The role of violent media in mass homicides.

Lets use this thread to funnel all the debates and arguments concerning the roll of violent movies and games in the most recent tragedy at VT.

[edit on 4*16*2007 by Quicksilver]

Originally posted by Quicksilver
Lets use this thread to funnel all the debates and arguments concerning the roll of violent movies and games in the most recent tragedy at VT.

QS,

I am going to really think long and hard before I post my opinion on this thread, this will become a hot debate, in regards to peoples opinions on violent movies and games, but I know exactly what your thinking is on this one.

I would wager the first person to post will get hammered by the otherside pretty hard.

I think real life violence can be directly linked to the portrayal of violence in various aspects of media. I would include, movies, vid games, the news, radio.
Basically many sources.

I believe that repeated exposure, can cause a sort of numbing effect.
Shock value has te be "jacked up" from time to time. Just to illicit an equivalent response.

For example. My reaction to today's shooting was different, than it was back when the Columbine incident happened.
Not to say that I am completely un-shocked today. But, I am not having the same physical reaction as I did, so many years ago. I have, been "Immunized".

deleted post



[edit on 16-4-2007 by pahrump]

Yes,
Fellow Nevadan.
I did notice that. It's as if they were describing something that happened in a movie, or on a television show. As opposed to something REAL.

See, now I feel like I was just talking to myself.


[edit on 16-4-2007 by spacedoubt]

Well let's find out what the motivating factor was in this school shooting before we start to just the effect that the media had. Maybe this person didn't really pay attention to the media that much, and therefore it's not as relavant as in other cases.

Originally posted by Harassment101
Well let's find out what the motivating factor was in this school shooting before we start to just the effect that the media had.

Maybe or maybe not, in this particular case.
But, in General, I think there can be direct, or indirect links to mass media being a contributing factor to violence.

I think that many people can be desensitized by repetitive scenarios over and over whether it be games, videos or real life incidents.

I have one case in point. About 16 years ago I was on vacation in Acapulco, Mexico. One evening while dining in a Hard Rock Cafe, two men walked into the restaurant, walked up to a man dining with his girlfriend and executed him, on the spot. The man fell over and his girlfriend went into hysterics, people thought it was part of an act until they saw the blood pour out, then all hell broke loose in the Hard Rock Cafe. The two men left as quick as they came in, because it was a professional hit.

I don't understand violence at all, but I know it is all around us. How to solve the issue? I don't really know, but I don't think violent games help. Should they be taken away? That's a whole other issue that the constitution protects.

We have to look at access. We also have to look at the external factors such as family, social structures, and why this happens so much in America vs other countries.

Eg. Japan from my understanding has way more violence on tv, however I don't hear about, oh yet another violent school shooting. To be sure it probably happens, but not like in the States.

It also might happen in other countries, but not like in the States. So another factor might be, what is it about American culture or lack of social culture that causes these turns?

Then there is the obvious factor, access. Really if guns were not so readily accessable, would this be as big a problem?

I am not saying more gun laws, I am simply saying, guns don't kill people, people kill people, and more specifically, people with access to guns kill people.

Lot's of people get bullied, lot's watch violence on tv, how many get their hands on guns?

Means, oppertunity motive.

With the shootings the motive is pretty much revenge, I was bullied, I was angry etc. Hardly anyone walks up and just goes on a shooting spree, I am sure there is the exception.

Oppertunity, any place with a crowd of people, could be an oppertunity, more importantly since much of the bullying and mobbing happens on a repeated and daily bases at school or work, those are prime places of oppertunities for these situations.

Means, how many people in these situations go out of their ways to get their hands on guns? How many times are the guns readily or too easily accessable? That is when we run into problems. Many people probably have their moments, where they could go over the edge, but how many of them have the means to go through with it?

While I think it may be a bit early to link what recently happened to the media, I do have an opinion. I think more gun control is not necessarily the answer. I've read about cases where people were required or allowed to carry guns and the crime rate went down. If the criminals didn't know a number of people carried guns, they would have simply been shot in self defense instead of being allowed to go on a long killing spree.

However I am a bit mixed in my opinion since I don't want every Joe on the street to be carrying a gun. Especially if someone appears to be more hot headed than normal. If someone really wants a gun though, I believe they will get their hands on one whether it is legal or not. More gun control will only guarantee that only the criminals carry guns. Drugs are illegal in this country but there seems to be no shortage of drug related crimes.

While I believe the media tends to reflect the values and condition of society in general, I don't believe the media influences adults as much as it does children in their early years. I've watched many violent films and yet I've never gone on a killing spree. However I was told by my parents after watching the 3 Stooges as a kid that it is not ok to go hit your brother with a hammer. Some common sense needs to be applied.

I'm not going to pretend to know exactly what is causing it, but I really don't think that the media's obsession with counting the bodies -much less with comparing it to Columbine's body count and marveling at the new record- is helpful.

