Getting Serious about Curbing Gun Violence

[DaShuckster]

We talk about the NRA, but let’s face it, the entertainment industry racks up billions of dollars every year promoting gun violence. In addition, businesses spend millions of their advertising bucks for product placement in these movies, TV shows, and video games.

Clearly, the industry has a major influence on the way we view things. It also means that we have the power to control it — if we have the guts to.

When we got serious about curbing smoking, we banned TV commercials for Big Tobacco.

We used to control — at least before the internet age — people’s access to pornography to avoid objectifying women which could lead to sexual assaults for some guys.

But when it comes to curbing gun violence, there’s NOTHING we can do beyond universal background checks???!?

How about banning gun violence on TV shows, movies, and especially video games? Think about it: we train people via video games to feel what it’s like to become a mass shooter from an early age and then stop and wonder why in the world some crazies do it in real life?

Duh.

 

[UCFKnight85]

TV or video games themselves are not the issue. I can watch John Wick all day and play Call of Duty and not feel the need to pick up my firearms and go mowing people down. That said, I do think that these things can have a corrosive effect on someone who is already mentally ill, living in seclusion, choosing to be isolated from real life and is sucked into social media, etc.

But that really points back to a larger issue with how far sick our society has fallen as a whole. Forget about shootings for a minute and just think about the other behavior that we see from people who have a total disregard for others or human life. How many times do you see some jackass filming someone getting beat up and laughing so he can put it on a social media site? How many times do kids set out to torture other kids via social media and drive them to suicide?

It doesn't help either that our laws shield juveniles when actions taken by a 17 year old SHOULD be part of a background registry if the offense is serious enough (reference: my post in the Dayton shooter thread)

 

[Cubs79]

We talk about the NRA, but let’s face it, the entertainment industry racks up billions of dollars every year promoting gun violence. In addition, businesses spend millions of their advertising bucks for product placement in these movies, TV shows, and video games.

Clearly, the industry has a major influence on the way we view things. It also means that we have the power to control it — if we have the guts to.

When we got serious about curbing smoking, we banned TV commercials for Big Tobacco.

We used to control — at least before the internet age — people’s access to pornography to avoid objectifying women which could lead to sexual assaults for some guys.

But when it comes to curbing gun violence, there’s NOTHING we can do beyond universal background checks???!?

How about banning gun violence on TV shows, movies, and especially video games? Think about it: we train people via video games to feel what it’s like to become a mass shooter from an early age and then stop and wonder why in the world some crazies do it in real life?

Duh.

Movies and video games are watched and played all over the world, yet the vast majority of countries don't have these problems anywhere near the same degree we do.

 

[UCFKnight85]

Movies and video games are watched and played all over the world, yet the vast majority of countries don't have these problems anywhere near the same degree we do.

I know Asia is a different story but I spent a lot of time in Europe and from what I could tell, their kids don't mass consume TV and video games anywhere near as much as kids here do.

 

[chemmie]

One simple question: In the United States, is it too easy for any jackwagon off the street to obtain a gun, or multiple guns, capable of killing human beings en masse?

 

[Cubs79]

I know Asia is a different story but I spent a lot of time in Europe and from what I could tell, their kids don't mass consume TV and video games anywhere near as much as kids here do.

That might be true but it doesn't take away from the fact the movies and games are not just an American thing, but mass shootings mostly are just an American thing. If those things were really the crux of the problem, then why doesn't it happen more often in other places?

 

[fried-chicken]

We talk about the NRA, but let’s face it, the entertainment industry racks up billions of dollars every year promoting gun violence. In addition, businesses spend millions of their advertising bucks for product placement in these movies, TV shows, and video games.

Clearly, the industry has a major influence on the way we view things. It also means that we have the power to control it — if we have the guts to.

When we got serious about curbing smoking, we banned TV commercials for Big Tobacco.

We used to control — at least before the internet age — people’s access to pornography to avoid objectifying women which could lead to sexual assaults for some guys.

But when it comes to curbing gun violence, there’s NOTHING we can do beyond universal background checks???!?

How about banning gun violence on TV shows, movies, and especially video games? Think about it: we train people via video games to feel what it’s like to become a mass shooter from an early age and then stop and wonder why in the world some crazies do it in real life?

Duh.

Spoken like a true old ass man.

