Bernstein Bears: No guns allowed! Short book review.

[KriegHund]

I saw this book while browsing the library for research material. I decided it might be interesting.

Its starts out with this conclusion-
Violent Television is responsible for violence at school.

The principle calls a town meating on "Violence culture" and a gun owner shows up.

He talks like a redneck and when the parents start talking about gtting rid of guns he goes on a rant about "Dont come to me when martians invade!"
The governer try to counter by saying "Now no ones trying to take your guns..."
But the gun-owner storms off in a rage.


Shortly afterwards a husband and wife wake up and see hear 'prowlers' and see their shadows. The wife convinces the husband to wait for the cops and she calls 911.

The cops arrive and scare off the prowlers within moments- eexcept the prowlers are just raccoons. When they go back to bed the mom says (qoute) "You know something? I have to admit that guns do have their proper place-and that place is in the hands of the police."


After that, as a school research project on inventions, two kids choose to do guns. The teacher debates its aprropriatness. The kids ask if they can bring a "Dads rat gun" to school. The teacher stutters and says absolutely not! SO the kids devise a rubber band gun instead. They meet at a junkyard and search for giant rubber bands inside it.

One of the kids dad comes out and shouts "Freeze!" while holding the 'rat-gun' on them. He tells them to get down on the ground and when they do not do so he fires a warning shot. The kids stay perfectly still and somehow make it out, and end up with their rubber bands. The leader of the gang that is searching for the rubber band nearly craps his pants while anohter member keeps his cool. The kid who kept his cool ends up being the dominate one of the gang.

Later that day at school the kid who crapped his pants brings a realistic looking water gun and shoots the kid who kept his cool with it. the cool kid shoots him back witha rubberband gun as police arrive on the scene.

Everything comes out all right, and later that night at dinner one of the kids sister says she learned that
"Guns are bad and dangerous!"
Dad asks "Are they always bad and dangerous?"
Brother replies "Thats a good question. Gramps has guns and uses them for target practice, but he always keeps em locked up"
"When are guns dangerous?" asks dad.
"When bad guys get them!"
Blah blah blah...

"Its anger that makes guns dangerous!" says dad "Anger to a gun is like a match to gasoline"
Sister says "Well, i agree with momma. I think guns are bad bad bad, and should be wiped off the face of the earth. And i for one am not going to play anymore gun games!"
"Thats okay with me" says brother, "I think weve outgrown em anyways"
Mom says "My position on guns isnt that extreme. I think police need guns. But im delighted to hear your giving upo violent video games and TV".

blah blah blah.

Pretty crappy book. Not even that entertaining, and my reviewing skills are very poor, for which i apologize.

 

[torpid]

I'm convinced!

Q:"You've done a book called "No Guns Allowed". What're your views on the latest school shooting?"

Stan Berenstain: "We do books for very young children and for older ones as well. We did this book a year after Columbine. We couched it in terms that we thought would be appropriate, setting characters up to play different roles. We had a Charleton Heston bear, the scared-of-guns Mama Bear, etc. The payoff of the book is that a kids brings a Supersoaker gun to school. We got three or four of the ugliest e-mails you could imagine about the book, saying we were communists, etc. It's used in schools as a basis for discussions."

Yipee!

.

 

[Maxwell]

"Its anger that makes guns dangerous!" says dad "Anger to a gun is like a match to gasoline"

That pearl of wisdom seems buried in a convoluted story, but its something more people should learn.
Anger, in general, makes alot of things dangerous.

Sounds like the author got tied up in dancing between reality and the manditory PC "guns are bad" line.

 

[lee n. field]

That's Berenstain Bears. Where Momma and Sister Bear always know best, and Poppa's an idiot. <spit!>.

And I used to read them to my kids.

The book's real: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679889531/sr=8-1/qid=1141271162/ref=sr_1_1/002-7677225-5189622?%5Fencoding=UTF8

<Spit!>

 

[Jeff]

Ummm...actually, if I were a bear, I would be afraid of guns also. I mean, don't humans use guns to hunt bears and kill them?

However, if I were a talking, intelligent bear, like the Berenstein variety, I might have the intelligence to know that guns aren't bad, but that people are bad.

Ha ha ha ha....

 

[Standing Wolf]

It's used in schools as a basis for discussions.

Yeah, but only by union nitwits.

 

[antarti]

That's Berenstain Bears. Where Momma and Sister Bear always know best, and Poppa's an idiot. <spit!>.

And I used to read them to my kids.

Papa seems to be an idiot 10x more when they go "bear scouting" than when they're in the home, but yeah, Papa isn't exactly the person you want bringing home the bacon.... err... honey. You have to wonder how he earns a living.

I thought the Berenstain Bears were a little too PC until my boy showed up home from the school library with one of those Kokopeli(sp?) books. You'll long for Papa Bears buffoonery while reading one of those.

 

[hkmp5g17]

Unfortunate- but not surprising. How about childrens books that show both sides of the debate- and let the kids decide for themselves? THAT might stimulate debate. How is stating opinion as fact going to make youngsters think for themselves?

 

[MTMilitiaman]

That would be asking too much from our youth. Instead of encouraging free thought and individualism or showing self-determination and independence in a good light, it is easier just to brainwash them into sheeple and demonize an inanimate object. God forbid if our children were taught personal responsibility and accountability from a young age.

The sad thing is that my brother and I used to read those books not too long ago. I am sure my mom probably has them stashed somewhere in the garage attic. I don't remember them being like that. They used to have real lessons about real problems.

 

[SomeKid]

2 things.

