To what extent can violent imagery (in films, video games, etc.) make someone violent?

The thing is with the internet our violent video games and movies go all over the world in a instant. But still no uptick in mass shootings in Switzerland or the U.K. or Germany or Australia, or New Zealand, or….....

So what was a convenient excuse after Columbine no longer holds water.

It is almost like guns might be the problem.

…or people in the United States are fundamentally flawed with a tendency for violence and should be put down like a pit bull that just bit the neighbors kid.

…or if it is simply mental illness why do we have more mental illness? What can be done about that that?

I often wonder what impact the US being in a constant state of war for over 20 years is playing on our youth.
These children know nothing other than living in a country whose only solutions to conflict is through violence.
When our society knows no other way, I imagine it will impact our youth.
Add to that, the tension between the left/right that has been created. This affects adults and puts many of them in attack mode against each other. Of course children will be impacted by this mentality.
I assume the same could be said for Middle Eastern children, who throughout their childhood, are subject to drone strikes, foreign occupation, and constant war. I believe they would have a predisposition to violence as well.

I think we’d have to admit to violent tendencies or rage issues before we can answer questions like these. I may have guns but have never killed anything other than flies or spiders, never been in a physical altercation ever.

My theory is that we have people raised by unqualified parents, that damage their kids. You either rise above that, or you don’t.

So a more interesting question is, will anyone here admit to violent, or rage? Then we’d have a more accurate test case.

I don’t think they really can. If you’re going there what about violence in movies or TV? Why do video games get some sort of special demonization? It could be perhaps that our culture sucks at making well adjusted, stable adults compared to basically every other civilized country

If there is an impact, it is from the viewpoint of it “normalizing” such things. Even glorifying. The bad guy gets shot by the good guy and everyone cheers. But from a normalizing point, if you see violence in TV shows, in movies, on the internet, hear it in your music…at some point it becomes normal…that is the way things are. They have to be…right? I mean if it wasn’t normal, would it be in so many outlets? Now, not all people are the same, so not everyone will be impacted the same way. But this is oftentimes the arguments from conservatives. If you stylize the violence, doesn’t it encourage such behavior? If your music is telling you to off the pigs or to slap the bitch and that is reinforced in your video game or in the movie you are watching, isn’t that encouragement? Don’t we do the same thing with homosexuality or trangenderism? Put it in as many outlets as possible to show it is normal and acceptable?

“Don’t we do the same thing with homosexuality or trangenderism”
Yeah, I don’t think people can be “encouraged” to be homosexual or trans any more than it can be “prayed away”.

@ARE_you_kidding_me 100% agree. The suicide rates alone prove it’s no walk in the park. Some people lose their families, some lose friends, some even lose jobs. My trans friend had to quit a job because the ‘guys’ were bullying him and it was getting dangerous. It’s actually really sad.

I play shooter games and I still cry when I have to kill a spider so you tell me.

@ARE_you_kidding_me I’m not suggesting they are being encouraged, I’m suggesting we are using the media outlets to influence society to accept these things. Instead of letting them be hidden or condemned, they are being put out there. We are even using the media outlets to castigate anyone that might have a differing opinion on those topics. I would suggest much the same influence happens with violence.

@seawulf575 Gays and transgenders should be hidden and condemned? Gays and transgenders aren’t “topics”. They are people who had no say in how they were born. This isn’t about differing opinions. If you have a bad opinion about innocent people, that is wrong. There’s no debate.

Access to guns is not new. They’ve been around and legal for a long time. I doubt guns are making people violent. What is new is the way we relate to each other. Social media has turned people into an icon. Violent games have made it acceptable to shoot icons. We have lost the family as an anchor for most kids and even marriage itself is a temporary state. If we want to understand why things have changed we need to look at those traits and tendencies that have actually changed.

I get this sense that people who get their feathers ruffled about the recent openness to gay and trans issues are worried that their kids will adopt that lifestyle because all the “cool kids are doing it” Not going to be the case.
This is much like in the 80’s when people freaked out over heavy metal as if listening to slayer made their kids satanic.
Same goes with video games and violence.

