January 28, 2008
Even in the United States, the belief that the Defense Department uses the America's Army game series as a military recruitment tool is controversial.It's probably not surprising, then, that Empowered Muslim Youth, an Islamic blog, accuses America's Army of "brainwashing:"
Computer War-games have increased tenfolds (sic) since the global war on terrorism invaded our minds and ears in 2001, with most of the games targeted towards a young audience...
These visual games are a perfect opportunity to psychologically prepare and even mentally train children to fight in battle...
There is no doubt that this well-thought tactic, issued by high-ranking govermental officials, and it is not very surprising. The global war on terrorism is running out of soldiers, as US officials have said...
Brainwashing the youth to fight in almost real-life situations which a solider would face if fighting in Iraq for instance, is most definitely a way to recruit more soldiers for the future...
GP: From the "About" page of the Empowered Muslim Youth blog: "EMY... looks at Muslim Youth’s lives all over the world, how they are portrayed in the media and popular culture, and issues that concern them. We noticed a lack of Muslim perspective in middle eastern and international websites concerning youth..."
Comments
Frankly, I'd never play AA. I'll pay out money and play a real shooter kthx.
That was one of the most ignorant statements I've ever heard. I could go into a long ramble about how you're making a sweeping generalization about an entire culture based on a few radicals, and how it's *gasp* naive to think that our government is in this "war on terror" for just ALL of the right reasons (/sarcasm), but suffice it to say you sound like an ignorant prick, and just like the type of person that's giving Islamic radicals just another example of American ignorance to use for the purposes of demeaning the entire country. I'm starting to think that people here will never start to fucking grow up and maybe realize that their MIGHT be a few reasons for other countries to detest us, and that we're not always "the good guys". Sorry for ranting.
A muslim Jack Thompson?
No, a LaRouche copy-cat.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
They sound just like the PTC.
We could always accuse them of being on the terrorist side rather than ours, even if the comparison is tenuous.
I wonder if this guy has a sense of humor because that's pretty funny.
In all seriousness, the messed up state of affairs all over the middle-east is not the public's fault. I wonder where they get the idea that all American's want to Rambo their way through the internal organs of every Iraqi. Then again, the rest of the world hates us because the biggest thing we export is bad TV shows and movies.
This poor idiot probably thinks we're all flag waving psychopaths with guns... Which is pretty ironic if you ask me.
It's just like people who claim that video games are causing violence when the numbers show that violent crime is decreasing. How can America's Army be brainwashing people to join the military if there have been fewer and fewer recruits since the game was released?
somehow, i think not.
"These visual games are a perfect opportunity to psychologically prepare and even mentally train children to fight in battle…"
strangely, i think computer games don't convey all the suspense and emotion contained within a battlefield. i dont know any gamers who got post-traumatic stress from playing computer games. (FEAR doesn't count)
"There is no doubt that this well-thought tactic, issued by high-ranking govermental officials, and it is not very surprising. The global war on terrorism is running out of soldiers, as US officials have said…"
"no doubt that this well-thought tactic"
"well-thought tactic"
"thought"
no, the government is not capable of being that devious.
besdies, i dont seriously believe they're running out of soldiers, more like targets.
"Brainwashing the youth to fight in almost real-life situations which a solider would face if fighting in Iraq for instance, is most definitely a way to recruit more soldiers for the future…"
basically, that sentance failed at the first word.
seriously, these games just dont convey the realism of combat, so they cant realistically train people for it, insert whole 'mouse vs rifle' argument here.
on a side note, i think "the pen is mightier than the sword" needs updated to "the blog is mightier than the rifle" or something similar. thoughts?
Do people have no idea what an M rated game is? Seriously? Just because kids know more about video games than adults doesn't mean they are targeted at them. It just means old people don't care about video games.
Have you ever seen a commercial for Halo or America's Army on Nickelodeon? Didn't think so.
And I agree, this obviously isn't a very effective brainwashing tool since the Army is constantly missing its recruitment goals.
Seconded.
Fuck that noise.
Honestly, I don't know what the EMY has to stand on, look at all the games made in Palestine about shooting Jews, making bombs, and my personal favorite, blowing up buildings along the gaza strip.