 

[Crazyhole]

Anybody who isn't willing to admit that games like Fortnite and COD desensitize kids to shooting people isn't being honest with themselves.

 

[UCFKnight85]

That might be true but it doesn't take away from the fact the movies and games are not just an American thing, but mass shootings mostly are just an American thing. If those things were really the crux of the problem, then why doesn't it happen more often in other places?

It does happen in other places, the means of violence are simply different. Are you really insinuating that America is the only place where random violence or mass murder occurs? There was a guy in Japan just recently that was homicidal and stabbed 29 people in a train station.

 

[Cubs79]

Anybody who isn't willing to admit that games like Fortnite and COD desensitize kids to shooting people isn't being honest with themselves.

It is certainly possible it could desensitize some people, but it also doesn't change the fact that games and movies are all over the world, yet mass shootings aren't. So it isn't the games or movies causing mass shootings.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/...he-evidence-video-games-lead-violence-is-weak
https://www.theatlantic.com/technol...o-game-violence-became-partisan-issue/595456/

And also, this is something that has been studied, and the studies don't tend to back up the assertion that games or movies make people violent.

 

[Cubs79]

It does happen in other places, the means of violence are simply different. Are you really insinuating that America is the only place where random violence or mass murder occurs? There was a guy in Japan just recently that was homicidal and stabbed 29 people in a train station.

It happens more frequently in the US than pretty much all other developed nations and you are much more likely to be a victim of violent crime in the US than in Japan.
https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Japan/United-States/Crime

 

[beelit47]

One simple question: In the United States, is it too easy for any jackwagon off the street to obtain a gun, or multiple guns, capable of killing human beings en masse?

Regardless of any law you could pass, yes

 

[chemmie]

There was a guy in Japan just recently that was homicidal and stabbed 29 people in a train station.

How insanely dumb do you have to be to think the violence and mass deaths in Japan are even remotely close to the numbers in the USA?

34 dead in 3 incidents during the last week, and you compare it to an incident with 2 dead that happened back in May?

 

[UCFKnight85]

How insanely dumb do you have to be to think the violence and mass deaths in Japan are even remotely close to the numbers in the USA?

34 dead in 3 incidents during the last week, and you compare it to an incident with 2 dead that happened back in May?

How insane do you have to be to personally involve someone's real name because you're so butthurt and emotionally unstable while using a message board that you can't contain yourself from doing so?

 

[chemmie]

How insane do you have to be to personally involve someone's real name because you're so butthurt and emotionally unstable while using a message board that you can't contain yourself from doing so?

That has nothing to do with this conversation, Snowflake.

 

[Poolside Knight]

How insanely dumb do you have to be to think the violence and mass deaths in Japan are even remotely close to the numbers in the USA?

34 dead in 3 incidents during the last week, and you compare it to an incident with 2 dead that happened back in May?

He's actually did a self own on gun control bringing up the Japan attack. A lot harder to get a death body count of 22, 50, 17, etc in a very limited time period with a Knife

 

[UCFKnight85]

That has nothing to do with this conversation, Snowflake.

You’re a lunatic who can’t handle being here. I’m going to remind you every time you attempt to insult me or anyone else.

 

[fried-chicken]

Anybody who isn't willing to admit that games like Fortnite and COD desensitize kids to shooting people isn't being honest with themselves.

Is it any coincidence that we started to see obsety rates rise around the time of Pac-man?! Kids were desensitized to eating everything in sight!!!!

Let's not forget the millions of kids that go around stomping on turtles after playing Mario. It's an epidemic!!!

 

[DaShuckster]

That might be true but it doesn't take away from the fact the movies and games are not just an American thing, but mass shootings mostly are just an American thing.

When it comes to movies and video games, approximately half of the worldwide market is the U.S.

 

[Cubs79]

When it comes to movies and video games, approximately half of the worldwide market is the U.S.

That still means that half isn't the US. Asia is a larger video game market than the US, and they don't have these sorts of things happen on such a frequent basis.

 

[fried-chicken]

This is going to sound crazy but...

Maybe violent video games and movies don't make people become violent.

Maybe we make violent video games because we have a human infatuation with fighting.

You can test this theory by checking if people were violent before video games and movies existed. Just look through a history book and let me know what you find out.

Companies make the content that people buy. People buy games like that because we have a natural infatuation with violence.

 

[Crazyhole]

This is going to sound crazy but...

Maybe violent video games and movies don't make people become violent.

