Opinion
& Comment
Challenges of the Modern World: Life is Dear
People no longer are so opposed to bloodshed. They even seek
it out as "entertainment."
"Army Forward Command Post" is a toy sold in the USA. It is a
doll house set up as a home that has been hit by a bomb:
there are holes in the roof, one wall is demolished and
bullets are scattered on the floor. It is marketed as
appropriate for children aged five and up, and comes with
dozens of "accessories," including a machine gun, rocket
launcher, magazine belt and explosives. It was sold by
mainstream, respectable US stores like Toys "R" Us and J. C.
Penney (though it is reportedly no longer available).
"This bombed-out version of Barbie's Dream House is sure to
excite bloodthirsty passions in even the most passive of
preschoolers," wrote one reviewer. "Unfortunately, the set
does not come with charred infant or mangled toddler action
figures."
"Gun Sniper" is recommended for ages 4 and up. It is a
"posable action figure" of a creature called Sniper, who
wields a gun in each hand. The Gun Sniper includes "missile-
launching side cannons" and owners can "customize" these toys
"for battle!"
It is well beyond the limits of what our newspaper will
tolerate to even describe the violence of some of the popular
computer games that are sold nowadays.
Moreover, the very fact that the world can accept the
frequent crimes of suicide bombers and not react with
wholesale revulsion is also a worrisome sign of a lowered
sensitivity to bloodshed, but even worse is that respectable
people even say that they can understand such despicable
behavior given what they say the Palestinians have endured.
Regardless of the context, blowing one's self up in order to
murder as many women and children as possible is certainly
beyond any line that can be drawn.
Killing sick people is legal in Holland and currently
debatable in the USA and secular Israel.
Murder and gore is the stuff of entertainment in the West.
Prominent American television shows have "expanded the
limits" to the point that millions of viewers regularly see
many horrible crimes committed in their living rooms on a
daily basis. "Entertainment" includes seeing the world from
criminals' point of view and sympathizing with their troubles
in the low life that they chose to live. A play named
"Sweeney Todd" was a Broadway hit. The plot? The story of a
man revenging himself upon humanity by committing mass
murder. That is the basis for a comedy. Thousands --
perhaps millions -- of "enlightened" people spend a couple of
hours laughing at the "funny side" of murder.
Significantly, the information above about the toys comes
from an organization called the Lion & Lamb Project, a
secular group in the US which is dedicated to stopping the
marketing of violent toys to children. Without a doubt this
is a worthy goal, but the good people there do not seem to
realize that such material is as damaging to adults as it is
to children.
Respect for human life is one of the most universal and basic
teachings of the Torah. It is also essential to a stable
society. The widespread undermining of this critical idea is
very worrisome and downright dangerous.
The proper -- and only effective -- way to fight such moral
degradation is by moral and spiritual elevation.
In these times, we can do no better than to recall the words
of Maran HaRav Shach almost ten years ago spoken in the
middle of a wave of terror, in which he evoked the age-old
response of Klal Yisroel to national tragedy:
". . . the lesson and benefit that should come from the loss
of such victims is not forthcoming. People do not learn, do
not reflect: why did Hashem do this? . . .
" `Vehalachtem imi bekeri -- veholachti imochem bechamas
keri.' This is not, chas vesholom, something that
I made up, these are the words of the Torah. . . . Every one
of us must make a personal accounting. Do I behave as I
should? Is there nothing that I can correct?" (From a
speech in Nisan, 5753)
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