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If that's the reason behind the paintball games, then it could be
important. If they actually think they are providing good training by
playing paintball, though, they have something to learn from the
military. Only a small fraction of people can shoot a stranger with no
training when they know the gun they are holding in their hands is
real, the ammo is live, and the target is a live human being that
they've never even heard of let alone are angry at. That's where the
training comes in. I'm no expert in this, but I doubt that running
around plinking friends with known-to-be-mostly-harmless weapons
desensitizes them much. If they start drilling their members in a
strict disciplined environment that dehumanizes their enemies and that
involves the firing of live weapons against targets representative of
them, then I'll get worried. <br>
<br>
My guess is that they just want a fun group activity to participate in.<br>
<br>
Paul<br>
<br>
Mark Solomon wrote:
<blockquote cite="mida0623094ac2ad866e050f@%5B192.168.0.100%5D"
type="cite">
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<title>Re: [Vision2020] [Bulk] Re: church and
paintball</title>
<div>Paul,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>My problem is with the concept that churches might believe that
it is important for their congregation to be winners or conquerors.
There are lots of other ways of building group trust and problem
solving ability that don't involve subduing an enemy.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I've got a paintball gun myself. It's a good tool, not a toy. I
used to use it to mark range cows that were trespassing on my land as
a non-verbal message to the rancher to do a better job of controlling
his stock. Haven't had a problem now for years.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Mark</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>At 9:13 AM -0700 7/1/07, Paul Rumelhart wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="">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. <br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Paul<br>
<br>
Ellen Roskovich wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite" cite=""><b>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.</b><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite=""><b>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. </b><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite=""><b>I would cringe at any group
organizing
this activity for kids and it would have opened the door for
"discussion" at our household.</b><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite=""><b>Ellen A. Roskovich</b><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite=""><br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote>
<hr size="1"></blockquote>
<blockquote>From:<i> "g. crabtree"</i> <a
href="mailto:jampot@adelphia.net"><i><jampot@adelphia.net></i></a><br>
To: <a href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com"><i><vision2020@moscow.com></i></a><i>,
"Mark Solomon"</i> <a href="mailto:msolomon@moscow.com"><i><msolomon@moscow.com></i></a><br>
Subject:<i> Re: [Vision2020] church and paintball</i><br>
Date:<i> Sun, 1 Jul 2007 07:26:41 -0700</i><br>
<br>
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<blockquote><font face="Arial" size="-1">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.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote> </blockquote>
<blockquote><font face="Arial" size="-1">g</font></blockquote>
<blockquote> </blockquote>
<blockquote> </blockquote>
<blockquote> <br>
<blockquote>----- Original Message -----</blockquote>
<blockquote><b>From:</b> <a href="mailto:msolomon@moscow.com">Mark
Solomon</a></blockquote>
<blockquote><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</a></blockquote>
<blockquote><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, July 01, 2007 5:32 AM</blockquote>
<blockquote><b>Subject:</b> [Vision2020] church and
paintball</blockquote>
<blockquote><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>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.)</blockquote>
<blockquote><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>Mark</blockquote>
<blockquote><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>*********</blockquote>
<blockquote><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000000"><b>Aiming for fun, with a
license to
thrill</b></font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000000"><br>
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000000"><br>
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000000">By Elaine Williams of the
Tribune<br>
Sunday, July 1, 2007<br>
<br>
<br>
Church groups are among the most frequent customers of FTW Paintball,
a store that recently opened in Lewiston.</font><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000000">The organizers find that
playing
paintball is a way to create relationships among their members, said
Marty Frostad, owner of the business.</font><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<hr></blockquote>
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<blockquote><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>>=======================================================</blockquote>
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<blockquote type="cite" cite=""><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="">
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