Maybe we make violent video games because we have a human infatuation with fighting.

You can test this theory by checking if people were violent before video games and movies existed. Just look through a history book and let me know what you find out.

Companies make the content that people buy. People buy games like that because we have a natural infatuation with violence.

Mass shootings have increased at a greater rate than access to guns has lowered. Kids in the 80s or earlier took guns to school and they weren't shooting the place up. Deny it all you want, but this is getting worse as the gaming industry is becoming more shooter based. There is a correlation there and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that.

 

[DaShuckster]

Maybe we make violent video games because we have a human infatuation with fighting.

So we feed the beast

I always find it interesting when some folks poo-poo the impact of Hollywood and the video game industry. Hey, I'm no angel, I like me some big ol' shoot 'em ups too. And for the majority of us, it's simply a form of entertainment.

But if all this stuff has zero influence, why do businesses spend billions of dollars each year on advertising??!?!? Somebody apparently is influenced by what they see on TV or social media.

The Matrix movie debuted on March 31, 1999 and was a big surprise hit at the box office. This Sci-fi movie featured Keane Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss wearing long, black trench coats, cool sunglasses, and toting some big-ass guns.

The Columbine HS massacre took place on April 20, 1999 and the two punks who conducted the mass murder were wearing long, black trench coats, cool sunglasses and toting some big-ass guns.

But I'm sure it was just a coincidence.

 

[fried-chicken]

There are actual studies on this and there is no correlation. This is just shit old people say on facebook.

 

[Cubs79]

So we feed the beast

I always find it interesting when some folks poo-poo the impact of Hollywood and the video game industry. Hey, I'm no angel, I like me some big ol' shoot 'em ups too. And for the majority of us, it's simply a form of entertainment.

But if all this stuff has zero influence, why do businesses spend billions of dollars each year on advertising??!?!? Somebody apparently is influenced by what they see on TV or social media.

The Matrix movie debuted on March 31, 1999 and was a big surprise hit at the box office. This Sci-fi movie featured Keane Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss wearing long, black trench coats, cool sunglasses, and toting some big-ass guns.

The Columbine HS massacre took place on April 20, 1999 and the two punks who conducted the mass murder were wearing long, black trench coats, cool sunglasses and toting some big-ass guns.

But I'm sure it was just a coincidence.

This has been studied, and there is not much of any evidence suggesting video games or movies lead to violence. But again, if you think that it does, then why does this stuff happen here so often, but not other places?

 

[fried-chicken]

So we feed the beast

I always find it interesting when some folks poo-poo the impact of Hollywood and the video game industry. Hey, I'm no angel, I like me some big ol' shoot 'em ups too. And for the majority of us, it's simply a form of entertainment.

But if all this stuff has zero influence, why do businesses spend billions of dollars each year on advertising??!?!? Somebody apparently is influenced by what they see on TV or social media.

The Matrix movie debuted on March 31, 1999 and was a big surprise hit at the box office. This Sci-fi movie featured Keane Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss wearing long, black trench coats, cool sunglasses, and toting some big-ass guns.

The Columbine HS massacre took place on April 20, 1999 and the two punks who conducted the mass murder were wearing long, black trench coats, cool sunglasses and toting some big-ass guns.

But I'm sure it was just a coincidence.

Yet video games are consumed world wide and only one country has mass shootings. Weird. I wonder why the same games don't make people violent elsewhere.

 

[DaShuckster]

There are actual studies on this and there is no correlation.

I haven't seen any study. It would seem like a tough one to research.

But common sense says that if we spend billions of advertising dollars to influence people that the movies and TV shows and video games we watch just *might* have a teensie-weansie bit of influence, don'tcha think?

Again, most of us aren't going to go out and blow away people after watching a movie with gun violence or playing a violent video game. But the notion that they don't desensitize some people to gun violence is naïve at best.

 

[Cubs79]

So we feed the beast

I always find it interesting when some folks poo-poo the impact of Hollywood and the video game industry. Hey, I'm no angel, I like me some big ol' shoot 'em ups too. And for the majority of us, it's simply a form of entertainment.

But if all this stuff has zero influence, why do businesses spend billions of dollars each year on advertising??!?!? Somebody apparently is influenced by what they see on TV or social media.

