It is absolutely correct that the glorification of violent behaviour by the media is one of the primary causes creating our ever more violent societies.

Anyone who is stupid enough to think that the messages and images broadcast by the media can not affect human behaviour should explain a away the multi trillion dollar per year advertising industry, which boasts the complete opposite.

Armies have known since Roman times that the majority of men will not kill or even injure the enemy under almost any circumstances. Men have to be conditioned to kill other human beings, and most normal men who achieve that usually display symptoms of overwhelming guilt. This is not such a problem in modern armies where most of the killing is done by crew served weapons where the soldiers do not hear the screams or see the blood of the people they are killing.

The US Army in Vietnam was the first army to use military brain washing techniques to overcome their soldiers perfectly normal human inhibition to kill other human beings. Today, they use (wait for it) computer shoot-em-up simulator games to achieve the same end. Think about it. The US Armed forces use computer games to overcome the normal human inhibition against killing other human beings, and our society sells the same products to kids as a game.

Binoy is displaying his usual ignorance about a subject he knows nothing about. He is simply chanting the mantras of the elitist caste, too many of whom are employed in the entertainment industries which are one of the primary problems. Much easier to point he finger of blame at firearms while they churn out endless movies, songs and games extolling the virtues of serious criminal behaviour, drug abuse, misogyny, and heroes solving their problems with guns. The only gun control the movie industry opposes is on their own violent movies where criminal firearm misuse is used in almost every movie.

1. The crowd killing Gun mentality is a dark and dirty part of American culture,

- championed by you Americans. Are you one of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proud_Boys LEGO?

We in Australia vote for the politicians who have legally banned the assault rifle type of guns that do most of the school-mall-crowd killing in America.

2. Rather than the 2nd Amendment American militia argument of "Guns defending the home" the reality is:

Nearly 2/3rds of gun deaths are suicides:

- The U.S. gun suicide rate is 10 times that of other high-income countries.

- Access to a gun increases the risk of death by suicide by three times
see http://everytownresearch.org/gun-violence-america/

In the US Children are being killed by family members who use guns on them.

- For children under age 13 who are victims of gun homicides, 85 percent of those deaths occur in the HOME
see http://everytownresearch.org/impact-gun-violence-american-children-teens/

Also the bizarrely threatening is the right to openly carry guns in public. Guns visible in holsters are legal in many US states.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_carry_in_the_United_States

Unlike more civilised countries many Americans have a peculiar I'm Like A Cowboy macho attitude to guns. They feel like real men "carrying" or "packing heat".

Video games are all over the world! If it was video games leading to mass murder with guns, knives or motor vehicles?

Then the whole world would be involved, and anarchy would reign supreme.

It's always those with simple minds and simple solutions that are to blame. And simply blaming inanimate objects is merely mindless postulating to serve a preferred political outcome!

I believe most of this new wave of violence is the result of decades-long social inequity and social injustice. And stirred by a few with their own (green left-wing/black right-wing/ power for its own sake) political agenda.

Thus we see Donald siding with white supremacists and blaming migrant Latinos for most of America's ills in an echo from the past when a then Nazi regime blamed another migrant ethenic minority for all their economic ills!

When in fact the culprit is greed is good individualism! [Or quite blatant economic stupidity.] And even promoted from the pulpit by bible bashing, mendacious, disingenuous, rich folk claiming to be Christian

Genuine Christians tweet others as they would be tweeted
Alan B.

If it was gun ownership in private hands that caused all the gun-crazy killing then why is this bizarre outcome replicated in Switzerland where gun laws are and have been very liberal for decades. And where access to video games is just as prevalent as in any other liberal democracy or perhaps more so?

Switzerland has what some may label a real democracy and where the average citizen has much more say than we or indeed the average American does.

Japan has reportedly anecdotally, one of the highest handgun ownership rates in the world, albeit mostly illegal and unpublicised. And awash with some of the most violent video games. Yet home to some of the most polite and respectful people anywhere. And inculcated from the cradle by cultural custom.

