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Whltby Free Preos, Wednesday, June 26,1996l, Page 7 GXrossman s conclusion: we are training today's young people to overcome reluctance to kill,. and we are giving them aoeess to weapons to carry out the deed.We should not be surprisèêd thatkidllings happen. fCnowing this, what do we do about it? Groasman lias no real answers. We con control TV, movies, images. We can censure arcade games. I addition, Grosaman, a military hi storian, argues for control of "the technology of killing.7 Translation: here's a U.S. mlitary officer arguing for oensorship and gun control. rd say he's likely right on both accounts., 'Controlled' killing The headflines scream at you daly, weekly, whenever: Teen stabbed in subway; Bouncer dies afier atabbing;- Second bouncer attacked; Officr shoots joy-riding teen; Gunman shoots flue at park party. lhIe question ia simple: Why are young men more likely to kili other young men (usually). For enlightenment I refer readers to a book, OnKilling, by Lt. Col. Dave Grosaman The Psychological Cost of Learning to MiCl in War and Society. Grossman is a former U.S. ArMY Ranger and' pararooerand lias taught psychology at West Point.,i-s argument, esentially, is* that killing is such an unnatural act that tbroughout history few have been able to do it. Groasman points Out that in nature, inter-species killing is rare. Most species will defend territory by assuming threatening Postures and going throughý harmlesa rituals of dominance. This gives the opponent ample opportunity to fiee or surrender, making killing unnecessary. lbromughout most of military history Groasman argues, battles liad more to do with ritual and tlireatening than. kling. In batties'of theý seventeenth, eigliteenth centuries, troops exchanging gunfire at close range hit the enemy once every 100 to 200 rounds. Grossman argues 'tliat tlie average soldier lias an aversà.ion to killing. I close combat during the Second World War, lie says, the firing rate was from 15 to 20 per centhI other words, 80 per cent 0f soldiers, or more, would not even fire tlieir guns, or aim to deliberately miss. Through irefined training methoda, modem armies have raised that firing rate, so tliat by the Korean War, tlie U. S. Army boasted firing rate, 0f 50 per cent By the Vietnam War, it was 190 Per cent. And tlie training metliod? Mainly, te train soldiers te fire' at targets shaped like people; of pop-up targets, te train a reflex action; and lots of repetition. To tliese are added tlie old tried and true: te train soldiers te follow orders without tliouglit te develop group identity (esprit, de corps); te paint the enemny as less than human (by spreading stories of atroities, some true.) Such training, Grossman says, can make any person a killer. Hewever, tliere is a costlling is stili sucli'an unnaturai act, that only. psychopatlis can engage in it witliout stress reaction. 7flus, the psycliological toîl of sudh trained killers ta a post-battle burden. This theory may explain a lot about modern war. However, the main point lies not in feeling sorry for career soldiers. For Grossman uses t"i background te lead us te more sobering tlioughts. Observation: today's arcade sliooting games provide our chiîdren witl tlie same training that career soldiers receive. For soldiers the object 0f the training. ta te overcome the ireluctance te kilI; Observation: violent killinga in movies and television condition people te aoeept atrocity as comnion; Observation: youtlis gather together in groupa or gangs or clubs, developing the same allegiances that are encouraged in soldiers; Observation: guns, knives and other weapons are commonly available te youths of teday. I PARADE FO>R WHrmJr ETR SOLDIERS, JULY 1,1946 Fifty years ago *the Town of Whitby honourod all its mon and women who servod in the armed forces in the Second World War by presenting them with rings. This picture shows the veterans marching toward the Cenotaph along Dundas Street eust of Byron Street, Wbitby Arshlv.uphoto 10 TEARS AGO from the Wednesday, June 25, 1986 edition of the WHITBY FREE -PRESS *Joy Bain, principal of Meadowcret Public Sehool, Brooklin,Is retiring. She started teaching in Whitby schools ini 1959. * Qympic boxer Shawn O'Sullhvan officially opened Downtown Whitby Discovery Day on June 21. * Whitby lias received a $225,000 Ontario Neighbourhood Improvement Program grant for road reconstruction in Brooklin. 9 IGA grooery store ia selling smoked hama at $1.49 a pound. 35YE4aRsAGo from the Thursday, June 22, 1961 edition of the WHITY WEELYNEWS 0 An 11,000 square-foot addition to the Dunlop Tire plant will begin this year. 0 St. John's Anglican Church will mark !ts ll5th anmiversary on June 25.>' *Whitby Pire Deportinent prevented serious damnage in an explosion and fire at the B & N auto body shop on Junel19. * Rev. John Porter is the new minister of Westminster United Church. 100 YEARS AGO fromn the Friday, June 26, 1896 odition of the *Eighteen studenta graduated fromn the Ontario Ladies' College last week. The Commencement Exorcises were the firat held i the New Frances Hall, bmlt last year. * The Pire Brigade ta in charge of Whitby's Dominion Day colebrations'o July.. Il Thbody of an 18-year-old man from Belleville' wu found. beside the railway tracks near the Victoria Street Grand Trnk croesing. *The bucklo factory workers defeated the. tannery mon in a basebail game, 30 to, 8. TE oe HI._ 5-f E~ MAR6