That is honestly the nicest headline I could come up with right now, I had plenty more that just weren't suitable for print. Anyway, a local news station, school, and community are blaming Call of Duty: Black Ops' zombie mode for students being complete jackasses and doing the "Heil Hitler" salute, drawing swastikas on their hands, and calling each other "Nazis".
The incident took place at Reeves Middle School in Olympia, WA.
As a result of their behavior, this somehow meant that all students at the school were not allowed to dress up as zombies for a planned zombie costume day. Here is the full letter sent to parents of the middle school.
Words defy me.
The incident took place at Reeves Middle School in Olympia, WA.
The Olympia School District said the students’ behavior appears to be tied to the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops, in which players shoot zombies dressed as Nazis. The game is rated for players older than 17, and the owner of Game Freaks told KIRO 7’s Graham Johnson there’s a reason for that.
“There’s a lot of material in there inappropriate for younger kids who take things differently than adults,” Brian Morrill said.
The game doesn’t appear to glorify Nazis in any way, but administrators at Reeves said the game had inspired some students to mimic Nazi salutes.
“As you can imagine, that behavior is just not appropriate or tolerated in our schools,” school district spokesman Ryan Betz said.
“There’s a lot of material in there inappropriate for younger kids who take things differently than adults,” Brian Morrill said.
The game doesn’t appear to glorify Nazis in any way, but administrators at Reeves said the game had inspired some students to mimic Nazi salutes.
“As you can imagine, that behavior is just not appropriate or tolerated in our schools,” school district spokesman Ryan Betz said.
As a result of their behavior, this somehow meant that all students at the school were not allowed to dress up as zombies for a planned zombie costume day. Here is the full letter sent to parents of the middle school.
Dear RMS parents/guardians:
During this past week, we have encountered several students engaging in talk, symbolism, and pictures about Nazi's that is not related to any academic curriculum at school . Staff have observed students raising their arms and hands in reference to Hitler, saying "Heil Hitler" when doing the pledge of allegiance, calling others "Nazi's, drawing swastikas on their hands, pulling up pictures on the internet about Nazi's, etc. When questioned, students shared that this is coming from their XBox game called Black Ops and possibly another game called Modern Warfare III. Our understanding is that the Nazi's are zombies in the Black Ops game. Earlier this year, our ASB voted to have a spirit day with a Zombie dress-up theme. As a result of the "game" that kids are bringing into the school, we will NOT have a Zombie theme day tomorrow. We will have a spirit day tomorrow with school colors on display. Any student that arrives with face paint, a costume, and/or anything related to Zombie wear will be asked to change and remove the paint.
We are also curious if parents are aware of Nazi Zombie feature in the Black Ops game. While we cannot tell you what games you should or should not allow your children to play at home, we must insist that students refrain from acting in the ways described above. The conduct we are observing is disruptive and inappropriate at school. Our hope is that you will have a discussion with your child and support us as we put a stop to this inappropriate "play." Thank you in advance for not allowing your child to come to school in a Zombie costume on Wednesday.
During this past week, we have encountered several students engaging in talk, symbolism, and pictures about Nazi's that is not related to any academic curriculum at school . Staff have observed students raising their arms and hands in reference to Hitler, saying "Heil Hitler" when doing the pledge of allegiance, calling others "Nazi's, drawing swastikas on their hands, pulling up pictures on the internet about Nazi's, etc. When questioned, students shared that this is coming from their XBox game called Black Ops and possibly another game called Modern Warfare III. Our understanding is that the Nazi's are zombies in the Black Ops game. Earlier this year, our ASB voted to have a spirit day with a Zombie dress-up theme. As a result of the "game" that kids are bringing into the school, we will NOT have a Zombie theme day tomorrow. We will have a spirit day tomorrow with school colors on display. Any student that arrives with face paint, a costume, and/or anything related to Zombie wear will be asked to change and remove the paint.
We are also curious if parents are aware of Nazi Zombie feature in the Black Ops game. While we cannot tell you what games you should or should not allow your children to play at home, we must insist that students refrain from acting in the ways described above. The conduct we are observing is disruptive and inappropriate at school. Our hope is that you will have a discussion with your child and support us as we put a stop to this inappropriate "play." Thank you in advance for not allowing your child to come to school in a Zombie costume on Wednesday.
Words defy me.
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