6 ms·

slingshot boy is cool. the young boys with the array of plastic guns is a bit disturbing* * to a non north american at least

esrauch 7y ago
The two with an array of guns were from China and Ukraine, so I don't know what "North American" has to do with it.
- simion314 7y ago
  I would blame the media, Hollywood and video games for the popularity of toy guns though I am not saying this is a real problem since here in Europe there are no guns anyway and there is no evidence that movies or games have effects on children or adults, I never seen one and I don't know people that have guns. I know the guns topic is a sensitive one and I am not having here an opinion about that topic, just mentioning that the gun culture is exported around the world with the US media.
  - zaat 7y ago
    And who would you blame for the popularity of wooden toy swords? https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/rare-roman-cavalry-swords-and-toys-unearthed-along-hadrians-wall-180964863/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/rare-roman-cavalry...
    - simion314 7y ago
      That I would blame for the oral (and written) stories we hear as children about our ancestors that were heroes and fought in great battles.
  - analognoise 7y ago
    You can immediately tell who has had kids (or spent a lot of time around kids) and who hasn't by their answers. You don't have any kids and don't spend any time with kids if you think Hollywood is exporting "defend the tribe".
    - simion314 7y ago
      I am referring to guns, not about defending the tribe, so maybe you can make your point clear, are you from Europe and as a child you seen guns outside movies and video games? I could be wrong, I can't perform an experiment where I remove games and movies with guns and then measure if children will play more with cars and airplanes then guns.
      - eitland 7y ago
        I grew up in Norway without TV and with no guns in the house. Was still interested in guns. Don't know how I became interested, it happened before I can remember. (and no, I'm no gun nut but I was very interested in guns as a kid - as many other kids.)
        simion314 7y ago
        Thank you for your perspective, it is interesting, can you recall maybe stories involving guns? In my case I was told stories involving swords and bows and as children we were creating swords and bows, we were also making guns but I think we saw those in american police movies that were very popular at that time.
        eitland 7y ago
        I guess I might have picked up the idea from other kids somehow - but - I don't have older siblings - I didn't go to kindergarten - and I generally can't recall playing much with other kids except for my younger brothers before I started in school There must be an explanation - I don't think this was a miracle and I also think guns hasn't existed mong enough to make an impression on our genes - but I don't know it.
      - analognoise 7y ago
        If you remove guns, children (boys) will use sticks as swords and hit each other with them. If they have no knowledge of swords, they'll hit each other with sticks. Can't get much more primitive than a stick. What would that relative measurement tell you? Nothing. The mixture is different for each kid. But I can tell you the play fight, with whatever tools they think are appropriate, is 100% universal. In fact if a boy didn't do that at all, I'd honestly have him tested for a developmental delay.
  - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
    China isn’t that influenced by Hollywood. There are plenty of kids in China that have never seen a Hollywood film before. Chinese media on the other hand has no problem exposing kids to guns even if guns are completely illegal in the PRC.
coleifer 7y ago
Ehh sometimes kids like guns. My aunt was telling me how she wasn't going to let her kids have toy guns or watch violent shows. One morning she made toast, and my cousin had bitten his toast into the shape of a gun. He's now a writer for wacky kids shows.
- shoes_for_thee 7y ago
  This is consistent with my experience. Stick with right-angle found on the ground? Gun. Inverted shoe? Gun. Magnetic letter L? Gun. Legos? Gun. Sometimes sword. Sister's barbie held by arms with legs poiting at target? Gun. Toast with bite out of it? Gun. Weapons are basic, ancient tools. In fact, the oldest human artifacts ever found were weapons[0]. It should come as no surprise that they are popular children's toys, whether we like it or not. To be clear -- I do not mind it, but the guns depicted here are realistic enough to potentially cause confusion for people with actual guns and should probably never be taken out of the house...... [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schöningen_spears#targetText=The%20Schöningen%20spears%20are%20a,of%20approximately%2016%2C000%20animal%20bones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schöningen_spears#targetText=T....
  - fooker 7y ago
    That's a very American view. In most places around the world, guns are so rare that nobody will mistake a realistic toy as a gun. In India, it is somewhat common for kids to have toy guns which make a loud sound if you insert a 'cap' and pull the trigger. This is sold as a firework, and can be seen everywhere on the streets during festivals.
    - jpindar 7y ago
      Cap guns are, or at least were, very common in the US.
      - fooker 7y ago
        When is the last time you have seen a child playing with one in a public space?
EL_Loco 7y ago
Snow sled boy cool too
benj111 7y ago
Is this not a generational divide? I had a wide array of weapons. I don't think the same would be acceptable for my kids, in fact my (much) younger brothers weren't allowed guns, but as another commenter pointed out, every stick and piece of Lego became a gun for them anyway. When LotR came out they did persuade their grandad to make them smoking pipes, I found that disturbing!
redleggedfrog 7y ago
As a North American (Portland, OR) I can tell you me and all my friends and family kids of the 1970's had swords, shields, and guns. My uncle even made me, out of wood, a very authentic WW II M1 rifle and a .50 cal machine gun with tripod so we could play war more accurately in our numerous foxholes we'd dug around the farm. I loved those toys. I still have my childhood plywood shield. It's barely holding together. None of those friends and family own guns (or swords, heh) as adults. I've never even fired a pistol in real life. We all skew fairly left and would favor a lot more gun control. I'm a supporter of the military and our troops, but I worry about us sending them all over the place for who knows what end. It takes a heavy toll on us and them. I honestly don't think having weapons as toys has much affect on you as an adult. It's all fun and games until you're old enough to learn some history and actually comprehend the horrors of war, and then you can only look back fondly on those innocent days.
rayiner 7y ago
May need to be more specific. Maybe in Europe it’s not like that? I had a ton of toy guns as a kid in Bangladesh. The kind of shit you can’t even get in America. Realistic pistols (with jagged metal edges) made in Pakistan. I had a realistic military uniform, with jagged metal buckles. (Kids’ costumes in America are plastic crap, I assume because metal and stitching is some sort of safety hazard).
- adventured 7y ago
  > Realistic pistols (with jagged metal edges) made in Pakistan. I had a realistic military uniform, with jagged metal buckles. (Kids’ costumes in America are plastic crap, I assume because metal and stitching is some sort of safety hazard). I disagree with that generalization. I grew up in the 1980s playing with quasi-realistic metal toy pistols (revolvers) and so did pretty much every other boy that I knew. Maybe that has changed a lot in the last ~15-20 years, however the majority of adults today that grew up playing with toy guns in the US would have at some point come across metal guns as well the plastic fare. Until more recently it was a very common type of toy. As recently as the mid 1990s, it would not have been strange at all to see metal pistols played with in kindergartens across the US. And then further it varies heavily by location, you're still going to commonly see metal toy guns in places like Texas and surrounding states, the midwest and the southern states. You can go to yard sales all over the US and buy toy metal guns. Or just take a look at Amazon or eBay, they're still commonly sold in new form (search for toy metal guns and variations). Metal toy cap guns in particular remain popular in the US.
irrational 7y ago
Why do you bring up North America? That boy lives in China.