Even more lame is that fact that you take on a totally different appearance to your enemies. I'm quite the screen watcher, and I noticed my buddy zooming in on what looked like a Cuban Revolutionary or some sort of Columbian drug runner. Now I knew that wasn't me because my guy on my screen looked like GI Joe. He pulled the trigger, I die. Come to find out, his GI Joe looks like a drug runner to me as well. What a lame game.
Now I appreciate that the current global political climate might lead people to muse over the religious/racial implications of games like this, but I seriously doubt America’s Army was written to habitualise new recruits to violence. Not wanting to point out the obvious here, but military forces cannot be rampaging vandals/criminals (sic) if they are to be effective. Soldiers aren't thugs, they'd be uncommandable if they were.
Even if America’s Army was meant to train children to fight and kill, I'd say it does a poor job of it, gore is limited and no number of sound effects and flashing lights will train anyone to keep their head under real fire. I'd say all armies appreciate this fact, which is why they use live fire training exercises; there is no substitute for the real thing. Only a fool (or someone with an ulterior political motive) would claim a computer game could emotionally prepare a person for the stresses of real combat, let alone train them to be an effective soldier.
Hell I’m pretty good on any FPS out there but I’m a civilian and if I thought gaming made me a capable soldier I’d be a liability to any one I served with.
Gift.
Wow, that sucks.
And people say that BF2 and Call of Duty 4 are biased against arabs. Heck, at least in those you can PLAY as the arabs and give the Americans a taste of their own medicine.
Well, the truth is that all sorts of methods to encourage recruitment for the military have taken place since the idea of having a military, especially a VOLUNTARY military began.
Patriotism
Aspirations of visiting foreign citys and locales
Educational opportunities
Job experience
Adventure
So on and so forth. There is an endless supply of how these things are delivered to the young. Word of mouth. Newspapers. TV ads. Fictional depiction in movies, books, verbal storytelling, video games, etc.
For good or ill, it's just one more tool. My personal opinion is that AA is no more or less condemnable as a recruiting tool than anything else.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
BTW: I support the game (I do not play it however). I think it is a very useful educational tool despite its short comings.
"War games have a long history."
Yes. Yes they do. However, where does it say long running pass-times cannot or should not be updated to take advantage of new technology? Furthermore, where does it say entertainment cannot also be topical?
Gift.
I think this is one of the best statements of our time that has ever been said on this site.
Think of it. Our governments and media tell us that all mid-easterners are crazy religious fundamentalists. This, of course, cannot be true but most believe it. If EVERY muslem in Iraq and Iran rose up, the occupation would be over in days.
On their side, their government and media are likely telling them that we westerners are oil thirsty bandits intent on enslaving their country and raking what is rightfully theirs. AND if that were true, then the US would not have invaded the way they did.
So here we are: stakeholders feed into the stereotype and we either believe it or scoff at it.
Also true. What's the game.. That one where you're an Insurgent fighting the US and Israel? It already has 8000+ preorders.
That's the Moral High Ground, right there.
Speaking of which.. I need to find something big enough to add to the ball to get up to that point.. *keeps on rolling*
"I wonder where they get the idea that all American’s want to Rambo their way through the internal organs of every Iraqi... This poor idiot probably thinks we’re all flag waving psychopaths with guns…"
I think that's a fair assumption. Having spent a fair amount of time in the Middle East, I wouldn't say that statement's far from the truth at all. Furthermore, many of the more reactionary, jingoistic Europeans feel that way too. Thankfully, they are outnumbered by those of us who understand its unfair to hold the many responsible for the words and deeds of a few.
Then again, the rest of the world hates us because the biggest thing we export is bad TV shows and movies.
...not to mention sub-prime mortgage loans ;)
"...not to mention sub-prime mortage loans"
Actually, we're sort of hoping you all won't mention those.
Brainwashing the youth to fight in almost real-life situations which a solider would face if fighting in Iraq for instance, is most definitely a way to recruit more soldiers for the future…
They just don't like it - it's competition..
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/09/armed-children-.html
Maybe we should be more 'sensitive' to them and have our children quit playing video games.... To make things fair, we should train them with REAL guns. eh?
Who wants to bet this never makes it to the site?
You all are my witness.. :)
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Back in the 1960s, a computer war game was unheard of;
Umm, because personal computers were unheard of in the 60's, lol? *psst* - (In 1966, Ralph Baer resumed work on an initial idea he had in 1951 to make an interactive game on a television set. The Brown Box, the last prototype of seven, was released in May 1972 by Magnavox under the name Odyssey. It was the first home video game console.)
