Rating: 
Summary: OUTSTANDING
Review: It is very obvious those that have brains and those that do not. This book is outsatanding. Anyone that deals with people on a regular basis can see how the media can mold a childs thinking. Those that are in the mindset of "If you dont want your kid to watch it then dont turn it on" obviously didnt read the book seriously. I am sure the kids that were gunned down had control over what the shooter did.
Rating:
Summary: An important voice for America's children
Review: David Grossman and his colleague have done an important service for America's children. Grossman has been a national leader in sounding the alarm about the dangers of point-and-schoot video games in the psychological functioning of our children, particularly our boys. As a military psychologist, he knows first hand the crucial role that "training" plays in the violent behavior. He argues convincingly that point and shoot video games in particular and the larger environment of violent video images in general is undermining our kids. At a time when we are concerned about youth violence it is imperative that we see clearly how each piece of the chain of causation operations. This book is an invaluable tool in seeing clearly and then acting intelligently.
Rating:
Summary: The truth often hurts
Review: I am a PhD candidate with a background in both psychology and media effects, and like all scholars, I try to remain current on research relevant to my field. I also demand that such research meet rigorous standards, including peer review, and Grossman's research certainly meets those standards. His research has been published in prestigious journals requiring extensive peer review, so attempts to discredit this research are particularly hollow. This book is, quite simply, an indictment of mediated violence, particularly in the form of violent video games. As is typical of those who have "something to lose" from acceptance of the facts--those with financial interest in the continued marketing of these products, and those who might have to alter their behavior based upon these findings--the negative reviews of this book are based upon nothing more than self-serving wishful thinking. There is an increasing body of research demonstrating the harmful impact of violent video games, research done in the United States and abroad. Like those who argued for decades that televised violence has no negative effects despite more than 3,000 studies clearly demonstrating the contrary, those who vigorously defend violent video games are simply exercising willful blindness. A request of those who continue to defend mediated violence as harmless: If what we see has no effect on our behaviors, please explain why the top ten advertisers in the U.S. spend over $5 billion annually trying to get consumers to part with their hard-earned cash.
Rating:
Summary: Great Work
Review: The author, Dave Grossman, is taking a lot of hits from his opposition: this always happens when any person speaks the truth and it cannot be controverted. Mr. Grossman's research and statistics, from a broad spectrum of first rate medical and psychological journals, as well as statistics garnered from the Federal Government, prove categorically and undeniably that we are in fact teaching our kids to kill and, as he himself says, "teaching them to like it." And in an age when people can smoke for thirty years cigarettes that tell them on the package that they will get cancer from them, and then sue the cigarrette companies when they do in fact get cancer and win and become fabulously wealthy, people do not want to be told their own complicity in the wave of violent crime that is sweeping our nation and our schools. We want to blame the guns. But we have a hard time blaming ourselves for allowing the situation to get to this terrible point. Dave and Gloria's book is a noble attempt to inform society about the evils of media violence. Read the book and you will know that the connection between media violence and "real world" violence cannot any longer be denied. It is a substantiated fact, if ever there were one. And you will know also, that we must do something about this saturation with violence in our media, or our society can not long endure. Dave and Gloria give us the statistics to prove that the point and shoot video games do give children the skills needed to be deadly with a hand gun, that these games are identical to the training that soldiers and officers receive, but without the ingrained discipline that accompanies the training in the military. We must stop teaching our kids to kill.
Rating:
Summary: Do yourself a favor and read this book.
Review: Those simple-minded defenders of the videogame industry who've compared this book with the works of Orwell are espousing pure nonsense. The authors are not arguing for censorship, but rather suggesting that parents and companies assume more responsibility. Yes, violent entertainment has a place, but it doesn't help children grow to become better citizens. Those misguided parents who let their children play Quake all day are doing little to prepare them for the real world. Kids should be reading books and playing outside. If not, we're left with a world of fat, semi-literate gamers who only know how to express their rage by mashing buttons. When we consider the more optimistic alternative, such a world seems unnecessarily bleak.
