Baseball Player Killed Because Kids "Were Bored"

[Lee-Lee]

98. I think the number of sociopaths is the same, but conditions around them have changed

People killed people 20 years ago, 50, even 100.

Some did very horrifically.

But I think more and more people see graphic violence in the media and in games that you never saw before, and some people who are chemically/mentally already prone to disconnect more easily become so. I think if you add in the changes where there are fewer social systems people belong to that have a cultural pressure to "behave", it makes such behavior even easier.

So it is easier or more likely for those who are marginal to cross the line.

Not an easy question to answer.

There is a book entitled "On Killing" by Dave Grossman, who is a psychologist who has studied how militaries train people to overcome the basic human resistance to killing another human, along with the psychological effects that come from taking a life. It was required reading in the department I worked in. It is, while morbid, a very fascinating book. One thing he lays out is just how much some media and video games mirror the conditioning used in military training to overcome normal human resistance to killing.

It doesn't have all the answers, but it is worth reading to try and understand some of it.

http://www.amazon.com/On-Killing-Psychological-Learning-Society/dp/0316040932

But, on the flip side murder in this country peaked in the 80's and 90's and is now down close to the levels of the early 60's- so something society is doing is different....