esrauch 7y ago

The two with an array of guns were from China and Ukraine, so I don't know what "North American" has to do with it.

simion314 7y ago
I would blame the media, Hollywood and video games for the popularity of toy guns though I am not saying this is a real problem since here in Europe there are no guns anyway and there is no evidence that movies or games have effects on children or adults, I never seen one and I don't know people that have guns. I know the guns topic is a sensitive one and I am not having here an opinion about that topic, just mentioning that the gun culture is exported around the world with the US media.
- zaat 7y ago
  And who would you blame for the popularity of wooden toy swords? https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/rare-roman-cavalry-swords-and-toys-unearthed-along-hadrians-wall-180964863/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/rare-roman-cavalry...
  - simion314 7y ago
    That I would blame for the oral (and written) stories we hear as children about our ancestors that were heroes and fought in great battles.
- analognoise 7y ago
  You can immediately tell who has had kids (or spent a lot of time around kids) and who hasn't by their answers. You don't have any kids and don't spend any time with kids if you think Hollywood is exporting "defend the tribe".
  - simion314 7y ago
    I am referring to guns, not about defending the tribe, so maybe you can make your point clear, are you from Europe and as a child you seen guns outside movies and video games? I could be wrong, I can't perform an experiment where I remove games and movies with guns and then measure if children will play more with cars and airplanes then guns.
    - eitland 7y ago
      I grew up in Norway without TV and with no guns in the house. Was still interested in guns. Don't know how I became interested, it happened before I can remember. (and no, I'm no gun nut but I was very interested in guns as a kid - as many other kids.)
      - simion314 7y ago
        Thank you for your perspective, it is interesting, can you recall maybe stories involving guns? In my case I was told stories involving swords and bows and as children we were creating swords and bows, we were also making guns but I think we saw those in american police movies that were very popular at that time.
        eitland 7y ago
        I guess I might have picked up the idea from other kids somehow - but - I don't have older siblings - I didn't go to kindergarten - and I generally can't recall playing much with other kids except for my younger brothers before I started in school There must be an explanation - I don't think this was a miracle and I also think guns hasn't existed mong enough to make an impression on our genes - but I don't know it.
    - analognoise 7y ago
      If you remove guns, children (boys) will use sticks as swords and hit each other with them. If they have no knowledge of swords, they'll hit each other with sticks. Can't get much more primitive than a stick. What would that relative measurement tell you? Nothing. The mixture is different for each kid. But I can tell you the play fight, with whatever tools they think are appropriate, is 100% universal. In fact if a boy didn't do that at all, I'd honestly have him tested for a developmental delay.
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  China isn’t that influenced by Hollywood. There are plenty of kids in China that have never seen a Hollywood film before. Chinese media on the other hand has no problem exposing kids to guns even if guns are completely illegal in the PRC.