Rating:
Summary: Another answer to the question
Review: There are many reasons that our kids our commiting violentcrimes. Environment, peer pressure, broken families, problems at homeand the constant exposier to violence in the media. The television industry doesn't want to admit to their part in the problem, it would be bad for business. The movie industry doesn't admit to their part, ticket sales will go down and the video gaming industry won't admit it for the same reasons. The facts speak for themself. Stop Teaching Our Kids To Kill presents these facts in an easy to follow format. A young man walks into a school. He pulls out a semi-automatic hand gun. This is the first time in his life that he has ever handled a real hand gun. He takes aim at a group of kids that are just finishing their morning prayer meeting. He pulls the trigger eight times. He scores five head hits and three upper body hits. Eight for eight. Where does a teenager get the skills it take to score eight out of eight hits? A score that most law enforcement officers would like to have? In the video arcades. Insert your quarters and fire at the surreal targets on the screen. Practice up, you may need it the next time you disagree with the other kids at school. Stop Teaching Our Kids To Kill is full of facts about the effect that the exposure to violence has on our kids. Does it answer all of the questions. No? Does it offer one simple quick fix for the problem? No. But, it does answer some of the questions and it does offer some solutions. The final solution is up to us. Read this book. Understand the problem and then join the movement to limit the exposure to the cause of one of the biggest reasons for this violence. Colonel Grossman and Ms. DeGaetano are informed, caring people. They are leading the fight to help our kids. They need our help to fight against the media machine. Thank you for reading this. END
Rating:
Summary: Another wake-up call that must not go unheeded
Review: In the wake of recent national fervor to ban guns, the material for this book cuts through the hysteria and points directly at some contributing factors to the recent rash of school shootings. Violent content in television, movies, and popular video games teaches children that killing is a solution to one's problems. Make no mistake, parents need to take responsibility for what their children are exposed to...this book will help them do just that. Video games do not kill people, television does not kill people, movies do not kill people. But they are contributing causes as to why - in the last few years - so many of America's young felt murder was a reasonable option. Some call this book a "knee jerk" reaction to those events. I call some negative reaction to this book "knee jerk". "How could someone write a book like this?", you may ask. After Dylan Klebold (one of the Columbine shooters) said on a videotape he made days before the shooting, "It's gonna be just like Doom, man, straight outta Doom!", how could someone not write a book like this?
Rating:
Summary: Violence Virus -- Danger to our Children
Review: I am a parent (two boys), police officer and long time youthvolunteer, so when my wife and I took a copy of "Stop TeachingOur Kids to Kill" with us on vacation, we expected another interesting book that would give us information about something that affects us in many ways. What we found in this book by LtCol David Grossman and Ms Gloria DeGaetano was nothing short of a blockbuster -- it demanded reading cover to cover at one sitting while opening our eyes to the a threat to our free society more dangerous than AIDS, more dangerous than drugs, more dangerous than the remaining Communist countries. We must act to remove as much insidious violence from our children, much like our society does with alcohol and pornography (with due respect for First Amendment rights for adults). This superb book lays out the facts, in an easy to understand manner, that parents, grandparents, educators and other concerned citizens need to have, and charges us to act quickly. Well done! END
Rating:
Summary: Another hit for the silent majority
Review: The author has demonstrated an uncanny knack, once again, ref."On Killing", to focus on fundamental causation for human behavior issues relating to taking another human life. While previous work has dealt with the Military battlefield, this new work enlightens the neophyte to the effectiveness of simulated experience training as used in modern combat preparedness to break the trainee's natural abhorrition of taking a human life. Speaking from personal experience, the innate reluctance to execute another human in an aggressive, or defensive action is perhaps the strongest feeling the combatant must initially conquer. This is only defeated through forced repetitive lethal action on the battle field or, as proven more recently, repetitive simulation of lethal action on combat simulators. The entertainment industry has, in all fairness, inadvertently developed an entertainment platform based on delivering vicarious thrills resulting from life like simulation of battlefield horror. Why not, it sells box office and game time. The result, however, a massive desensitization to killing another human. As a former SEAL in Vietnam, I have had the unfortunate experience of killing more humans than I care to remember. These were well trained acts, almost unconscious acts of self preservation or fraternal protection, yet this was not automatic. The first combat operations were filled with prayer..hoping not to be forced into killing, but as each encounter went by, the killing became easier, the prayers stopped..I was desensitized, just as the vicarious thrill seekers today have become. The difference is... I knew what was happening, they don't. This book is certainly not written for their entertainment, it is an eye opener for today's parents, teachers, guidance counselors, city fathers, and last but certainly not least, the entertainment industry. It is not for the casual reader, it is for the American who truly is abhorred at what has become of our way of life.
Rating:
Summary: A Brave Prophet
Review: At last we have someone who has the guts to tell it as it is and call a billion dollar industry to responsibility. Dave Grossman sends a wake-up call to the United States and all concerned parents to what has been called America's "Culture of Death". Columbine is a symptom, a red flag, a warning to all. As a former high school teacher and principal, I commend Mr. Grossman on his compelling work. It is not only well written, but calls educators and parents to be vigilant, based not on irrational fears, but hard, cold facts. The Surgeon General has warned the public years ago regarding the effects of violence in the media. This is nothing new. It seems that the desire for the almighty dollar continues to sell our children and future as a country, down the road of destruction. Violence in the movies, on TV and video games continues to numb us a people. An old saying "garbage in, garbage out" rings true for an industry that has little if any moral compunction. Thank you Dave Grossman for alerting America to the obvious.
|
