The Violence Behind the Violence by STAFF

[nadinbrzezinski]

Since the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Connecticut, we have had many discussions on the sources of gun violence in our country. We were all shocked. Many fingers are pointing at both Hollywood and the video game industry. If we are to believe them, all this would go away if we removed the glorification of violence from the media.

I will be the first to admit this: Call of Duty is violent. It simulates war. We would be surprised if it wasn’t. It is also rated M by the ESRB, that would be for seventeen year olds and older. It’s not meant for kids. Ratings work, only if we use them as a guide.

I will also admit that a James Bond movie is pure schlock with quite a bit of violence. There are many other titles out there that include explosions, gun play, and bloody gore. Need I mention the Die Hard series? Argue all you want about how video games and movies encourage violent acts. But that’s merely scratching the surface and doesn’t get to the root of the real problem.

Fingers, in other words, are being pointed at popular culture, as if pop culture is the root of all of our problems.

http://sandiegofreepress.org/2012/12/the-violence-behind-the-violence/#comment-53149

This is the edited version of an OP last night.

[malaise]

1. K & R

Important

[Fresh_Start]

2. and all of those products are available around the world

but only in the USA are we number 1 on gun violence.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. They also lack the structural violence we have

[Arcana]

4. How does structural violence directly lead to things like mass shootings?

Except when it comes to things like poverty leading people to steal and racism leading people to join gangs?

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Mass shootings are an extreme form of what ails us

And lack of access to mental health care and the stigma that comes with mental health is part of the violence.

[Fumesucker]

5. It's not the popular culture it's the leadership

American popular culture blankets the world, only here does it result in the sort of violence we have seen.

On the other hand, this sort of attitude seems to be unique to America.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

7. I live in the UK

and I'm American. I see the exact same things you listed here in Britain. Yet the last two mass shootings were perpetuated by people who have had little to no exposure to violent video games/horror movies/etc (both were middle aged men who lived in rural areas). Both mass shootings were 14 years apart as well and both were committed with guns that were legally held.

It's disingenuous to blame video games/movies/television shows.