The Big Picture: On The Subject Of Violence

[Mistilteinn]

I can completely agree with what you're saying: people need to stop trying to find a scapegoat for everything terrible that happens; simple as that. Yes, almost everything in the world--if not everything--can be linked through some twisted web of causality, much like Bob pointed out. But at the same time, we are talking about the actions of people. And not just your average Joe, but people who clearly have some sort of mental illness, and in that case we can't just use the same web of causality that applies to us and assume "X caused Y to happen." Their minds do not work like ours, nor do they make the same connections as our brains do, and as such what we view as causal is not the same as to the person with the illness. So no matter what we do, or how much we ban or censor things, someone somewhere will find something else to 'inspire' themselves to do a sick and twisted act.

It sucks, but what can we really do? We can't predict everything that will happen, nor can we stop everything that happens, either. And while I don't have the slightest clue how to fix any of this--if there even is one--I know for damn sure that censoring or banning things just because some psychopath claims that he was 'inspired' by it is not that answer. It's just a bunch of people scrambling to find some answer to a problem so they can feel better about the world and justify the issue, when in reality there probably isn't an answer, and shit just happens.

 

[Kargathia]

Does any one know what could have prevented the Denver incident? GUN CONTROL!!


PSh, the forums suddenly look a lot more "slick". That's nice

He would have found a way to get guns anyhow. I mean he rigged his apartment to blow. He seems like he knew how to get things.

The Netherlands have some very tight gun laws as well, and they also had a home-grown mass murder shootout last year.
I'm not saying that gun control won't cut down on the total amount of violence happening - in fact I'd say it will - but it won't provide a golden bullet to prevent madmen going off on a rampage.

That said; we are long overdue for a reasoned debate on depiction of violence in entertainment. Sociologic research is slowly nearing a consensus on what is actually happening, but both sides of the accompanying debate are mainly occupied with shouting their opinion as loudly as possible, whilst hoping the other will just go away.

 

[wooty]

Well said Bobby boy, glad someone said it.

On the (slightly sketchy) plus side, Heath Ledgers "Joker" has already been commited to film, so thank Haruhi we at least have that now.

 

[medv4380]

Does any one know what could have prevented the Denver incident? GUN CONTROL!!

You do know that the guy had enough explosive to level a building, and Gun Control would have done nothing about that. If anything the fact that the guy went for a gun he didn't actually know how to use and "modded" it up thus causing it to jam probably saved lives. If he had gone for say a Molotov Cocktail instead things would have ended very differently.

 

[Catrixa]

I'm completely with you on this one, Bob. We don't really get anywhere by banning things, other than making people want to perform illegal acts to get the banned things. There will always be people who randomly kill other people, just as long as there are mental disorders in existence. It's always been my opinion that we should spend slightly more time on detecting and fixing those than we already spend on trying to ban things we think are offensive, but what do I know? I don't have millions of dollars to back up my opinions anyway...

 

[easternflame]

Hat is off. You said it man.

 

[Blunderboy]

On The Subject Of Violence

Possible does not mean likely.

Watch Video

As per usual Bob, you talk a hell of a lot of sense and see right to the heart of the matter.
I applaud you sir.

 

[Vausch]

If I recall, the prosecutors in Anders Breivik's case also tried to link his insanity to his playing WOW for 7 hours a day.

Humans are a species that demand reason and purpose, even when there is not one to be found. Sure, there may actually be a reason for something happening or that it happened, but more often than not it's something beyond the control of us feeble human beings. Heck if you want me to find a causality link, maybe James Holmes was trying to be Ronald McDonald and got his clowns mixed up. Certainly explains the red hair. See? I can find links too.

 

[Blunderboy]

DOUBLE POST - Please Delete.

 

[xEightBitPlayerx]

We may not see eye to eye on your movie reviews but you made the best Big Picture yet, excellent work sir.

 

[Toilet]

Must....kill...John Lennon.

KILL JOHN LENNON!

 

[Overusedname]

Props, Bob.

Seriously, thank you for this. In this particular case, I've seen no evidence that this kid didn't just want attention. He's acting like a cartoon bad guy, not an actual madman. Though violent media increases our violent thoughts, it does not make us want to commit violence. The violent imagery is merely present in our mind.

