Brendan Hughes

I have a 13 yr old son, by marriage. He is Mongolian, lived the last 2 yrs in Ohio USA, and is now with me.

He and his friends have started playing Counter-strike. As a result (yes, a direct result - there was nothing before) they have decided terrorists are cool. He's printed and put pictures all over his school folder of balaclava'd muscle-men, with captions like "Terrorists always win". His friend (half British, half Portuguese, never lived in UK) has plastered "IRA" all over his file. Now the teacher (British school over here) has complained.

What do I do? I was crazy about SAS, guns etc at that age, but I also grew up with news reports of nail bombs in Wimpy bars and bombing outside Harrods in the Christmas shopping period - sick stuff. I tell him about this and it barely gets through.

I've done a masters in International Criminal Law, I know damn well the difference between terrorists and freedom fighters, unlike the stupid cliché that says they are equal. Fight for freedom, sure, but don't kill and maim innocent civilians just to scare them into leaving you alone.

Any views (on educating him - I really don't want to start a Northern Ireland discussion on here)?

BJH

RB170

Hmmm difficult one this

If you ban him from playing CS he's not going to get the point so why don't you sit down with him and ask him to explain why he thinks Terrorist are cool.

You can explain to him what a terrorist actaully does and given recent events you can show him some prime examples of how wrong it is.

Counter Strike may have put the idea into his head but in the end it's only a game and as a parent myself I know that it's my responsibility to ensure that my kids know that it's just a game and to educate them so that they can tell the difference between that and real life

Mike

P.S GO GO GO

[Edited by RB170 - 5/23/2002 1:46:25 PM]

BarryK

Ha ha. Sure. More crackpot theory.

And the second world war trivialised Nazism for many kids too. I went to school with peole who drew swastikas on their books and used symbols of thw Waffen SS. They never gassed any Jews or joined the BNP or whatever. It's just that artistically the ***** knew what symbolism would impress people.

Encountering such things is called growing up. You can tell them the reality, that they probably already know, they'll just say it's boring.

You must have seen all the Che Guevara teeshirts (lampooned incidentally by the Tooting Popular Front)? Well in many people's eyes Che was a terrorist, but there is no denying the symbolism.

Let me think, I played a lot of subbuteo football, but I never went on the pitch with my feet glued to a hemispherical base.

Just make sure they know the boundary between reality and fantasy and why right is not wrong.

My 8 year old is fascinated by some kids who class themselves as Goths. He asked me what a Goth was. I said so far as I know they were lawless roaming nuisances who wanted to spoil the good life for everyone else, and ended up sacking Rome.

Do you know any different?

Incidentally he plays Counter Strike ocassionally, and it is as usual "awesome", but he knows it is just a show and a toy, because I told him so, and he trusts me, because I don't tell him lies.

He is also quite handy with a light sabre on Jedi Knight II, and favours the Republic. Should I inform MI5?

MrDeference

Barry
I think that was what the thread is all about - how do you downplay the "coolness" of something, and ensure they know that it is wrong?

Dizzy

lol @ BarryK I play loads of War3 atm so If we ever get invaded by hordes of the undead I'll know what to do.

I think you'll find he'll get more violance from the NEWS than on any game and it'll look And feel more real than in any game.

On a complete other note I'm sure a lot of Irish ppl will tell you the SAS were no better than terrorists themselves. There are always 2 side to everystory.

I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm trivialising your problem but all you can do is try and instill his own code of Morals. I know I have mine. and even as a "kid" I knew the difference between right and wrong and TV / games wern't real. Also I dont think kids are the only stupid ones.. I've seen a lot of moronic adults and students too.

ptholt

Well i've wasted most of my life since the age of about 6 playing games in there many guises, and it never effected me as it was just a bunch of pixels.

Would just like to say those that know me may disagree lol.

geoff_clio172

I think it is upto parents to control what their children are allowed to play on PC's, but also people react differently to things like this.

I have played Counter Strike since it was begun about 3 years ago; I also play Unreal Tournament, Quake 3 and Grand Theft Auto 3; but I don't want to go out and nick cars, run pedestrians over or start shooting at people with a Flak Cannon. Thats not to say somebody else won't.

It's mostly down to how your brought up and the circle of friends you mix with; one reason I'm not having children. Who'd want to bring a new life into this world anyway?

Beerm0nster

heres a suggestion. Beat him at Counter Strike. If the parent is better, he will lose interest, because it will be "uncool".

BM

jjones

Christ - don't let him play leisure suit larry or he will turn into a flannel suit wearing pervert.

HTH

Beerm0nster

HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA

Maz-old

Mate, sorry to hear about what's going on, but I wondered where you did Inernational Criminal Law and what you covered. I have an LL.M in international peace and security law, including International Criminal Law and I was just interested.

As for your son, I don't have kids, so anything I would say is without much experience, but kids do grow out of this sort of thing, especially at 13 and new things come along all the time. Rather than make it an issue by highlighting it, it might be as well to take an observant approach and see how it goes over the next few weeks/months. Perhaps get him into new games.

M.

Beerm0nster

you know your in trouble when you find an AK-47 and a few C4 explosive charges in his room, when "cleaning" it... That is generally a BAD sign.

BM

MarkJackon

My 3 lads (3,4,6) are obsessed by guns, all little boys are, they are also obsessed by bums, ******* and boobies

Hopefully they will grow out of all of them apart from boobies

My four year old has a habit of loading and playing Unreal Tournament, it is hard to stop it, just end up turning the gore off, they seem to like capture the flag best which is at least a team sport of sorts. Will not let them near Max Payne, Undying, Wolfenstien , SOF, hence thats what they want to load and beleive me, unless well hidden the older two will find it

Brendan Hughes

Thanks for the occasional sensible reply. Must say I liked BM's "beat him at CounterStrike", but seeing as I've never seen it, let alone played it, I think that's off the menu!

Absolutely no question of me banning him from playing, what a dumb move that would be. I am also, contrary to what many of you seem to imply, not scared that he will grow up to be a terrorist. I'm just a bit sickened that he likes people who do what I have had to grow up with, as detailed above.

Maz, I studied at Sussex Uni. We did Laws of war, crimes against humanity, terrorism, money laundering, narcotics, different legal systems (brilliant - Islamic law is a real eye opener)... and other options which weren't taken up as not enough students. I loved it and it got me a job (cue sarky comments...).

Off to be a boring parent again,

BJH

PS Just bought some black and ice Oakleys, he's green with envy... parents still get to be cool occasionally

BarryK

Brendan,

Treating "new" stuff as "kids" stuff, that's how parents lose touch.

Now years ago it didn't matter so much, but the speed of change nowadays mean it is mandatory for you to know wtf they are on about.

Play yourself with our STi clan.

Heck send him along, he'll soon get fed up with it!!

See the Simpsons last night? The one where Homer gets a zero in the fatherhood quiz? He gets a book and reads Cosby's first law of parenting, no matter what you tell your kids to do, they will always do the opposite, so you know what to do.................

[Edited by BarryK - 5/24/2002 10:28:01 AM]