Teaching Kids to Kill

Connections
I can very easily make a connection to this text because it's reasoning for kids becoming killers is primarily media. This includes violent video games and movies that are leaving an impression on teenagers that this behavior is okay. I can connect to this because I play violent video games sometimes such as Call of Duty. The way that they teach kids to kill versus the way that kids in Canada learn in school is extremely different. They FORCE these kids to become what they want and  not what these kids want, it becomes all that they know.

Challenges
I want to argue where is says "Where does a 14-year-old boy who never fired a gun before get the skill and the will to kill? Video games and media violence." They say that these should be banned, however I disagree. Kids that play these games for enjoyment, like me know the dangers that even attempting something like this would cause.

Concepts
I think that all the statistics that are presented in the text are very important. They are important because they show proof that media is having an impact on today's kids, and its a negative one.
Kids should not be exposed to violent media or games at a very young age, once they understand the dangers it presents in reality, then only I think they can be exposed. Also the way that they train their soldiers is extremely brutal and how they totally eliminate their individuality.

Changes 
The changes that need to be made are worldwide. I think their should be a age limit so we can limit the amount of young children exposed to violence. There is also violence that they are exposed to that we cannot control, such as abuse in the home or seeing it happening around the world in different countries with the child solider's. Media is for entertainment, if kid's cannot handle watching it without becoming murderers then I do agree something needs to be done.

"The Innocent Become the Dead"

Innocent Civilians Killed and Wounded

http://costsofwar.org/article/civilians-killed-and-wounded

As we all know, the horrific violence going on in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have not only caused damage to the country and the economy, but more importantly the people of these countries. At bare minimum, at least 174,000 innocent civilians have been determined to have been killed due to the war as of April 2014 (From Article). The actual numbers are suspected to be extremely higher than this figure. The war in Afghanistan has been going on for a decade now and the recorded amount of deaths is a sum 50,000 people. When it comes to Iraq over 70% of those killed in the war were innocent people. The people are not safe anywhere, even in their own homes. Civilians are also killed due to damaged buildings collapsing in the streets. They are either killed by their military or the US, it seems like they are not safe anywhere that they go.

The fact that this article was about innocent civilians being killed in these countries where either the government is corrupt or the country is at war, it was relatively easy to connect to (Text to self). It seems like almost every day we can see on the news that there was a bombing on a city that killed many innocent civilians whether it was in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan. Seeing this makes me wonder what would happen Canada every had a civil war or if I lived in these countries where this is happening. The people live in fear of being caught in a shooting or stepping on a land mine or worrying there is a bomb in a building. I think it’s only a matter of time before other countries will start stepping in because Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan cannot continue like this.