coleifer 7y ago

Ehh sometimes kids like guns. My aunt was telling me how she wasn't going to let her kids have toy guns or watch violent shows. One morning she made toast, and my cousin had bitten his toast into the shape of a gun. He's now a writer for wacky kids shows.

shoes_for_thee 7y ago
This is consistent with my experience. Stick with right-angle found on the ground? Gun. Inverted shoe? Gun. Magnetic letter L? Gun. Legos? Gun. Sometimes sword. Sister's barbie held by arms with legs poiting at target? Gun. Toast with bite out of it? Gun. Weapons are basic, ancient tools. In fact, the oldest human artifacts ever found were weapons[0]. It should come as no surprise that they are popular children's toys, whether we like it or not. To be clear -- I do not mind it, but the guns depicted here are realistic enough to potentially cause confusion for people with actual guns and should probably never be taken out of the house...... [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schöningen_spears#targetText=The%20Schöningen%20spears%20are%20a,of%20approximately%2016%2C000%20animal%20bones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schöningen_spears#targetText=T....
- fooker 7y ago
  That's a very American view. In most places around the world, guns are so rare that nobody will mistake a realistic toy as a gun. In India, it is somewhat common for kids to have toy guns which make a loud sound if you insert a 'cap' and pull the trigger. This is sold as a firework, and can be seen everywhere on the streets during festivals.
  - jpindar 7y ago
    Cap guns are, or at least were, very common in the US.
    - fooker 7y ago
      When is the last time you have seen a child playing with one in a public space?

EL_Loco 7y ago

Snow sled boy cool too

benj111 7y ago

Is this not a generational divide? I had a wide array of weapons. I don't think the same would be acceptable for my kids, in fact my (much) younger brothers weren't allowed guns, but as another commenter pointed out, every stick and piece of Lego became a gun for them anyway. When LotR came out they did persuade their grandad to make them smoking pipes, I found that disturbing!

redleggedfrog 7y ago

As a North American (Portland, OR) I can tell you me and all my friends and family kids of the 1970's had swords, shields, and guns. My uncle even made me, out of wood, a very authentic WW II M1 rifle and a .50 cal machine gun with tripod so we could play war more accurately in our numerous foxholes we'd dug around the farm. I loved those toys. I still have my childhood plywood shield. It's barely holding together. None of those friends and family own guns (or swords, heh) as adults. I've never even fired a pistol in real life. We all skew fairly left and would favor a lot more gun control. I'm a supporter of the military and our troops, but I worry about us sending them all over the place for who knows what end. It takes a heavy toll on us and them. I honestly don't think having weapons as toys has much affect on you as an adult. It's all fun and games until you're old enough to learn some history and actually comprehend the horrors of war, and then you can only look back fondly on those innocent days.

rayiner 7y ago

May need to be more specific. Maybe in Europe it’s not like that? I had a ton of toy guns as a kid in Bangladesh. The kind of shit you can’t even get in America. Realistic pistols (with jagged metal edges) made in Pakistan. I had a realistic military uniform, with jagged metal buckles. (Kids’ costumes in America are plastic crap, I assume because metal and stitching is some sort of safety hazard).

adventured 7y ago
> Realistic pistols (with jagged metal edges) made in Pakistan. I had a realistic military uniform, with jagged metal buckles. (Kids’ costumes in America are plastic crap, I assume because metal and stitching is some sort of safety hazard). I disagree with that generalization. I grew up in the 1980s playing with quasi-realistic metal toy pistols (revolvers) and so did pretty much every other boy that I knew. Maybe that has changed a lot in the last ~15-20 years, however the majority of adults today that grew up playing with toy guns in the US would have at some point come across metal guns as well the plastic fare. Until more recently it was a very common type of toy. As recently as the mid 1990s, it would not have been strange at all to see metal pistols played with in kindergartens across the US. And then further it varies heavily by location, you're still going to commonly see metal toy guns in places like Texas and surrounding states, the midwest and the southern states. You can go to yard sales all over the US and buy toy metal guns. Or just take a look at Amazon or eBay, they're still commonly sold in new form (search for toy metal guns and variations). Metal toy cap guns in particular remain popular in the US.

irrational 7y ago

Why do you bring up North America? That boy lives in China.