Maxwell, anger is NOT to guns like a match is to gasoline. It is NOT a pearl of wisdom. The inability to control ones anger is human relations like a match is to gasoline. Guns are not a factor in that catalyst.

I freely admit, I have gotten royally POed when carrying. Be shocked and amazed, I grumbled, and let it go. No problem happened, nor would one. Because I can control myself, and not lose it.

Secondly, isn't Berenstein a socialist? I heard it somewhere, cannot back it up. Anyone know for sure?

 

[beerslurpy]

You guys have to remember that the berenstain bears were popular in the 60s and 70s and the authors grew up during the New Deal era with its mainstream media dominance and general friendlyness towards fascism. So it is unrealistic to expect them to:
-have caught on to the mid-late 90s hostility towards gun control that we take for granted 10 years later. Much of the NE is completely oblivious to the sea change that has taken root in the rest of the country.
-have used the internet much beyond email or to have come across any information the mainstream media didnt feed them
-associate with people who dont share the groupthink of PBS and NE liberal literary types. Look at how their careers went and honestly tell me that you expected them to do book signings at NRA conventions.

Most likely, they saw columbine in the news and all their liberal friends were like "omg you have to bash guns! FOR THE CHILDREN!" They put together a preachy pile of crap and probably thought they were doing good. You have to remember that after columbine the death of gun control as a political selling point was still a completely shock to Al Gore and friends. If astute career politicians were still running blind in the late 90s, there is no way a bunch of elderly children's book writers could have forseen the way things were headed in this country.

 

[Don't Tread On Me]

Hmm...

It is a shame that the Nazis gave book-burning such a bad rep.


Wastes of paper like these are a perfect source for cheap heating. You can't call it a book, or a children's book - because it isn't. It is a propaganda piece. It is literature designed to destroy our freedom and our nation.


Keep the politics away from kids. I'm not against free speech, I'm as pro-free speech as anyone can be. Most conservatives think I am radical. Can't they make their anti-gun arguments elsewhere? Nope. Instead they have to try and propagandize our kids.


I'm not surprised though. There's worse things out there.

 

[AZRickD]

There is another B-Bears book I found a few years ago. It wasn't about guns per se, but it did take a swipe at them.

There's a trend.

Rick

 

[SomeKid]

Another thing to consider, it isn't just the BB. Comic books also propagandize. Batman for example hates all firearms. It was a gun after all that killed his parents, not a thug.

History channel ran a piece on comics, their history, and whatnot. Really ruined them for me, when I realized the writers were a bunch of bed-wetters.

 

[V4Vendetta]

I used to read those books. Some of them were nice back then. Why did they have to go & ruin the series like that? *goes & takes a shower to get the filth off him*.


"Batman for example hates all firearms. It was a gun after all that killed his parents, not a thug."

:banghead: NOT BATMAN! He was my favorite hero.:banghead:

 

[Mulliga]

I used to read them, too. I still remember "Too Much Junk Food."

I didn't think they were political at the time. What's next, "The Berenstain Bears Have An Abortion"? Or maybe "The Berenstain Bears Go To Iraq"?

 

[Justin]

It is a shame that the Nazis gave book-burning such a bad rep.

Yeah, because nothing says "I am a rational human being" like buying up the supply of something that offends you and setting it on fire.

 

[Thain]

Another thing to consider, it isn't just the BB. Comic books also propagandize. Batman for example hates all firearms. It was a gun after all that killed his parents, not a thug

Um, Batman is considered to be irrational and obsseive by even his closest allies, especially with regards to petty criminals like the man that killed his parents. I've read Batman and related titles since I was six, and have read back issues and reprints of all the "big" stories that happened before I got to them.

Batman is about as antigun as Superman. He doesn't use them, he doesn't need them, and he hates the criminals who use them in pursuit of evil. Batman is anti lethal force, but most of the time this is because he has the option of avoiding it (being the world's [fourth] greatest martial artist tends to open up your playbook). However, writters since the 1970's have repeatedly shown that this is as often a weakness as it is a strength.

All in all, I'd say Batman is a very "conservative" character, not nearly as overtly political as several other characters: Green Arrow, Green Latern, Captain America, and the Black Panther.

This of course ignores the comics that are political on purpose, like the Authority, Invisibles, Squadron Supreme, and some excellent Superman stories, my favorite being Red Son.

Yeah, I'm a geek.

 

[Henry Bowman]

You really should add a spoiler alert to your post! I was half way through that book -- and now I know how it ends!

 

[Vermont Guy]

Quite a shame. I remember reading the Bernstein Bears to my kids.

That bit about anger making things dangerous raised a flag with me. This excellent article by Dr. Thompson is still on the net.

http://www.jpfo.org/ragingagainstselfdefense.htm

In this article she talks about people unable to allow themselves to feel anger, what they do to protect themselves and the harm it causes.

 

[Nightfall]

The antis are hard at work trying to indoctrinate future generations.

 

[torpid]

So what's the best caliber for Berenstain Bears?

 

[one-shot-one]

strange

i have placed an entire box of matches next to gasoline without ever having a problem.

 

[Maxwell]

I freely admit, I have gotten royally POed when carrying. Be shocked and amazed, I grumbled, and let it go. No problem happened, nor would one. Because I can control myself, and not lose it.

Youve already learned not to act on your anger with the weapon in your belt.

Personaly I thought it was a great analogy with fewer complicated words. A child should learn that anger is not something you act on carelessly.

Gasoline has both good and bad uses.
Guns have good and bad uses.

Most people use gas for good, most people use guns for good. That does not change the fact that Guns and gasoline do not mix well with anger or flame.