Do you think movie scenes like this one could be partly responsible for mass shootings?

[AZ Progressive]

I can imagine certain twisted people being inspired with violence from movie scenes like this one:

Warning: pretty violent scene from the movie: "The Terminator":

[jberryhill]

1. What did it cause in Europe, Japan, Australia....

[freshwest]

2. You win the thread.

[Zoeisright]

3. No.

The US is the only first world country with gun massacres. We are NOT the only country to show these movies.

[AZ Progressive]

7. Combined with easy gun access. Twisted people in other countries can only dream of doing this stuff

Note that I said "partly" as in of course there are other causes. But this could be a contributing cause.

[hughee99]

9. Exactly! This doesn't happen elsewhere.

Not in Norway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks

or France
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/death-toll-in-gun-massacre-rises-to-13-1602941.html

or Austrailia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_%28Australia%29

or Scotland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre

or New Zealand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramoana_massacre

or Canada
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre

or Ireland (sorry, this one was a bombing, so it doesn't count as "gun massacre&quot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omagh_bombing

[JVS]

13. No we aren't. Germany has had a string of them over the last 12 years or so, even after stronger...

gun laws were made.

[Voice for Peace]

4. I was just watching an old episode of Alias and thinking

not that the shows are the cause of violence,
but they do make guns, the kind that shoot a
gazillion bullets, seem awesome and desirable.

TV and films have glamorized these weapons,
glamorized intense violence, desensitized people
as well.

Not a cause but a piece of the whole puzzle.
I think there are many pieces.

[JVS]

5. Just as certainly as this scene triggered a wave of liberating underaged prostitutes from pimps.

[Bjorn Against]

6. I think guns are a much bigger cause of violence

The data is pretty sketchy on whether violent media leads to violent acts, while being exposed to violent media certainly has an effect on people there is no evidence that the effect is ever so strong as to cause people to kill. When someone shoots up a school they clearly have deep personal problems and it is highly unlikely that violent media was the cause of those deep problems. That is not to say violent media does not have any effect, but it is probably only a tiny factor in a much bigger problem.

The fact is that the kids were not killed with movies they were killed with guns, no matter how many times the killer watched the Terminator he would not have had the ability to pretend to be the Terminator if he did not have guns.

[cynatnite]

8. I think we glorify gun use to an extreme...

It's unlikely to have caused the violence, but it certainly seems to have added to it.

[backscatter712]

10. Anyone who was going to go on a shooting spree is already fucked in the head.

If not Terminator, it would be something else. Maybe the Bible, maybe Little Red Riding Hood.

So excuse me if I'm unwilling to part with First Amendment rights because some psycho might derive some inspiration for a murder spree from a movie.

Easy access to guns - that's the elephant in the room we need to be talking about. Blaming violent media is a copout.

[socialindependocrat]

11. I think most people know right from wrong.

I think anyone who is "inspired" by movies and video games is
unstable to begin with.

Haven't you ever seen anyone on the street that you had a gut feeling that you should get away from them?

I'll bet the gun dealers will tell you they can tell who may have a problem with agression.
But the dealer can't not sell to someone without a reason (I don't think)

I'll bet womeone could come up with a written test that would give a good indication
of warning signs to limit the people "on the fringe".

You may not like that option but you come up with something better.

I worked at a state hospital
We had a guy that the cops brought in for observation who was caught sitting with the guard dogs at a construction site
He told me, the only reason the dogs didn't bite him was they knew he was crazier that they were.
He wasn't a bad guy.

Another man had confessed to killing an 8 year old girl they had found in a park.
He didn't do it.
He had a heart attack and lost his job and was depressed.
He wasn't a bad guy.

We had a guy who jumped up at breakfast and attacked the attendants with a knife and fork.
He could have been a bad guy.

I used to see two guys from time to time, passing thru my neighborhood, who had quit school at 16 years old.
They had tatoos that were made with a Bic pen.
You never quite knew what they were going to do and what was going to piss them off.
They were bad. They were scarey.

I think a lot of these people can be identified but if they haven't committed a crime what do you do?

[HiPointDem]

12. i think wall-to-wall coverage of mass shootings & pornographic obsession with the shooter does.

[The Midway Rebel]

14. Massive gun shootout? Your doing it wrong.

This is the grandaddy of them all.

1969 The Wild Bunch directed by Sam Peckinpaugh

And yes, I agree with your premise. I call it culture of empire.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

15. What no one seems to be understanding is

If a person is the type predisposed to violent tendencies, they will find their motivation in their mind. The least little thing can set them plotting. Usually, not anything that would stand out to a normal person. Actually, more often than not, if you've ever been around a person like that, you're in the dark as to what brought on their current bout of anger. The reason for this is it's something they created from their own warped sense of the world. They're not healthy, they don't react to stimuli like a normal person would. They don't think rationally, and they don't even usually think similarly to another person predisposed to violence. One person can think the government is out to get them and decide to blow up a building with a truck full of explosives to retaliate. Another can think the world is too evil for their family to continue living in and murder their wife and children. Another may see demons in their child try to carve them out. Yet another may think their parents are plotting against them, destroying their hopes for a future, and murder them and everyone they think was involved in the imaginary plot.

It's not rational. They don't think rationally. We're not going to find a rational reason for those types of situations. I'm sorry, but we're just not. Even if I do understand the motivation to try and find one.

Yes, if they have access to weapons there's a chance they're going to use them in an act of violence. If they've been trained to use them, there's an even better chance that they may use them against innocent people.

Where does this leave us? I don't know.