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I wonder what happened to the tens of millions of kids that used to play Cowboys and Indians or Cops and Robbers... Today, instead of running around outside ge

I wonder what happened to the tens of millions of kids that used to play Cowboys and Indians or Cops and Robbers... Today, instead of running around outside getting exercise and learning social interaction, they're all in their rooms on the Internet or game console. I think an awesome mountain bike or a BB gun is exactly what kids need nowadays.

Roboprog 13y ago
Cowboys and Indians? If your friends were nerdy enough back in the 70s, you might play "Star Trek" instead (2nd grade version of LARPing, I guess)
calibraxis 13y ago
"Cowboys and Indians" is a great example. For one thing, they're not from India, as incompetently believed; they were the US's indigenous population, largely exterminated through genocide. (For that matter, the cowboy imagery we pose as was stolen from Mexicans, just like the land we call "Texas".) Dissidents like Chomsky mentioned, "I clearly remember when I was a child the favorite game for young people was 'Cowboys and Indians.' You went to the forest and pretended that there were 'Indians.' It was like going hunting, like hunting animals." Now, who spends almost as much as the rest of the world combined on military, frequently indulges in international attacks against far weaker people, and jails its own population at the world's highest rate? Should we also go back to teaching the popular racist version of "Eeny meeny"? "Catch a n... by his toe / If he won't work then let him go." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eeny,_meeny,_miny,_moe#Earlier_version http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eeny,_meeny,_miny,_moe#Earlier_...) Who cares about the mountain bike? If I said, "I just got junior a bike and sexual predator kit!" you probably wouldn't even remember the bike, except as bizarre juxtaposition.
- Casseres 13y ago
  "incompetently believed" - By whom? I doubt the U.S. had many immigrants from India in the 1800s. Genocide is defined as the deliberate killing of a group of people. I'm sure the Europeans and early Americans had microscopes to make sure those blankets were infected before giving them to the Native Americans. The imagery wasn't stolen. Mexico had cowboys (vaqueros) before us. Did they have a patent on what clothes to wear? Cowboys look like cowboys because of the utility of their clothes, not because of some sense of fashion. Try working on a ranch in a suit and top hat. Did you ever study history? I recommend that rather than regurgitating other people's delusions. Texas was not stolen. The people who lived in Texas revolted and drove out the Mexican soldiers. Texas then became its own Republic. Texas later joined the United States voluntarily. Perhaps the game of Cowboys and Indians is culturally insensitive. I don't know anyone who hates Indians because of it, or wants to go hunt them or any other humans in real life. The public school I went to did a pretty good job teach us about the plight of the Native Americans. Also, I would venture to guess that game Cowboys and Indians was introduced by the many western shows and movies that were popular in the mid-1900s. Cops and Robbers was immensely more popular even before Cowboys and Indians [0]. The rest of your post is just ridiculous and I have no idea why you brought those things up. What does a "sexual predator kit" have to do with anything? [0] http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=cowboys+and+indians%2C+cops+and+robbers http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=cowboys+and+ind...

Roboprog 13y ago

Cowboys and Indians? If your friends were nerdy enough back in the 70s, you might play "Star Trek" instead (2nd grade version of LARPing, I guess)

calibraxis 13y ago

"Cowboys and Indians" is a great example. For one thing, they're not from India, as incompetently believed; they were the US's indigenous population, largely exterminated through genocide. (For that matter, the cowboy imagery we pose as was stolen from Mexicans, just like the land we call "Texas".) Dissidents like Chomsky mentioned, "I clearly remember when I was a child the favorite game for young people was 'Cowboys and Indians.' You went to the forest and pretended that there were 'Indians.' It was like going hunting, like hunting animals." Now, who spends almost as much as the rest of the world combined on military, frequently indulges in international attacks against far weaker people, and jails its own population at the world's highest rate? Should we also go back to teaching the popular racist version of "Eeny meeny"? "Catch a n... by his toe / If he won't work then let him go." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eeny,_meeny,_miny,_moe#Earlier_version http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eeny,_meeny,_miny,_moe#Earlier_...) Who cares about the mountain bike? If I said, "I just got junior a bike and sexual predator kit!" you probably wouldn't even remember the bike, except as bizarre juxtaposition.

Casseres 13y ago
"incompetently believed" - By whom? I doubt the U.S. had many immigrants from India in the 1800s. Genocide is defined as the deliberate killing of a group of people. I'm sure the Europeans and early Americans had microscopes to make sure those blankets were infected before giving them to the Native Americans. The imagery wasn't stolen. Mexico had cowboys (vaqueros) before us. Did they have a patent on what clothes to wear? Cowboys look like cowboys because of the utility of their clothes, not because of some sense of fashion. Try working on a ranch in a suit and top hat. Did you ever study history? I recommend that rather than regurgitating other people's delusions. Texas was not stolen. The people who lived in Texas revolted and drove out the Mexican soldiers. Texas then became its own Republic. Texas later joined the United States voluntarily. Perhaps the game of Cowboys and Indians is culturally insensitive. I don't know anyone who hates Indians because of it, or wants to go hunt them or any other humans in real life. The public school I went to did a pretty good job teach us about the plight of the Native Americans. Also, I would venture to guess that game Cowboys and Indians was introduced by the many western shows and movies that were popular in the mid-1900s. Cops and Robbers was immensely more popular even before Cowboys and Indians [0]. The rest of your post is just ridiculous and I have no idea why you brought those things up. What does a "sexual predator kit" have to do with anything? [0] http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=cowboys+and+indians%2C+cops+and+robbers http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=cowboys+and+ind...