I find it funny that they say that when Sunni and Shiite are killing more of each other than they are infidels!

Another thing I hate is when most people in the middle east want peace, but they are afriad to fight for it....(kinda reminds you of that old Vietnam saying "fighting for peace is like [CENSORED] for viginity") but it's true.....the good people want peace but are afriad to put their lives on the line to achieve it. All Evil needs to succeed is for good men to do nothing....and that's what's happening in the Middle East.

But the question I Originally posted this thread for remains unanswered and undiscussed;

If these "peaceniks" are so against war, why do they play with Toy Soldiers? (and what do they play?)

I have to agree with what you say on this subject blow torch
i am proud to serve in my regiment and country

yeah, i guess we all just went in to what we thought and didnt even try to answer this. truth is no one can say why any other person does what they do. i can say this. as a kid i hated war movies, i mean i hated them with a passion. however, i still loved to play joes. to me and my friends, it wasnt the killing or war aspect, it was the building, the setting up, the creating that we did hours on end before the 15 minutes of conflict. so maybe thats their reason too. they played with joes as kids, not really understanding the war and killing concept. as they grew into adulthood they began to understand death and thought it was wrong, not wanting anything whatsoever to do with it. maybe they have become pure pacifist, but like many of us collect action figures because it makes us feel young again and takes us back to when our friend were still friends and actually spent time with you when they didnt need anything from you.

ok, now theres my personal thought, now heres my thought of me learnings from my psychology studies. deep down we all have suppressed feelings, emotions and urges.. one of these, which most dont like to admit is the want for power, to be in control, to dominate. you can take this back as far as you want, its the alpha male cliche. perhaps this is a way for the pacifist to fulfill this urge. like so many of us who dont want to kill or just go out and pick a fight when we need to quench the urge, we just pick up a toy, write a story, draw a picture or have a daydream. its just a way to do what our ego pushes us to do without breaking any laws, hurting anyone or doing something we know is really wrong. just my 2 cents worth.

Sorry to have missed answering that one Frank. I don't know, you'd have to ask them... :confused:

I look to the world trought the vision of a teacher, 'cuz I'm a teacher. Being so I've to tell you that we use our imagination to play, to live and to taste things that sometimes we don't want for the real life. Playing war is nice, fighting a war you go against all the self protection feelings that you have.
I used to play Police vs Bad Guys, I played like Police, like a thief, but that doesn't mean that playing like a thief you'll become or you've to like be a thief or a police. It is just a toy game. All that is to make my point, that playing war is just a game, not a intention to be in war. A game is a game, like a movie. It's just a movie, doesn't mean that the actors of Band of Brothers need to like war. Or when you watch The Mummy, horror movie, that Brandon Fraser need to believe in mummy.
A game is just game.

I was writing something that was gonna be even more huge and make everyone think I'm a heck of a lot more seriously political than I am, so I deleted it. That said, I never can keep things brief and have a history of coming across as way more strongly-opinionated than I really am...!

I do just have to say that 9/11 and the invasion/occupation of Iraq are not a "they started it" situation. It's true that potential support to Al-Qaeda and/or other anti-American bodies was one of the justifications the US administration gave for taking action when it did, but the main reason (and what got the UN to sign off on the use of force to protect international security) was the whole WMD thing -- the Iraqi administration was actively developing, or seeking to develop, weapons that (judging by the administration's track record of genocide, invasion, etc) would more than likely have been used on its own people as well as anyone else it wished to oppose.

I may find the timing a bit dodgy (like, why not sooner!) and I'm saddened by the political and social mess that's resulted, but I totally believe Saddam deserved what he got. I don't see that as any kind of resolution/retribution for 9/11 though and I'm still hoping to see Osama apprehended any day now...

I have mixed feelings towards war in general -- I won't say that war won't solve anything, as I do think there are situations where only the application of force will bring about a resolution. As for fighting myself, while I do like the idea of training to master violence (I liked what Storm Shadow was saying when he was training Billy...) I've never had any desire to join the armed forces. I don't really have a patriotic spirit (don't even want to live in my home nation...!) that would get me to go anywhere else to fight on behalf of my country. If everything I knew, loved and held dear were being actively attacked as it was 60 years ago I'd probably feel differently but right now I'd be too questioning of who was actually telling me who to fight, and why. Trying to draw a distinction or links between the actuality and ideal that is my country, and the people who are just in a position of power enabling them to send people to fight to the possible benefit of political & economic agendas which aren't necessarily anything to do with the ideal I want to support. Fighting to stop those who commit human rights violations, general "good versus evil," could motivate me but I do see too much grey in what does & doesn't actually happen (why fight supposedly for that sort of thing in oil-rich countries when there are always reports of atrocities in African nations where nobody intervenes?). Maybe if the UN had armed forces I could join without needing to join Britain's...