The Matrix movie debuted on March 31, 1999 and was a big surprise hit at the box office. This Sci-fi movie featured Keane Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss wearing long, black trench coats, cool sunglasses, and toting some big-ass guns.

The Columbine HS massacre took place on April 20, 1999 and the two punks who conducted the mass murder were wearing long, black trench coats, cool sunglasses and toting some big-ass guns.

But I'm sure it was just a coincidence.

BTW, the Columbine kids were getting into trouble well before the Matrix came out and one of them kept a journal talking about going on shooting sprees back in 1997, almost 2 years before the Matrix. Maybe it influenced their outfits, but their outfits weren't the problem, the shooting was the problem.

 

[DaShuckster]

if you think that it does, then why does this stuff happen here so often, but not other places?

Because the American culture celebrates gun ownership and revels in entertainment featuring gun violence like no other.

But that said, we're starting to see more of these crazy mass murdering sprees in other countries too.

 

[Cubs79]

Because the American culture celebrates gun ownership and revels in entertainment featuring gun violence like no other.

But that said, we're starting to see more of these crazy mass murdering sprees in other countries too.

Other countries watch the same movies and play the same games we do.

 

[DaShuckster]

BTW, the Columbine kids were getting into trouble well before the Matrix came out and one of them kept a journal talking about going on shooting sprees back in 1997, almost 2 years before the Matrix. Maybe it influenced their outfits, but their outfits weren't the problem, the shooting was the problem.

Yes, the SHOOTING was the problem. And the shooting happened just weeks after the film came out.

So you're telling us all that there's no chance that the movie's glorification of gun violence couldn't have triggered this pair to stop talking about it and actually DO it?

 

[Crazyhole]

Because the American culture celebrates gun ownership and revels in entertainment featuring gun violence like no other.

But that said, we're starting to see more of these crazy mass murdering sprees in other countries too.

Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Japan.......... And yet the talking points say that we are the only country that has this problem.

Thank you for having a reasonable position on this.

 

[DaShuckster]

Other countries watch the same movies and play the same games we do.

No other country comes anywhere close to matching our American society's obsession with guns.

First, you combine cyber-bullying and our abysmal treatment of mental health issues and then you mix in media glorification of gun violence and easy access to semi-automatic weapons and...
VOILA!!!
...you've got the recipe for a Mass Murder Spree of the Week.

 

[Cubs79]

Yes, the SHOOTING was the problem. And the shooting happened just weeks after the film came out.

So you're telling us all that there's no chance that the movie's glorification of gun violence couldn't have triggered this pair to stop talking about it and actually DO it?

Dude, they didn't plan it in a few weeks. They had been planning it for months, well before the movie came out. They actually wanted to do an OKC style bombing, but weren't capable of it. I am not saying there is "no chance", I am saying you don't have any evidence of it, and we don't need to just be blaming things without any studies or evidence to support our views.

 

[Cubs79]

No other country comes anywhere close to matching our American society's obsession with guns.

First, you combine cyber-bullying and our abysmal treatment of mental health issues and then you mix in media glorification of gun violence and easy access to semi-automatic weapons and...
VOILA!!!
...you've got the recipe for a Mass Murder Spree of the Week.

Huh? I know other countries don't have our obsession with guns. That isn't what I said. I said they watch the same movies and play the same games we do.

 

[Cubs79]

Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Japan.......... And yet the talking points say that we are the only country that has this problem.

Thank you for having a reasonable position on this.

The Norway shooting was 8 years ago. Are we really going to compare a 1 off thing almost a decade ago, to something that happens almost weekly in this country?

 

[DaShuckster]

Huh? I know other countries don't have our obsession with guns. That isn't what I said. I said they watch the same movies and play the same games we do.

My point is that our Good Ole "Red, White, & Blue" All-American GUN Culture triggers more of our societal outliers to act than is the case in other countries.

 

[Cubs79]

My point is that our Good Ole "Red, White, & Blue" All-American GUN Culture triggers more of our societal outliers to act than is the case in other countries.

Yes, because we have more access to guns. That is the issue, not the games or movies.

 

[Crazyhole]

Yes, because we have more access to guns. That is the issue, not the games or movies.

Lol, kids had every bit as much access to guns 30 years ago. Not a lot of shootings back then.

 

[Cubs79]

Lol, kids had every bit as much access to guns 30 years ago. Not a lot of shootings back then.

They had access to movies and such too, as do other countries now that don't have frequent shootings.