I believe Pete may be on to something and points to inculcated cowboy/maverick culture and custom as a contributing factor.

That said, crazies with guns/lethal weapons are those who do the killing and usually cannot get enough guns or lethal weapons.

And we approach a time where proficiency with lethal weapons may ensure survival?

It's down as usual, to the politicians and their lust for power?
Alan B.

Hi Alan B.

I agree with many of your points.

Adding its the "crazies with guns/lethal weapons are those who do the killing" who are

1. most likely to turn guns on themselves ie. SUICIDE, and

2. killing their own CHILDREN IN THEIR OWN homes - see http://everytownresearch.org/gun-violence-america/
_____________________________

BUT no its not "down as usual, to the politicians and their lust for power?"

That is a strange American extremist Oath Keeper belief that the UN and US Government are the evil that justifies assault rifles and handguns - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_Keepers

It just so happens that American politicians are forced to bow to NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION lobbyists - with the NRA mostly funded by the US and Overseas gun production industry. The NRA threatens that many/most politicians (who want to reduce the number of US guns) will be voted out of office by NRA campaign money at political elections.

Please recall the Port Arthur and Christchurch assault rifle massacres before voicing some American extremist arguments (of the type LEGO spouts...)

Regards

Indisputable fact. The US Army uses violent computer games to overcome their recruits natural innate aversion to killing or injuring other human beings. Such training is called "Operant Conditioning". And society today sells similar programs to kids as games. As one US Army psychologist remarked. "If society wants to train an entire generation of assassins and murderers, it could not find a better way to do it."

The fastest growing crime statistic in the western world is juvenile homicide. Here in Australia, the Australian Institute of Criminology reported in June 1990 that it was "puzzled" at the rise in violent crime, especially homicide, that was being perpetrated by children. Perhaps the AIC thinks it may be a result of an airborne virus? These were the same AIC brainiacs who addressed a conference in Canberra (Violence, Crime, and the Entertainment Media) who put their hands behind their backs, crossed their fingers, and told an openly disbelieving audience that there was no causal link between violent media and violent crime.

Many socially isolated immature young men live their young lives alone in their rooms, endlessly replaying violent games, violent music, and watching violent TV shows where Real Men are always portrayed as violent men. US criminologist Bill Reismann who investigates after every school shooting notes the violent posters, games, comics and the CD's with the gruesome lyrics. "When we go into their rooms after the fact, it's all there, the signs are all there."

These immature and socially isolated young men and boys, may harbour deep resentments at the society who thinks them weird, specially towards the girls who reject their company. They are then surrounded by various types of entertainment media that stokes their violent and sexual fantasies. Even such brainiacs as Plantagenet and Alan B would probably have the wit to figure out that a computer game like Postal, where pretty young cheerleaders beg for their lives before you shoot them, allows these immature boys to live out the fantasies of Ivan Milat, and to get to like it.

Hi LEGO

Thanks for the lack of links to back up your points.

Yes certainly there have been violent internet video games since the 1990s.

What are your stats and links to compare 1999 with 2019 video game outcomes? COULD EASY ACCESS TO GUNS ALSO BE A DISTINCLY AMERICAN FACTOR?

Silly us non-extremist OLO commenters - Americans with GUNS in their hands have a greater chance (per capita) of killing themselves (SUICIDE) or killing THIER OWN CHILDREN than PEOPLE from more civilised Western countries.

Here's a link http://everytownresearch.org/gun-violence-america/ as you seem to lack your own.

Cheers

what is often overlooked is that the grievance industry triggers a lot of violence. Everyone is taught that the reason they are a failure is because of evil capitalism or evil white men. Victims feel entitled to shoot up whoever they perceive have stopped them from succeeding. Sad part is that often it is people who have done very well by promoting the grievance industry that escape any scruntity. Family courts, antifa, femminist groups, abc socialist reporters have all had a part to play.

