think of banned books week. How many books that are assigned in school have faced these bans? And all the research that has come out telling us how bad they are... yes all four studies, have not been able to be replicated.

Should kids get more than just thumb exercise? Absolutely, but they should also have parents willing to do their damn job as a parent. IF it says M, Johnny don't get it for his birthday

And yes these things insult my sensibilities on a few levels, San Andreas for example promotes pimping... sort off... but again four studies don't make a case. Nor do they make it since who PAID for them, one of them by the AFA. They've been a hard on for games (and books) for a few years...

As to the Cuban Government, I get their displeasure... but this game actually could be a SOURCE for class discussion. You know the real Bay of Pigs and how it failed... (this is a fantasy) and how Nam failed. Just saying.

[Versailles]

12. I taught for almost a decade...

And it isn't video games that is the problem. It is parents A) not caring to do the difficult job of being a parents (i.e. monitoring, teaching manners/respect/hard work, etc.) or B) Parents having to work 3 jobs to put food on the table and aren't able to be the parent they want to/should be. I cannot even begin to count the number of times that parents were angry at me as the teacher for having to discipline their child...they ignored the behavior of the child and focused on the fact that I had given them detention and forced them to miss a sports practice or game.

The assassination portion of the game is in poor taste, in my opinion. And if you or anyone else wants to boycott the game for THAT reason, I'm all for it. Vote with your wallet. But to try to stir up an emotional response by linking something that has NOTHING to do with the other is disingenuous. The research has been done over and over...movies, games, music don't CAUSE violence. They can be used as an indicator in conjunction with numerous other indicators to identify sociopathic tendencies, but correlation is not causation.

[Starry Messenger]

8. As a teacher, part of the problem

is parents who let their kid stay up ALL FUCKING NIGHT to play the game and then deposit their exhausted and cranky teen at my classroom door. Thank you parent, for allowing me to babysit your loved one, who has now devolved into a whiny 5 year old with the attention span of a fruit fly. One kid you could handle, but of course if one kid has it then all the friends get it so they can play all night together. 15 sleep deprived kids just adds up. Between this and the homecoming dance tomorrow, I pretty much phoned it in all week. Instruction was mayhem.

[Posteritatis]

10. Yes, it's clearly all the latest moral-panic-provoking video game's fault.

Blah blah blah, another drawn-out forwarded tantrum by censor-happy idiots who are too blind to see the big letter "M" on the box and understand what it means, never mind the fact that game vendors have the highest compliance rate regarding that sort of thing of anyone in the entertainment industry.

Thanks for making me aware of the "Alliance for Global Justice," though; anyone firing screeds that hysterical around deserves the effort of being carefully ignored.

[Fumesucker]

11. A young adult I know got the game the other day..

He's beaten it already and is highly disgusted with the ease of doing so..

There's at least one scene in the game with John F Kennedy, RM Nixon and Castro hanging out together along with some other political figure of that era I recognize but can't quite place, I've watched bits and pieces of it but don't play..

ETA: I just realized the fourth man is Robert McNamara..