Has nobody heard of the Guiness Book of Records? Do they have any idea of the stupid things people will do just to set a record?

Originally posted by orionthehunter
While I think it may be a bit early to link what recently happened to the media, I do have an opinion. I think more gun control is not necessarily the answer. I've read about cases where people were required or allowed to carry guns and the crime rate went down. If the criminals didn't know a number of people carried guns, they would have simply been shot in self defense instead of being allowed to go on a long killing spree.

However I am a bit mixed in my opinion since I don't want every Joe on the street to be carrying a gun. Especially if someone appears to be more hot headed than normal. If someone really wants a gun though, I believe they will get their hands on one whether it is legal or not. More gun control will only guarantee that only the criminals carry guns. Drugs are illegal in this country but there seems to be no shortage of drug related crimes.

While I believe the media tends to reflect the values and condition of society in general, I don't believe the media influences adults as much as it does children in their early years. I've watched many violent films and yet I've never gone on a killing spree. However I was told by my parents after watching the 3 Stooges as a kid that it is not ok to go hit your brother with a hammer. Some common sense needs to be applied.

agreed. disarming the law abiding citizens of this country will only ensure that they are defenseless against future criminal attacks. the trick,i think, is to keep potentially violent people from getting guns. criminal background checks,and,i think,perhaps, psychological evaluations are in order. just remember,though, ANYONE can get their hands on a knife and kill people just as dead as if they used a gun. so disarming the citizens doesn't work.

I don't think violence in games and movies are the cause. I think they are the symptoms. They are in demand. They are what draw the big bucks. They are in demand by a culture that worships violence. To get to the bottom of this, we must ask ourselves "Why does our culture worship violence"?

What makes a 5-year-old crave violence?
Is this actually a result of generations of an "evolution" of violence-worship?
Is it because we (the American Culture) were developed on the foundation of the "genocide" of the indigenous people?
Are we teaching our children that "conquering" something or someone is the only way to get what we want?
Does it have to do with worshiping sports?
Is there a connection to the idea that gentleness equals weakness?
Is there a connection to the idea that peaceful equals pacifist?
Is this violence-worship unique to the USA?

Does it have to do with entitlement? In other words are we raising children who feel that they deserve whatever they want and when they don't get it, they resort to violence??? That is my best guess.

If we took away all the violent media right now, would it make a difference? I don't think so. This is something that's being ingrained in our children over generations and taking away the symptoms is nothing more an an ineffectual quick fix.

Originally posted by The Vagabond
Has nobody heard of the Guiness Book of Records? Do they have any idea of the stupid things people will do just to set a record?

It looks like another "copycat crime" trying to out-perform a previous incident (in this case Columbine). Not to say that the media should be banned from reporting such events. I don't think that's at the root of the issue, though it no doubt has a bit of influence.

The blame will be be placed on all sorts of things.
Guns, movies, games, parents, media. If the perp were from a middle eastern country, no doubt culture would be the first thing to blame.

Personally I think the dude was a loon. Chemical imbalance, mental illness, depression, whatever it was... it's just not normal to go into a building and start shooting up random people, then kill yourself. Where's the motive?

My opinion on a way to curb these events is a drastic change to the way we use guns in the US. Why are bullets that kill people so readily available? Can't we have some non-lethal form of self-defense without getting rid of the handy time-tested sidearm? I'm talking about tranquilizers here. It's not necessary to carry around so-called weapons of self-defense with the potential to kill. Bullets need a change. Not guns.

I’m not positive, but I’m fairly certain that it is illegal to carry firearms onto the school campus. The news reports state that the serial numbers were filed off the weapons. Both of these acts are criminal. Gun control would not have prevented these shootings.

Gun control proponents wish to protect the law abiding from the criminal element by removing weapons from our society. The problem with this type of thinking is that guns are only one type of weapon. If guns are removed, there are still knives, bombs, and other weapons for self-centered sociopaths to take the lives of the unarmed.

The world is spinning out of control. Crime is not caused by easy access to weapons; it is caused by people who care nothing of the lives of others. People have become more selfish and self-centered in my 53 years of experience on this planet. Until we can change men’s hearts, we will only see worse.

I think people with violent personalities are attracted to violent media. Obviously, not only violent people enjoy R rated movies and M rated games... I'm not violent and I enjoy those as well, but I also enjoy G rated movies and E rated games. People with violent personalities, probably wouldn't enjoy watching a disney movie.

But I don't think it works the other way around. I don't think violent media makes you violent. Instead, you are violent to begin with and that is the only connection between those types of people and violent media.

I'm not so sure.
I think it can go both ways.

I think we are all born with a chance that we could go either way.
That violent tendencies can be "nurtured" if you will.
But so can non-violent tendencies.

The unfortunate part, is that violence is easier to teach. "smack!"

I believe it's part of the human animal, this violent streak we have.
In the past, it could be the very reason we became such a "success" on this planet.

It may also be our undoing.