Yes runner

A sage, earlier in this thread, was most correct when he uttered:

"And [hate] even promoted from the pulpit by bible bashing, mendacious, disingenuous...folk claiming to be Christian"

"Genuine Christians tweet others as they would be tweeted."
_______________________

Sounds like religious-extremist Aussies follow the extreme American lead in loving Trump.

Cheers

just happens plantagenet when most Australians attended church you could leave your houses unlocked and have little chance of being bashed. And now with such godless 'wisdom' you espouse few are safe. Facts however never stop god deniers from sprouting their hatred.

Rather than the 2nd Amendment American militia argument of "Guns defending the home" the reality is:
Nearly 2/3rds of gun deaths are suicides:
plantagenet,
I can identify with that. I once spent a day on a tourist bus in NZ & two non-stop yapping Americans almost drove all of us to despair.
I can only imagine what it must be like being amongst them 24/7/365. Any wonder the figure is 2/3 !

I've read credible articles that claim gun crime and suicide rates in armed police forces are roughly equivalent to that of the law-abiding gun owner?

And underlines the fact that the gun is only a safe as the hands that hold it!

If we had a world without guns, the crazies would find something even worse to kill or mass murder with!

I believe that the US army have also experimented with amphetamines and such to desensitize their soldiers?

That said an Ice crazed drug addict with a gun is a mass murder going somewhere to happen and I believe many of these crazies are affected by their drug and alcohol habits and or cravings.

Or have indoctrinated social attitudes inculcated from the cradle

Moreover, on average not very smart people. Bryant,i.e., had an IQ just a few points above an imbecile?
Alan B.

Despite the ignorant prognostications of the Plantagenet clones, it is self evident that there is a direct causal link between massacres and the violence endorsing, and the revenge and massacre admiring cultures promoted by our entertainment industries. A culture where teen heart throb Leonardo di Caprio in the movie BASKETBALL DIARIES, walks into a schoolroom in a long black leather coat and starts blasting dead teachers and pupils with a shotgun. It is a culture which admires the personalities of consciousness mass killers. A culture which produces music singing the praises of misogyny and the joys of raping ones own mother, which is a siren song for confused adolescents and immature adults with borderline personality disorders. A culture where children learn how funny it is to break the rules and sneer at their societies most deeply held moral values, through trash talking animated cartoon shows like SOUTH PARK. And a culture which desensitises it's youth with Operant Conditioning against the normal human inhibitions preventing the injuring our killing of members of their own species, available in any video arcade at $2.00 dollars for a three minute session.

It is inevitable that western society will be forced to emplace stronger censorship on the entertainment industries. We can no longer watch children committing the sort of crimes which children have never committed before. We can no longer put children on trial as adults and sentence them to 40 year jail terms. We can't keep building ever more prisons, reopen old ones, hire ever more police, create armies of security guards, build ever more "gated fortress communities", put metal detectors in every school entrance, or TV cameras in every bus, school playground, hospital emergency ward, public park, railway station, street corner, shop, or parking lot. Nor can we use firearms and firearm owners as convenient scapegoats, vilify them as a group, force them to hand in their firearms, and think that the problem is now solved.

Martin Bryant had a measured IQ of 66, which entitled him to a disability pension. Despite senior bureaucrats initially scoffing that Bryant's video library contained violent video's, subsequent investigations discovered that Bryant did in fact have an extensive library of violent video's which included video's featuring bestiality. The local video shop owner admitted that Bryant's favourite movie was Sylvester Stallone's FIRST BLOOD. His own library contained a collection of violent video's starring Steven Segal. Witnesses attested that his most popular exclamation was "don't ferk with the Chuck!" This was the expression used by the murderous doll from the movie CHILD"S PLAY, the movie which is strongly suspected of influencing child murderer James Bulger.

Immature, socially isolated young men, some with very low intelligence and low self esteem, as well as awkward immature schoolboys, had always existed in society. But never before had these self same demographics ever got it in their befuddled heads to go on killing sprees. Despite the fact that throughout nearly all western societies, firearm laws had traditionally been "lax", and self loading rifles and shotguns had been around for 100 years.