I think that's the appeal of GI Joe -- the enemy is outright evil with its own selfish agenda, you can completely justify fighting Cobra when they're a military force performing acts only an opposing force could counteract. And as lehsreh and TG said, the fantasy of the conflict, in imagining and re-enacting it through play, can be a way to vent the violent feelings we all get in a safe way. I bet if things could be as clear-cut as the fantasy of GI Joe, a lot more of the anti-war crowd would want to pick up a gun and try to get a shot at the guy with the blue rag on his head...

this is something that i wrote a while agao and i thought it may be helpful. and i live in and am part of the New Jersey National Guard. So finding out earlier this week that 6 people were arrested for plotting to go to the gates of Fort Dix and just start killing as many service members as they could again brought this home for me since i did 2 1/2yrs as gate guard at Fort Dix. so you can think what you like but it doesn't matter if you have anything against your neighbor he may have been brought up to hate you and hide it until they are told to strike. This story was posted on yahoo so it can be found.

But this is a blog i wrote while just getting fed up with different people blaming the military for not acting or acting to much. just let me know what your feelings are on this.

I am not big on writing or spelling, but i just want to put this out there. To all the people who say no to the few people anymore who wish to enlist in the military, just think on this. Yes those who serve can be sent into harms way, and in todays society probalbly will. But there are benefits as well as risk. I can say that after getting off active duty in '96 that the pay has gone up alot, not to mention the health, room and board. there is also the educational aspects such as knowing you will be the one paying for any college yourself and not relying on anyone to support you, and also the great technical training ina wide area of jobs. and for those that like to travel in 4 yrs i went through 11 time zones without paying a cent.

now i won't sugar coat it, the service can be very tough no matter how strong or independent you may be. i followed my father's advice for boot camp which is the toughest part. believe nothing of what you hear and only about 10% of what you see, and do what you are ordered to do.

just know these are my thoughts, and just remeber the next time people are complaining about not getting help right away when its needed. ask yourself this have i ever volunteered for anything, and not just the military. (ex- first aid squads, fire departments, neighborhood watches, red cross, or any group to help others). now i know people don't want to think about this but how long can we go if no new people are elisting before the draft is re-enstated.

As I'm reading the different opinions here (BTW none of them are wrong) I realize that we all would rather have peace, but it won't happen because we all have different opinions, beliefs and whatever else. So instead of respecting and forgiving each other and co-exisiting we fight, argue, name call and basically show our hatred. It's funny that we are the superior beings.....maybe we should take a few lessons from some lower rungs of the evolution ladder....



My dog and cat who haven't figured out they shouldn't be doing this, but rather chase each other. BTW the cat does this with our 90lb pit bull also.

Nice picture Blowtorch!

First off, war is sometimes a necessary evil. Better war, than living in oppression or fear. And I'm thankful for those serving and who have served.

Since Frank's question dealt with how those with various viewpoints use their Joes, I had to think for a few moments. Me, pretty much for escape. But there are valid points to the psychological release of things we can't release in real life. Or at least we can't release in our present context in society. I'm afraid that my views would be somewhat less than politically correct in today's soft America. In WWII, the Allied forces did not concern themselves with the fact that enemies hid and fought in cathedrals or ancient historical buildings. There were bad guys inside. The bad guys had to die. There was collateral damage to buildings, and sometimes to innocent people who were in harm's way. This did not deter from the primary focus. The bad guys were no longer alive to fight tomorrow.

Unfortunately, we spend billions of dollars worrying about perception, when we will be hated regardless of what we do. If we give humanitarian aid, war-lords steal it. If we fight the war-lords, we are only making way for the second place war-lords to rise up. And lackeys of the first will still fight against us and the second place war-lords. Can't have peace with wackos with guns running around. Can't make peace with wackos who are willing to blow up themselves and others.

Someone needs to find bad guys wherever they are and K-I-L-L them. I equate bad guys as those who would willfully do harm to others simply because their viewpoint is different and who idealize their hatred, but mask it in the form or religious or political views. This seems like a job for a nimble, daring, highly-trained special missions force. It's purpose: To defend human freedom against _________, a ruthless terrorist organization, determined to rule the world.

Back to psychology, and the original question:

My 6 year old always has Joes and Cobras shooting at each other or people getting run over by tanks, etc.

My 3 1/2 year old has them talk to each other: "Hi, How are you doing?" "I'm fine." "That's good. Well have a good day!"

Is it insight into their personality? Is it just their age? I'm not sure. All I know is GI Joe is different for different people, and that's okay. I know the world would be better if everyone spent more time playing and less time killing, or having to hunt down those who would oppress us, or those who would make us live in fear.

I'm happy to see so many who have thought through this to a conclusion. Nice thread!

Yeah, that what I said, too,...when I lived in the Bible Belt.

Not all religious extremists are foreign or Muslim.

I've lost touch with the political spectrum in the USA, when one side calls the others "Nazis" and the other side call them "traitors"...it just comes across as hate-mongering to me. Everything is so much propaganda, too. I'm doubting whether or not I would vote in the 2008 elections. A political science teacher I had said "if you don't like the candidates, don't vote for any of them". And he was a democrat, who was dismissive of 3rd parties.