U.S. Army Recruiting at the Mall with Videogames
You never know who you might run into at the local mall–perhaps even an Army recruiter. At the Franklin Mills shopping mall in Philadelphia the U.S. Army Experience Center has 60 computers with military videogames to ensnare young people. Prospective soldiers can also pretend to fire from a real Humvee or participate in a helicopter raid.
This is certainly contributing to the modern Army’s culture of death that this former Army Ranger just wrote me about:
Dear Dr. Vance,
Today I followed a large pickup bearing an Arizona “Purple Heart” plate and driven by a youngish type, perhaps in his 30s, a sad commentary in itself. But worse, it sported a bumper sticker reading, ”Special Forces. If God didn’t want us to kill people, he wouldn’t have made us so good at it.”
From a culture I’m well familiar with (having completed Ranger training 37 years ago), such a sentiment would once have been shared only among practitioners—Rangers, Special Forces, Delta Force—and not
thought fit for even non-elite infantrymen. Now we’re seeing it openly and casually expressed, as if commenting on the economy. Even a generation ago soldiers expressed regret about their experiences; now they want to tell you how proud they are to have killed and, presumably, that they would not hesitate to do it again.
Join the Army, meet interesting people, kill them.
Roar
January 12th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
I’ve always loved this quote, and what a great opportunity to use it.
“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.”
– Albert Einstein
Andy
January 12th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Get em while they are young, naive and gullible. Then brainwash them. Just more cannon fodder for the empire. Sad.
Lear K
January 12th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
This proves the study that says videogames lead to or the cause of violence!
Steve Hogan
January 12th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Lear K,
Video games are hardly the cause of violence. They are but a symptom of a society that has lost its moral compass. It’s sickening to see people openly support mass murder. I don’t know what the psychological term for it is, but it is very disturbing. Worse still, I don’t see a change for the better anytime soon.
hardtruth
January 12th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
“It’s sickening to see people openly support mass murder. I don’t know what the psychological term for it is”
Israeli.
R. Nelson
January 13th, 2009 at 12:46 am
They’re not called shopping mauls for nothing.
Michael
January 13th, 2009 at 3:00 am
I got to get me some more of Scott Horton’s “Liberty Stickers” to counter attack this type of boisterous bloodletting.
Brad Smith
January 13th, 2009 at 5:40 am
The recruiters in this country are about the lowest form of scum on Earth. Most of them are willing to lie and cheat to get children to go off and do what they no longer want to do. Signing up children is nothing new but it is still discusting. Allowing them in malls is one thing. You can tell your children to stay away from the mall, but allowing them free access to our children in schools really pi$$es me off. It’s not bad enough we are forcing our children into tax funded state indocrination centers but we throw recruiting in as well.
One thing people can do at least here in Michigan is sign a form that exempts your child from taking the military recuiting test and denies the recruiters your child’s contact information. You can also do like I do and go around to local businesses and ask them to stop putting up recruiting advertisements. Ask them if you can take them down and replace them with anti-war literature(give the recruiting adds back to the store owner). I think many small businesses believe that thier corkboards are public property becasue they allow anyone to post adds there. Once you explain that it’s still private property and that they are morally and legaly responsible for what is posted, for example pornagraphy, you might be surprised at how many places will be more than happy to oblidge. I wouldn’t suggest doing this on public property as it’s probably illegal. But I guess you could let your conscious be your guide.
Peace!
Lear K
January 13th, 2009 at 6:28 am
Steve,
It goes like this in this case:
Play video games-join the military-kill people.Do not you see the connection?
There could be subliminal messages in those video games.
Lear K
January 13th, 2009 at 7:41 am
Israeli Sightseers Flock to Border to Watch Gaza Killings:
“Parash Hill is now a place for Israelis to gather and watch the death unfold.
They come with binoculars. They bring their families and take pictures. They rationalize away the deaths of hundreds of children by reasoning that “when they grow up they’ll also probably be terrorists.” Its like the fourth of July, only instead of watching fireworks and listening to crappy instrumental music on the radio they watch with barely restrained jubilation as their neighbors are killed under a heavy military bombardment and ground forces continue to pour deeper into the Gaza Strip.”
http://news.antiwar.com/2009/01/12/israeli-sightseers-flock-to-border-to-watch-gaza-killings/
Corkey
January 13th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Yep, military recruiters are right there with child molesters, drug dealers and pimps. Same type of business when you think about it.
Strider
January 13th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
What recruiters do is indeed despicable, but please bear in mind that the majority of them are not there by choice — they were forced into that duty. And if they don’t make their quota every month, they are subjected to hideous reprisals from their superiors, and their careers are effectively ruined. So I’m not surprised several have committed suicide in recent months. It must be like having to undergo the Kobayashi Maru simulation every single day. Perhaps that’s why all recruiters are enlisted. Officers can resign their commissions; NCOs are stuck, especially in this age of “stop loss.”
Note: parents in any state can use the form that keeps the recruiters away from their kids. I know it’s available online, because I once downloaded and created a PDF of it.
Brad Smith
January 14th, 2009 at 5:23 am
Strider, thanks for letting people know they can find the PDF file online. I know all about the way the US Army tricks people into staying in. Most of my friends in the military were stop lossed or reactivated using the IRR call ups. I have sympathy for the brainwashed children that were forced to stay in with the stop loss or IRR call ups. However, I have no sympathy whatsoever for the adults who continue to re-enlist, least of all the recruiters. “their careers are effectively ruined” any adult who would make a career out of the military as it now stands is taking part in Murder, and recuiters are directly involved in the willfull neglect and abuse of children. Sorry but if the company I worked for suddenly decided to order me to kill my neighbors or get the kids down the block to do it for me, I would find a way to quit even if I had 30 years invested with a pention and every benifit known to man. Blood money and benifits are no exuse for abuse and murder!
Peace!
kai
January 14th, 2009 at 6:20 am
i agree! they make it like playing a video game is the same as killing people for real… it really makes me sick.
we made this animation with a not so subliminal message in there:
mainly: peace. no weapons , yes food.
what if we could change all the weapons into food. and everybody just start to see that every living person is the same. why should there be people (and innocent children) have to be killed? what’s the point of that?
these recruiters really make me sick, they target most of the time kids from poor backgrounds to do the dirty stuff for the sick hidden agenda of the monotary system.
please check out our animation with this message and post it as much as possible.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ddN-ZC5N4c4
stop war! people are all the same and every living person got the same right for a good and normal life then anny other western country. the world is really sick.
we have to fight these people with humor and love from the heart.
peace and love for all! no to weapons, yes to food!
Joshua Shoenfeld
January 14th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Soldiers deserve to be executed for violating the natural rights of people on behalf of depraved criminals who call themselves the government! Hopefully the resistance movements fighting the US empire will do us a favor and kill as many soldiers as possible!
Bill K.
January 18th, 2009 at 3:32 am
Now don’t lump them all together.
The term would be “Anti-Social”. People who who favor violence and display frequent violent behavior are such.