Teaching Kids to Kill

Concepts: Some key concepts that are formed by this text are that video games are contributing to the mindlessness of mass culture. This is a theme that is present throughout the text as video games are causing people (mainly young) to not think for themselves. Also people are receiving pleasure from killing which is problematic. Another concept that is present in the text is how soldiers are trained and have to see first hand human brutality at it's greatest extent.

Connections: A connection that can be made within this text is the effects of video games on everyone using it. In the text they are portraying the idea that video games brainwash people to act violently, however in many cases this is not true. I've seen people play violent video games before and it hasn't caused them to act aggressively or in an inappropriate manner.

Challenges: The text is presenting the idea that video games causes people to act in a harmful manner, which is not always true. This creates a bias assumption because the juvenile crime rate is not necessarily caused by video games, much of it depends on the person committing the crime in general and not what they occupy their time doing. An easy solution to this problem would be for parents to not buy video games if it is causing a change in behaviour for their child.

Changes: Changes that are being suggested by the text are a change in how young people occupy their time basically. Since the author believes video games are causing violent behaviour in kids, they are portraying the idea that video games containing violence should just be banned. This is a bias point of view because kids may find joy in playing these games and may not even act violent at all. Also they could continue to be harmless for the rest of their lives.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/08/20/congo-civil-war/2624757/


This article is discussing the continuous war in Congo that has been progressing for almost two decades. It is known to be the deathliest war in African history and is beginning to enter a new phase. Starvation and disease have left millions dead, which is resulting in the intervention of the United Nations and forcing people to plod from village to village. Most of the fighting is occurring in eastern Congo where both sides are being accused of raping women, men, girls and boys as a form of weaponry. The rebels are fighting for a measure of freedom from the dictates of the central government due to the fact that they aren't given much at all. However, the Congolese government led by President Joseph Kabila denies all the claims made by the rebels. Many of the people in Eastern Congo are complaining over incompetent governance, dictatorial polices and corruption, which is resulting in more conflict. It is believed that this can't be solved with the intervention of the United Nations alone, and the government needs to deal with these issues in order to achieve peace. Col. Innocent Kayina, commander of operations for M23 (March 23 Movement), who was named in the report denies all of the allegations as propaganda from the Kabila government and questions why they would rape and kill the civilians they live with. Therefore, majority of the problems could be solved by the Congolese government if they included the right's of minorities. Many observers also believe it would be a much more peaceful solution to this conflict than having the United Nations involved.


This article relates and connects to war and conflict because it is discussing war that is being caused by a corrupt government. Also a connection I can make between this and what I've learned in history is about the use of propaganda. War propaganda is that branch of public relations devoted to manipulating people's attitude toward a war or war in general. In history, we learned about how propaganda was used in both world wars. In the past wars, propaganda was used to brainwash men to join the war by using posters. They would use these posters and imply that if you were a man that wasn't in the war, you were cowardly. Propaganda was also somewhat used in Conga when Colonel Innocent Kayina was named in the allegations and denied them as propaganda from the Kabila government, which is the government formed by the president of Conga. He defended himself by questioning why they would rape and kill the civilians they live amongst. Both of these uses of propaganda relate to each other and exemplify how the method of propaganda is useful in many wars.