Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Petty spats lead to more slayings
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11865866/
I really think things are so different now in our culture. For one thing, there is waaaaay too much of random violent crap in video games and movies and television. And i *really* *really* do think that it desensitizes the public to violence in general. I saw a
great quote recently: " Evil is the absence of empathy"....never has
that been truer imo. Forget accessability to handguns...the whole gun thing has been glamorized imo. Plus, videogames/movies etc have
twisted it so that the viewer tends to identify with the violent
attacker rather than the victims. The victims are loosers or just
"non" people....not even worth consideration, whereas the attacker is the focus of the emotions. Even when considering the 6 o'clock news, we dont care what the victims thought....we want to know what the assailant thought....*WHY* did they do what they did? Who cares what terror the victim must have felt when it happened...that is *never* addressed by the news or news story...its always *why* and *what were they thinking* and *what triggered it*....we want to understand the assailant...which imo lends itself to identifying with them to some degree and turning them into a victim of sorts.
Added to that....if you think about it...my dad for example was
married young..he was 20...tons of people were married at that age and had families. Having a family for most people tempers them....age does it too but there is nothing like a family to sober you up quickly when you are younger...for most imo not all. People defer marriage etc longer. Its not expected for people to get married and "settle down" quickly like they used to do....now people postpone that for a variety of reasons....and imo, that coupled with the job situation in many areas and the whole media thing...throw in accessability to handguns and the glamorization of them, and just to finish it off the crappy diets that most people are on which imo fucks with our body chemistry even more..and what else do you expect. Man...i feel like i could write a freaking book on all the factors....but really...the issue is that society no longer cares about the victims. We are all defined as victims of something or other by society at large and its all about "getting them back".
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11865866/
I really think things are so different now in our culture. For one thing, there is waaaaay too much of random violent crap in video games and movies and television. And i *really* *really* do think that it desensitizes the public to violence in general. I saw a
great quote recently: " Evil is the absence of empathy"....never has
that been truer imo. Forget accessability to handguns...the whole gun thing has been glamorized imo. Plus, videogames/movies etc have
twisted it so that the viewer tends to identify with the violent
attacker rather than the victims. The victims are loosers or just
"non" people....not even worth consideration, whereas the attacker is the focus of the emotions. Even when considering the 6 o'clock news, we dont care what the victims thought....we want to know what the assailant thought....*WHY* did they do what they did? Who cares what terror the victim must have felt when it happened...that is *never* addressed by the news or news story...its always *why* and *what were they thinking* and *what triggered it*....we want to understand the assailant...which imo lends itself to identifying with them to some degree and turning them into a victim of sorts.
Added to that....if you think about it...my dad for example was
married young..he was 20...tons of people were married at that age and had families. Having a family for most people tempers them....age does it too but there is nothing like a family to sober you up quickly when you are younger...for most imo not all. People defer marriage etc longer. Its not expected for people to get married and "settle down" quickly like they used to do....now people postpone that for a variety of reasons....and imo, that coupled with the job situation in many areas and the whole media thing...throw in accessability to handguns and the glamorization of them, and just to finish it off the crappy diets that most people are on which imo fucks with our body chemistry even more..and what else do you expect. Man...i feel like i could write a freaking book on all the factors....but really...the issue is that society no longer cares about the victims. We are all defined as victims of something or other by society at large and its all about "getting them back".
