After every massacre/killing why does the media

mani · 21-04-2007, 05:35

always jump onto the back of violent films/games??

columbine happend they blamed everything from eminem to marilyn manson to reservoir dogs

the virginia incident happens and its everything from the violent games such as GTA series to korean classic oldboy to all sorts?

yet as with columbine no one wanted to question their usage of hardcore drugs and the lack of parental presence... not sayin this was this case in virginia but its like wait a min there's a quick answer lets just blame them.

it was almost as bad as saying the terrorists of 9/11 using microsoft flight sim for flight/target practice.

WillowTheWhisp · 21-04-2007, 07:44

It's a typical knee jerk reaction isn't it? Maybe people hope that if they can somehow ban something then all the world's ills will be solved. It doesn't work of course but it makes people think that they are doing something constructive.

Neil · 21-04-2007, 07:51

It just makes news for them thats all.

cashman · 21-04-2007, 12:58

sad fact mani, newspapers believe nobody wants to read good news, But shock/horror/bad news feeds the cash cow, utter crap i think,but thats the way of it.

Flash · 21-04-2007, 15:37

Completely agree that it is basically a knee jerk reaction to attempt to expalin something so enormous. A question though- do you think certain video games, certain dvds and other aspects of youth culture breed a degree of violence?

mani · 22-04-2007, 06:10

a certain degree perhaps but nothing that would make people say yeah i want to be him. kids are easily influenced but adults arent as much. a normal sane adult would not watch a violent movie and say u know i want to do that. chances are if they do they'll probably have previous too

Riq · 22-04-2007, 10:40

Lazy journalism imo. Pure and simple. It makes me angry too, I've played video games for years, very violent ones, but I have never highjacked a car, shot the driver and then drove wrecklessly around town with it, acting out Grand Theft Auto.

mani · 22-04-2007, 16:35

what i'd love to ask is that if we didnt advance in games such a way what wud we be playing now? bratz rockstar? pac-man? or dance fusion? *L*

bullseyebarb · 22-04-2007, 16:56

They'll blame anything and anyone.....except the person who actually commits the crime.

Eric · 25-04-2007, 12:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flash

Completely agree that it is basically a knee jerk reaction to attempt to expalin something so enormous. A question though- do you think certain video games, certain dvds and other aspects of youth culture breed a degree of violence?

No, I don't think it is that simple. Perhaps video games tap in to the latent violence that is already there, but I would argue that they do not create that violence. Violence has always been with us. What would we blame for the violence in pre-video game days? Maybe it is something really simple, like there are just too many of us living in such close quarters, that violence comes from friction. And on the question of "youth culture": is this not laying too much blame on "youth"? Surely much of the violence in our societies is perped by adults, the middle aged, and sometimes the old. Canada's latest mass killer, Robert Picton, killed god knows how many Vancouver hookers (they haven't finished counting yet) and it is probably the slimeball never saw a video in his life (apart from porn).

Flash · 26-04-2007, 16:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric

No, I don't think it is that simple. Perhaps video games tap in to the latent violence that is already there, but I would argue that they do not create that violence. Violence has always been with us. What would we blame for the violence in pre-video game days? Maybe it is something really simple, like there are just too many of us living in such close quarters, that violence comes from friction. And on the question of "youth culture": is this not laying too much blame on "youth"? Surely much of the violence in our societies is perped by adults, the middle aged, and sometimes the old. Canada's latest mass killer, Robert Picton, killed god knows how many Vancouver hookers (they haven't finished counting yet) and it is probably the slimeball never saw a video in his life (apart from porn).

Whilst I agree with much of what you say in the work that I do with young offenders I ahve witnessed a marked increase in the extent of violence over the last two to three years. I fully agree that violence has wlways existed and I am not necessarily saying that the overall number has increased very much but what certainly has is the level of violence and the speed to which it escalates- particulalrly in youth on youth assaults. For example I have lost count this year alone in the number of instance where one or more young people have forced another young person to the floor and proceeded to kick them in the head. Did this happen yeras ago- yes of course it did- but the extreme level of violence some young people move quickly to has certainly increased. I think the reason is a lot more complicated than video games but feel that there is a contributory factor there.
The issue with youth culture I have is that many of the young people I work with dont feel that they have a right to aspire to anything- aspiration is in fact an alien concept to many. When you are then faced with the sort of gangsta imagery with all that entails many young people replace more realistsic goals with their hero worship of 50 cent et al. Consider the rise in gun culture across Britain and its correlation with this form of popular culture- cant be coincidence.

WillowTheWhisp · 26-04-2007, 16:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullseyebarb

They'll blame anything and anyone.....except the person who actually commits the crime.

As I've just said in another thread. Everything always has to be somebody else's fault these days.