How many people in the 60's did you know had video games? I grew up in the 70's and clearly remember the launch of home Video Game systems like - Atari and such - the very first video game Atari made and packaged with the first systems was called 'combat'.
But - even before I got the Atari - I used to watch war movies on TV all the time, and go outside with my friends to play 'war' with Sticks, or whatever. So it's a pointless argument - 'war' play has been around for a long time, indeed.
And while it's very possible it may 'train youth' - it pales in comparison to the training many 'children' throughout the world get with REAL guns and REAL armies - and then, many times die REAL deaths.
Plus - according to accepted history..
"The earliest known interactive electronic game was created by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann on a cathode ray tube[3] in 1947. The game was a missile simulator inspired by radar displays from World War II. It used analog circuitry, not digital, to control the CRT beam and position a dot on the screen. Screen overlays were used for targets since graphics could not be drawn at the time."
So yea - the very first 'Video Game' was based on War - actually.
I like who Lewis Black said it.
"This is a group, that does not have a sense of humor."
It looks like your post has shopwn up, because there's now a voice of reason at the bottom of that article's comments field.
This is exactly the type of blog post on which we as gamers should comment directly - responsibly, of course.
Dagnabbit! I hope their mod approves my comment soon!
Let them clear up the boundless inequities, human rights travesties and seminal feuding before turning their accusatory fingers our way.
Of course.. they would be the experts on the subject of brainwashing.. maybe their diagnoses merit some attention.
Patriotism has been a tool used throughout the centuries to draw in recurits.
But there is another similar tool. A tool that had been used throughout the world in the past to draw in new recruits. And today, though the US doesn't use it heavily, many other countries do use it. And, in a sense, it makes the argument used by the youth group slightly hypocritical.
That other tool... is religion. There are many who have used their religious beliefs to try to draw in new recruits, especially for holy wars, but not always. And, let's face it, Christianity and Muslim religions are far from the only religious groups throughout history to rile up the populace and recruit new soldiers.
Not all individuals within a particular religion are guilty of such acts, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen anyway. "For God and King!", "For God and Country!", "Kill the infidels!". A great many battlecries have religion stamped on them.
So let us not forget all those different tools to encourage recruitment into the military.
Nightwng2000
NW2K software
isnt this the wrong century for the ignorant -us vs. them- way of thinking?
Just because some people are using a religon to do horrible things doesnt mean we should discredit what some blog is trying to say. They, nor the Muslim faith in general are not responsible for "boundless inequities, human rights travesties and seminal feuding."
"An Islamic youth complaining about brain-washing and and desensitization… I wonder if this guy has a sense of humor because that’s pretty funny."
Why? Because you assume HE is desensitized and brainwashed?
"This poor idiot probably thinks we’re all flag waving psychopaths with guns… Which is pretty ironic if you ask me."
Don't you see that, in one sentence, you accuse someone of stereotyping americans and find it ironic because you have assumed he falls in your stereotyped category of 'poor idiot' and 'brainwashed' only because the article says he's Islamic.
Here's some snippits.
"Interestingly the logo of the Monster Inc company has one eye, just like the eye used on the American dollar bill that has come to be known as the all-seeing eye"
"After a few blinks, I realised that the comparison was all too real. Monsters Inc was released in 2001 and in 2002 in some parts of the world, right after 9/11 and the war on terror starting with Afghanistan. A subliminal message of the sad current state the world is in, perhaps?"
"A friendly monster, Sully, is at the top, while a sneaky monster with bad intentions is in second place. This league can symbolise the current oil league, where countries are the top distributors and those who are in second try their best to be on top, even if it means breaking all work ethics"
Check it out, its a very amusing read. I think if I read between the lines of Sonic the Hedgehog I could probably draw a similiar conclusion:
-Sonic, a RED, WHITE, and BLUE character collects wealth in places filled with people that do not want him there. His speedy tactics symbolizes America's recklessness and greed.
I have heard of AA being accused of having religious undertones so . . .
(by the way this post was intentionally ironic, I have never hard of America's Army being accused for misuse of religion, the same cannot be said for AA).
Of course. He does seem like the type to ignore that Sonic is a Japanese, not American, creation
That's not my post. If I see another comment added I'll just take the fight to my own blog and criticize them for self-aggrandizing selective censorship.