Does Exposure To Violent Images Cause Violence In Society?

[Tumbling Dice]

Do you think that violent images in television, film, video games and pornography create a culture which encourages violence in society, and what if anything should be done about it?

[imaginary friend]

I'm sure it does to some degree. Establishing just how much, however, would be difficult to impossible. Not having such an information baseline makes prescribing a course of action more than a little bit tricky.   

[Bads316]

Maybe, depends on the individual much like everything else. It's not as if we weren't violent beings before these things. 

I do feel that games, movies and music get way too much blame for societies ills, I think the media who present such stories have far more responsibility for societies actions than any form of entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etUyQPyL5JE

I've played violent games for decades, been watching Die Hard and Alien since I was 8. Never ever been violent towards anything or anyone. Same goes for pretty much every person I know. 

[HyperU2]

Japanese comics and video games are ultra violent, Japanese culture is not.

[KitCat]

Does feeding Christians to lions and public executions make a more peaceful society?

Being human makes you violent, higher reasoning negates it. The problem is when that higher reasoning no longer functions, either though mental illness or other impairment, and society doesn't have the ability or the will to recognise this and provide adequate support to individuals in order to prevent violence from occurring in the first place.

My parents taught me right from wrong, reality from fantasy, and I understood; if I had at any stage displayed signs of difficulty in grasping these concepts then my tribe (family, friends, teachers etc) would have intervened.

In reality, we're probably not exposed to more violence than we have in the past, we just no longer feel a responsibility to our fellow tribe members. Take the Jimmy Savile case for example, supposedly everyone knew he was a paedophile, yet no one said anything; reporters even knew and yet they didn't expose him, why?

More mental health support and less pious judgement. 

[Starman]

Hardly. People blame movies and video games and such way too much.

[Droo]

I've played violent video games and watched horror movies since I was young, and I'm pretty much a pacifist.

[Inishfree]

Maybe, depends on the individual much like everything else. It's not as if we weren't violent beings before these things. 

I do feel that games, movies and music get way too much blame for societies ills, I think the media who present such stories have far more responsibility for societies actions than any form of entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etUyQPyL5JE

I've played violent games for decades, been watching Die Hard and Alien since I was 8. Never ever been violent towards anything or anyone. Same goes for pretty much every person I know. 

Good point.........I tend to like political thrillers and action films (James Bond).  I have never owned a gun. 

I think America needs to focus on mental health issues and making it much easier for those who suffer from it.  To recieve the proper help.

[So Cruel]

Unfortunately there has been violence in society's from the beginning. The difference is that in the last 40 years some societys allow civilians to have weapons that can kill dozens at a time. Before modern era guns it would be pretty hard to murder 26 people (or more) at once.

[Inishfree]

Unfortunately there has been violence in society's from the beginning. The difference is that in the last 40 years some societys allow civilians to have weapons that can kill dozens at a time. Before modern era guns it would be pretty hard to murder 26 people (or more) at once.

Excellent point.

Where as you and I could watch a "James Bond" film.  Know it is fiction and would never act upon it.  There are some whom suffer from extreme types of Mental Illness.  Who cannot make this call.

[So Cruel]

Unfortunately there has been violence in society's from the beginning. The difference is that in the last 40 years some societys allow civilians to have weapons that can kill dozens at a time. Before modern era guns it would be pretty hard to murder 26 people (or more) at once.

Excellent point.

Where as you and I could watch a "James Bond" film.  Know it is fiction and would never act upon it.  There are some whom suffer from extreme types of Mental Illness.  Who cannot make this call.

I don't even think you can point at games, TV, movies, etc... Those things have only been around for less then a century. Wars, murder, violent crime, etc...have been going on since the beginning of man. There are humans who are weak, who are greedy, who are jealous, who have mental illness, who are angry....These things have plagued mankind forever, and some of these people have acted violently. The problem now is that we are so technologically advanced that these people have access to weapons that can kill dozens in moments.

[MLP Midnight]

Unfortunately there has been violence in society's from the beginning. The difference is that in the last 40 years some societys allow civilians to have weapons that can kill dozens at a time. Before modern era guns it would be pretty hard to murder 26 people (or more) at once.

Excellent point.

Where as you and I could watch a "James Bond" film.  Know it is fiction and would never act upon it.  There are some whom suffer from extreme types of Mental Illness.  Who cannot make this call.

I don't even think you can point at games, TV, movies, etc... Those things have only been around for less then a century. Wars, murder, violent crime, etc...have been going on since the beginning of man. There are humans who are weak, who are greedy, who are jealous, who have mental illness, who are angry....These things have plagued mankind forever, and some of these people have acted violently. The problem now is that we are so technologically advanced that these people have access to weapons that can kill dozens in moments.

Not for nothing, but say 30 years ago, did all these crime dramas involving crazed killers and psychologically disturbed individuals, as well as the enormous abundance of first person shooters exist? I'm sure they don't help the cause.

I read in the paper about how he (Don't want to refer to him by name, I'd rather try to remember the victims than the murderer) was basically obsessed with Call of Duty, and had military gun posters and such all over his downstairs area where he played.

[briscoetheque]

I'm not sure media coverage, video games etc promote violence, but they do desensitise the public to it somewhat. With desensitisation comes apathy or acceptance, and with either of those they are not strong enough platforms to campaign on, and subsequently address.

[striker]

Here's a good Carlin quote which should answer this pretty well:

"They try to blame movies and TV for the violence in this country. What a load of ####. Long before there were movies and television, Americans killed millions of Indians, enslaved millions of blacks, slaughtered 700,000 of each other in a family feud, and attained the highest murder rate in history. Don’t blame Sylvester Stallone. We brought these horrifying genes with us from Europe, and then we gave them our own special twist. American know-how!"

[Starman]

^an example of how brilliant George Carlin was.