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shafnutz05 wrote:Yeah, it's incredible to me that the media still fixates on violent video games.
Also Monday, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said that investigators had determined that Adam Lanza visited multiple shooting ranges over the years and “engaged in shooting activities.”
Sarcastic wrote:shafnutz05 wrote:Yeah, it's incredible to me that the media still fixates on violent video games.
In and of itself, true. There are several factors that go into shaping such an individual.
My stance today and from 20 years ago remains the same. Let me explain something. When I was growing up in Poland, the cartoons we had were based on adventures and fun. Whether they were made in Poland or imported from other European makers, they didn't show any violent cartoons on TV. I was in shock when I came here and began watching American cartoons like Tom and Jerry or Road Runner and Wile E Coyote. From the moment an american child is born, they watch a cartoon character put a gun in another one's face and blast away. Or tie dynamite to another's back and blow it up. You don't think that has any effect at all? This desensitizing only continues until adulthood. Randall or Shyster blame 'culture' for why we've become such a violent country. Well, what is culture? Who sets the trends on what to wear, how to talk, latest slang words, opinions, cool toys to own. It's people in the media, the movie stars and musicians and the athletes. I have to add video games to that. It's not parents.
You may have the best parents in the world, but the moment they let go a little and, even if they don't, there is so much negative influence coming at your kid from the latest cd, or video game, or the latest movie, that overtime it very well may desensitize some impressionable kids. Even if just a little and even if most are able to overcome it, it wouldn't surprise me one bit that some individuals are bound to be affected - the ones without better supervision or perhaps with a disease or emotional problem. Normal people snap, too. If, let's say, a kid is bothered in school day in and day out. He'll go watch a movie about a massacre, or play a game, put himself in that mindframe and there he goes. This does not even include regular fights, the attacks on random people, the violent street brawls. It wasn't like this when I was growing up. You'd punch in the face a few times and that'd be it. Now a group of teens are willing to stomp on your head and turn you into a vegetable. That has to come from something. Lack of parenting, one, but also all the daily influence from multiple sources. You add the relative ease of obtaining a gun and we have a mass massacre. As Obama said, this is his 4th since he became president.
I don't know how much we can do anymore. As I told Shyster the other day, I'm not sure we can easily change this culture. Which is why I don't see any other alternative other than to make gun laws strickter and gun availability tighter. Or nothing will change.
AlexPKeaton wrote:Dropping in late to this thread. Has the possibility of a re-funding of "softer" types of mental institutions come up? It is a bit disconcerting to me that the media is talking non stop about gun control, when no amount of gun control would have prevented this from happening as he simply stole the guns from someone who would have gotten approved under even the strictest standards. Seems like the media is wasting everyone's time again for ratings.
pittsoccer33 wrote:a psychiatrist was a guest on Limbaugh's show today. she was going over just how hard it is to commit somebody to a mental health institution. basically they have a right to not take medicine and to be "crazy." there is no way to force a mentally ill person to take medicine.
CBear3 wrote:There are over 20k hits on the word "kill" on this website alone.
Tim Thomasen wrote:MWB wrote:Was his violence connected to his Aspergers? A lot of people are capable of being violent. I'm not trying to be argumentative, it just goes against the research and my personal experience working with kids who have Aspergers. I'd hate for people to think that because a persone has Aspergers they are more inclined to commit an act like this, because I don't believe that's true.
I suffer from Aspergers and high functional autism. Despite my flaws, I maintain a normal life, have friends and I do very well in school.... Just thought I share that.
tfrizz wrote:I did a short research paper on violence in entertainment (predominantly TV and video games) for a sociology/criminology class back in May. While an argument can be made for correlation - being that these violent offenders are likely to have played violent games (that's a no-brainer IMO) - there is absolutely no grounds to claim causation. If playing violent games or watching violent TV/movies caused this stuff to happen, there would be a much bigger problem with this kind of violence worldwide.
MRandall25 wrote:Truth is, there isn't 1 way to fix it. There's about 50. And they're harder to accomplish than any of us realize. But, it starts and ends with the news media.
I haven't hunted in PA in a while. but when I used to, you could not hunt deer with a semi-auto rifle. I don't know if things have changed but there really is no reason they couldn't get rid of semi-automatics. I'm not sure how effective that would be though. The only crimes that I think that this would prevent are the spontaneuos ones where there's a gun and someone just spur of the moment decides to go wacko. Anyone who is going to plan at all will find a way. They will eithor find the guns they want OR they could do worse. They could make a big bomb suit, walk anywhere there are a lot of people, and kablewie. People like that, you're just not going to stop with gun laws.Sarcastic wrote:A simple fix is to take away guns. Take away guns, people won't shoot each other. We may have a few fist fights or stabbings. But we won't have a situation where a guy walks into a school with an assault rifle that holds a 30 round magazine. He could then maybe attack one person with a knife before being taken down.
I'm not saying that's what I want to do because I wouldn't want to take guns away from serious hunters (as much as I dislike hunting), for one. But it can't continue that they are so widely available. Or sold at private sales without authorization or background check. I like those mental evaluations in China.
Sarcastic wrote:I'll have to respectfully disagree and remind that we are not looking at the majority of the population in the US but the few, the several, people who may follow through with such actions. Although we should be, because Americans are move violent than ever. I don't know if numbers would confirm that, but the kinds of acts and behavior we are seeing should. There isn't any reason that I can find, other than what I described. I'll go on a limb and say that we all here agree there is a problem with our culture. Again, I ask. Who or what creates culture.
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