Child Soldiers

Child Soldiers (Video and Article): Comparison

          The video recounts the past of a child soldier, Ishmal Bech. It’s a documentary that tells us about him becoming a child solider during the civil war in Sierra Leone. He is conscripted as a child solider and becomes a killing machine. He is brainwashed into believing that the every single rebel death will avenge his own family slaughter. The others and he are addicted to marijuana and cocaine as it numbs his emotions during war. So after he is turned over to UNICEF where they take his to a rehabilitation center, where he struggles greatly. After great improvement, he learns that other children like him have survived and suffered and, is invited to New York City were they tell their stories to the United Nations. In the end, Bech becomes a successful author and share his experience the world where he believes that it will avoid such dismays from happening to other children.

Connections:

A connection that I found between the video and the article is that children are brainwashed. Although they are not brain washed the same way they are taught to kill whether it be a game or in real life. The text could also relate to the way child respect their elders. I’ve heard cases where children have very little respect to their parents and in some cases do not do anything about, which can later on affect the way they behave in they future.

Challenges:

Yes, violent video games have impacts on kid but, not all kids react or are affected in the same way. Firstly, they would need possession of a weapon such as a gun – how are they supposed to have possession over something they cannot have. Secondly, not every child starts to attack random people – they must have been provoked or taunted by others. Thirdly, it can merely before self defense – some child automatically put up their defense and feel as if they need to protect themselves – we have to remember that accidents do happen. We have to remember that children are not always the one necessarily buying the game; it’s the parent’s/guardians poor choice of buying and providing the game for their child – knowing or not knowing the content in the game. 

Concepts:

Some key concepts/ideas that I think are important and worth holding on to from this text are those:

• Video games and media violence have great impact on younger kids and could lead then to make terrible decisions at some point.
• Poor parental choices on games that they buy for their children.
• Unawareness of the effects of violet games and media violence.

Changes:

Some changes in attitudes, thinking or actions that are suggested by the text and me are:

• Parents should make better choices when they are buying games for their children – they should read they content that is present in the game that their child want to play, as well as the age limit. (ex PG 13)

• There is not Constitutional “right” to teach children to blow people’s heads off at the local video arcade.

• Working against child abuse, racism, poverty and children’s access to guns, and in rebuilding families, but also take on the producers of media violence.