[Vision2020] [Bulk] Re: church and paintball

[Ted Moffett]

All-

Paint ball games can result in serious injury.  I was once in the Kibbie
Dome when a "kid" came into the bathroom in desperate condition.  He headed
for the sink, and was splashing water over and over onto his face.  At first
I could not understand what the problem was.  But one glance at his eyes
explained his desperation.  One eye was a horrifying mess... I won't give a
graphic poetic description, but there was more red (i.e. blood) present in
his eye than the usual tints, and this was not the result of the paint
color. He was at least temporarily blinded in that eye, according to his
statements.  I asked how this happened, and he had been playing paint ball
games without goggles, an absolute must for this sport.  I asked if he
needed help, and he said his "friends" were already calling for help.

We appear to take the risks of serious injury in sports as a given in our
society, risks that are assumed to be worth the benefits of the sports.  On
average, a high school student dies every year as a direct result of
injuries due to playing football; and I mean a death that would not have
occurred except for the violent nature of how the sport is played, not a
death that was a result of a heart condition or some other physical malady
that might have claimed the life anyway eventually.  Numerous other high
school students playing football incur non-fatal injuries that result in
life long impairments.

Given these facts, paint ball is probably less of a "warrior" sport involved
in teaching the mentality of conquerors, than football is.  I have never
heard of someone dying due to playing paint ball.

So if church groups were encouraging full tackle football games, should this
inspire concern?  Given a comparison between football and paint ball in
terms of the physical risks and mentality these sports encourage, it
would seem so, and even more so for football;  thus every high school in the
USA is also deserving of this focus.

Football is so embedded in our culture as an accepted popular sport, that to
criticize football is akin to mocking mom, apple pie or the flag... Get
ready for the backlash!

Ted Moffett


On 7/1/07, Paul Rumelhart <godshatter at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> In my opinion, as long as you have a good grasp of the line between
> fantasy and reality it shouldn't be a problem.  In that respect, it's like
> video games.
>
> I've played paintball, and it has more in common with the old games we
> used to play in the woods as boy scouts than it does with actual military
> training or conditioning.  You know it's not real, which completely changes
> the dynamic.  Nobody is drilling you, telling you how you might just kill
> somebody if you screw up, nobody is making it plain that other lives may one
> day depend upon your performance.  It's just fun.
>
> A lot of companies use it as a team-building exercise, because (if you
> want to win) it forces you to rely upon someone else and to be relied upon
> to achieve a goal.  It also enhances your problem-solving skills.  I see no
> conflict with religious groups doing the same thing, myself.
>
> Paul
>
> Ellen Roskovich wrote:
>
>  *Dancing and making joyous noise is a far cry from slithering around in
> the bushes, taking pot shots at your buddies and keeping score on how many
> kills you have.*
>
> *Call me a fuddy duddy if you wish.  No, I'll even do it for you. . . I'm
> a fuddy duddy.  I do not like organized "games" that condition people to
> kill off their fellow humans.  *
>
> *I would cringe at any group organizing this activity for kids and it
> would have opened the door for "discussion" at our household.*
>
> *Ellen A. Roskovich*
>
> **
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> From: *"g. crabtree" <jampot at adelphia.net> <jampot at adelphia.net>*
> To: *<vision2020 at moscow.com> <vision2020 at moscow.com>, "Mark Solomon"
> <msolomon at moscow.com> <msolomon at moscow.com>*
> Subject: *Re: [Vision2020] church and paintball*
> Date: *Sun, 1 Jul 2007 07:26:41 -0700*
>
> Absolutely! Any time the Churched strip off their sack cloth and ash and
> venture forth from their cloisters I worry that they might have something
> resembling a good time. Next thing you know they'll be dancing and making a
> joyous noise and goodness knows we can't have any of that.
>
> g
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Mark Solomon <msolomon at moscow.com>
> *To:* vision2020 at moscow.com
> *Sent:* Sunday, July 01, 2007 5:32 AM
> *Subject:* [Vision2020] church and paintball
>
> Does anyone else find this as disturbing as I do? (I'd post a link to the
> full story, the rest of which is a straight business story about paintball,
> but the Tribune is a subscriber only website.)
>
> Mark
>
> *********
>
> *Aiming for fun, with a license to thrill*
>
>
> By Elaine Williams of the Tribune
> Sunday, July 1, 2007
>
>
> Church groups are among the most frequent customers of FTW Paintball, a
> store that recently opened in Lewiston.
> The organizers find that playing paintball is a way to create
> relationships among their members, said Marty Frostad, owner of the
> business.
>
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