And some people either can't see the difference between reality and fiction, and some DO see it, and just don't care.

 

[vxicepickxv]

I don't think that anything other than a stronger mental health system would have been able to stop the Aurora shooter(Who I will now mockingly call him Sieshow Bob).

Sideshow Bob was able to get every single accessory he needed online, along with his ammo the same way. He was able to get his guns legally, because he was able to hide his mental failures when he bought them locally. This wasn't some rash decision he made. He had been planning this for months. If our mental health system was better, there would have been less chance he would have gone through with his actions.

 

[bdcjacko]

Does any one know what could have prevented the Denver incident? GUN CONTROL!!


PSh, the forums suddenly look a lot more "slick". That's nice

He would have found a way to get guns anyhow. I mean he rigged his apartment to blow. He seems like he knew how to get things.

The Netherlands have some very tight gun laws as well, and they also had a home-grown mass murder shootout last year.
I'm not saying that gun control won't cut down on the total amount of violence happening - in fact I'd say it will - but it won't provide a golden bullet to prevent madmen going off on a rampage.

That said; we are long overdue for a reasoned debate on depiction of violence in entertainment. Sociologic research is slowly nearing a consensus on what is actually happening, but both sides of the accompanying debate are mainly occupied with shouting their opinion as loudly as possible, whilst hoping the other will just go away.

Exactly, in a case like this, gun control means nothing. But big picture (no pun intended) gun control would decrease the amount of gun violence. In the case of some crazy guy that is dedicated to shooting up a movie, he is going to find the guns.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

The sad thing is there probably isn't anything we can do about dangerous mad people (within reason) to prevent these things from happening.

These movies, books, games, songs, or whatever are not so much "inspiration" as they are an excuse. Something for the individual to call the "reason" for their unreasonable actions. They pick something, anything, that lets them point at it and say that's why I did it. Not because I'm just crazy, but because something outside of myself influenced me and made me do these horrible things.

As Bob said this inspiration can pretty much come from anything. As for those pointing fingers at religion&religious books for being so often used in this way I would ask; To a madman, what is a better excuse than "God told me to."?

It is foolish to believe that if we ban things that madman have said "inspired" them that we can stop these horrors form happening. People WANT an excuse to blame for their actions, but they don't NEED one. And even if they can't find one, they can always make one.

 

[Blade_125]

Good piece. I wish it would help people realize that maybe we should talk about mental health funding rather than arguing over gun control or censorship.

 

[RJ Dalton]

As a schizophrenic, I feel I have to make this point, because the media is insistent on being fucktards about it.

The Colorado killer has not been officially diagnosed with anything. The media is already stamping labels on him like "schizoid" and "psychopath," using them as if they were catchall phrases for people who do bad things and completely ignoring not only the very specific context in which these terms are used in psychology, but how badly this misrepresents the vast majority of us who have mental disorders.
I'm Schizophrenic. Yes, I have delusions of persecution. Yes, I experience auditory and sometimes visual hallucinations. Yes, I am at times impulsive and irrationally over-emotional. But I have never in my life had any inclination to do something violent, nor do I have any desire to ever do so because I consider the use of violence to be abhorrent and would rather find any other means to resolve conflicts first.
We are not, as a rule, dangerous to society because we have identifiable symptoms of mental illness. Anyone - and I mean ANYONE - can go off the deep end if external circumstances effect them in the wrong ways and I am sick and tired of every killer being automatically labeled as "schizo" or "psychopathic" by a media which refuses to get its facts straight in favor of sensationalizing their stories.
And I'm disappointed in you, Bob, for using the term "psychopath" in the same way, no matter how much I think you have a point on every other issue you addressed in this video.
Please stop making people like me out to be naturally born bad guys.

 

[Allthingsspectacular]

Beautiful! I could kiss you if you shaved!

 

[Imperator-Zor]

Thank you bob for this. One of your better works by far.

Zor

 

[leviadragon99]

Well-said, it's good to see a truly even-handed approach to this particular thorny issue.