Man decapitates 5-year-old sister in front of officer

[fozzie 41]

There's no disputing it can have an influence, just not necessarily "the" influence.

Pretty much all of the cases of people who committed violent crimes and a specific movie, book or videogame was referenced as an influence had pre-existing psych issues that had little to do with their exposure to that kind of material:

The guy who dressed up like Rambo and went on the rampage in Hungerford in the 80s, the Columbine Killers, Robert Thompson and John Venables and Mark Chapman all had a history of disturbed behaviour years before the crimes they committed.

Serial killers too - like Fred and Rose West, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy etc all had deep seated issues, they didn't suddenly snap from exposure to violent or sexually explicit material.

It's not necessarilyu that a specific media violence triggered the events, more that a sustain exposure over many years CAN desensatize. However there is the whole Art imitating life imitating art debate too.

I never really bought that argument about desensitization - because it basically deals with exposure to violence within a controlled and very specific context. Seeing someone getting their head blown off in a movie or video game might not faze someone, but I rather doubt that would be the case if they saw it in real life.

But not to downplay the emotional connection between a film and a person watching it - because there certainly are films that feature graphic scenes of violence which are very shocking.

I hear you. However its all about degrees. For someone who never watched graphic violence in games and movies any violence may seem shocking, yet to someone who has watched many violent movies or taken somene out with a rusty pipe in a video game they may not be as disgusted by it. Again we are all generalizing because its true for the majority, but I played manhunt and got satisfaction out of being creative with the way I killed people. Doesn't mean I am gonna act out though. Maybe the stable home environment, lack of violence and aggressive behaviours from my parents and peers helped me turn out ok.

Slightly O/T but there was a story recently about how kids who are "addicted" to videogames are not addicted in the traditional (biochemical) sense - as with alcoholics or smokers, but rather that their problems are social in nature (i.e. that they obsess over games because thats all they have in their lives) and would benefit from therapy that encourages them to be more socially outgoing.

From what I understand thos ethat commit these atrocities are usually socially inadequate. Combine that with some desensitization, a trigger event (bullying for example) and a means to carry it out. And roberts your fathers brother!