But today's movies and computer games, provided scripts for the befuddled, on how a Real Man hit back at the societies which shunned and humiliated them. You pick up a gun, or a knife, or a box of matches, and you get even. For Bryant, it meant everything in the world to prove that he was a man to be feared and admired, rather than a weak misfit to be laughed at, shunned, and bullied. To continue to produce violent massacre movies which are deliberately engineered to appeal to powerless young men like Bryant, or Wade Frankum, or Julian Knight, who fantasise about revenge, and who have been conditioned by movies to think that ultra violent young men are sexually attractive to the most beautiful young women, is to sow the seeds of infamy on fertile ground.

strangely enough the same regressives who always argued the dogma that you are not affected by what you read and watch now want censorship. They wanted there 'freedom' to indulge in their porn and violence. The burn the bra brigade are reaping exactly what they have sown unfortunately.

"Thanks for the lack of links to back up your points". plantagenet, are you really so impressed with the thoughts of some professor that you require their thoughts before you can form an opinion.

I have very little respect for those who fill posts with links. They are showing that they do not think for themselves, but merely parrot the opinions of those they believe have some authority. I am more interested in the opinions of people who have bothered to think for themselves.

Having seen how academics lie & cheat to try to get published, I have very little respect for most of them. Having seen how academics lie & cheat to try to get published, I have very little respect for most of them. A quick look at James Cook reef "science" or the CSIRO rubbish published to try to support the scam of global warming should be enough for anyone to treat links with litytyle respect.

Hi Plantagenet.

Thanks' for your link. Now I will analyse it for you so that you can see how you were hoodwinked.

1. NEARLY TWO THIRDS OF GUN DEATHS ARE SUICIDES.

So what? Suicidal people will use whatever is available when committing suicide. When my cancer gets too much for me, I am going to use my .22 to finish things, and that is nobody else's business but mine.

2. THE US HOMICIDE RATE IS 5 TIMES THAT OF AUSTRALIA.

But if all the homicides involving firearms are removed from the US statistics entirely, the US homicide rate would still be twice that of Australia. That is positive proof that something other than the mere presence of firearms causes people to kill others.

3. BLACK MALES ARE 15 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE SHOT THAN WHITE MALES.

Now we are getting somewhere. Black men are insanely violent and not to be trusted with firearms. Instead of banning guns, let's stop importing black Africans. That may be racist, but it is also common sense.

4. 1 MILLION FEMALES HAVE SURVIVED BEING SHOT BY THIR PARTNERS.

With black females 16 times more likely to be murdered by their spouses than white females, the primary problem is black males, not guns.

5. ACCESS TO GUNS IN A DOMESTIC CONFRONTATION MAKES IT FIVE TIMES MORE LIKELY THAT IT ILL RESULT IN HOMOCIDE.

Being a black female makes it 16 times more likely that she will be a homicide statistic than a white female, guns or not.

6. EVERY DAY 100 AMERICANS ARE KILLED WITH GUNS.

While in gun free London, the homicide rate caused by black African gangs stabbing people, has caused London's homicide rate to be greater than New York City.

Here is a couple of my own statistics from the US FBI, Plantagenet.

White males are 60 times more likely to be assaulted by black males than black males by whites.

White females are 200 times more likely to be sexually assaulted by black males than black females have of being sexually assaulted by white males.

Identify the problem.

Lego's 'racist' remarks are backed up by the high rate of gun ownership in Switerland where they don't have nearly the problems the US have. Maybe its something to do with 'white privelege', at least thats what the unis will tell you.

Maybe its something to do with 'white privelege', at least thats what the unis will tell you.
runner,
Of course, they could never admit that Switzerland has a National Service where common sense is much sought after hence the healthy mentality of the Swiss !

The WHO lists the USA at 27th in the World for suicide.

http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/suicide-rate-by-country/

Must be something in all those other countries besides stricter gun laws.