Teach Your Children Well. If you grew up around the same decade I did, the harmonies of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s song about parenting ought to be rattling ‘round your brain right about now. The song represents some interesting ironies as well as some stark dichotomies. As folk-rockers go, you could hardly ask to find a more left-wing, anti-war, anti-Conservative bunch than CSN&Y. On the other hand, you’d be hard-pressed to find another group with a prominent member who’d done hard time for handgun possession (not to mention his whole “Things go better with Coke” philosophy.) But I come not to bury Crosby today, but to point out that many, if not all of the life lessons I learned as a child, I learned playing with (toy) guns.
Mattel
Toys of My Youth: Mattel M-16 Marauder
It was way back when I was a kid too young to concern myself with adult worries like Vietnam, counter culture, and gun violence. It was Christmas, and all I wanted was the stuff I saw on TV. And that year, Mattel was waging a campaign on pre-teens, pushing their brand new, full-scale, completely accurate toy version of the military’s standard weapon, the M-16. Mattel’s version was known as the M-16 Marauder (I have no clue as to why), but I remember that it was cool in a major way. It looked – and more importantly sounded – as if I would be able to take on an entire platoon of bad guys, single-handedly.
Saturday Evening Post: Mattel Shootin’ Shell 45s!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR9ojNddiSI A blast (no pun intended) from the past, from back in the day, when it was socially acceptable to be a kid that liked cool toys, guns, and things that make loud noises. Sadly, toys like these (and the commercials that sell them) have largely suffered the same politically correct fate that befell the … Read more