We talked in class today about cases involving alleged harm through imitation (ie, books, movies, video games, etc. that supposedly prompted someone to commit a crime). It reminded me of a funny (and, thankfully, unharmful) situation with my 3-year-old.

I walked into the living room to find him standing on the corner of the couch — one foot on the arm of the couch and the other foot on the back. He had his arms in a “weightlifter” pose with a stern but playful look on his face. I told him to get down and asked what in the world he was doing, and he replied, “I’m a Ninja Warrior, Mommy! Argh!” and proceded to jump off the couch with much flair.

I realized in that moment that he was imitating the Ninja Warrior television show on G4, in which participants (some amusingly less coordinated & athletic than others) subject themselves to obstacle courses in a race against the clock. My tyke was emmulating the folks on tv.

The boys love that show — part of the appeal is the cool name, “Ninja Warrior.” My older two are purple belts in karate and love anything involving martial arts. The best parts, though, are the antics displayed by the participants and the voice-over commentary by the translator. (The original show is in Japanese.)

All that is to say, if my kid were to jump off the couch and — Lord, forbid — break an arm, I would not and should not blame Ninja Warrior or G4 for giving him the idea to be silly. Boys will be boys. Likewise — and on a much more serious note — criminals will be criminals, and reading a how-to-build-weapons book, watching a violent movie or playing a soldier in a video game may appeal to their degenerate minds, but the medium in and of itself is not responsible for the criminals’ actions.