It’s not the games, it’s not really the guns either although it’s very easy to blame the actual implements. The problem is deeper, more ephemeral and harder to deal with. We don’t have a solid understanding of what is causing this to happen more frequently. I will say though that the media is indirectly glorifying it. That’s one contributing factor that needs to be remedied.

Eh, enough. I’m going downstairs to play Fortnite now.

I agree with @Jaxk. Most families have two working parents now or one overworked, single parent. I do wonder how this affects our children.

The varied responses seem to illustrate the problem: we don’t really know what the source of the problem is. We just know that there is a problem and that it’s getting worse.

Most statistics actually reveal that crime overall in the U.S. is down and continues to go down (some areas, like south Chicago, remain saturated with crime). It reached a peak in the 80s and 90s and has leveled out and declined ever since. Mass killings, on the other hand, have only increased in frequency and intensity. If violent media is accessible around the world, why are mass killings mostly an American problem? If we do have a higher incidence of mental illness, why? What is it about American society that leads to so much mental illness and such violent tendencies? Something has clearly changed. I’m inclined to believe it’s a combination of factors, that there is not one “boogeyman” we can blame for it all, but I’d be hard pressed to name all the factors. (I wonder if the same societal malaise that causes more mass shootings has also led to the uptick in drug usage. Crime may be down, but drug addiction is at an all-time high).

It’s often said that exposure to violence in movies and video games can desensitize a person. But if there’s anything that’s desensitizing me, it’s real-world violence. I’m at the point where mass shootings hardly faze me. There are so many of them that I can’t feel particularly shocked about any one of them anymore.

My experience as someone who has played violent games and watched violent films my entire life, and created them, etc., is that mostly they tend to cathartic outlets, and that some of them (realistic ones that include relatable characters being terrified and getting hurt and killed) they can also give an appreciation for the terribleness of actual violence in the real world, which all seems to me to greatly reduce the chances of actual violence by the people who play such games and watch such films.

Last night I met an extremely sweet Christian (as in, recently moved to a town to help a friend set up a new church with her husband) pregnant woman who likes watching others play computer games but mostly doesn’t play them herself, except she does like to play Grand Theft Auto sometimes, because it’s just so fun and satisfying to go on a killing rampage in a car, or to get a sniper rifle and kill a whole stream of police officers who come trying to stop her. She said she does sometimes see a group of pedestrians in real life and have a momentary thought about running them all down, but of course it’s absolutely just a funny idea. I know exactly what she means – none of my gamer friends are ever going to go on an actual killing spree, either. Unfortunately, some people who have never played such games and/or don’t relate to dark humor sometimes take such ideas seriously…

For example, I have also seen kids very angry at their parents for telling them they were not allowed to play violent games because the parents were afraid it would lead to the kids being violent. The kids expressed that they were horrified that their parents would think that about them.

For another example, Australia has overreacted and banned some violent video games, and I would say they have banned some games that should not be.

On the other hand, I think that there are some games and especially films which promote some ways of thinking about violence that I think are pretty awful and backwards. For instance the Death Wish films which are murderous revenge fantasies featuring extremely terrible villains as if the reality of cities is there are packs of inhuman murderers and rapists that the only solution is for someone to go do lots of extreme vigilante killing. I also don’t like the shows and games which make violence super-clean and positive and without consequences, so again it’s just good clean fun to shoot bad guys with guns etc. I think those do promote backwards attitudes to violence that I find disturbing and match some attitudes of some people whose attitudes to violence I find disturbing in real life. I think there may be some very angry people who have issues who might be encouraged and/or given ideas by such media, though I don’t know that they wouldn’t be just as dangerous without access to the media.

That could include young kids, though. I do think it makes sense for parents to be involved with noticing what’s going on with their kids’ ideas about violence and trying to limit what young kids are exposed to at what age.

I absolutely love how when I mention homosexuality or transgenderism everyone comes unglued. Folks, I’m not saying anything for or against that. I’m pointing out that media in our day and time is used to alter opinions. Let’s face it…even 5 years ago transgenderism wasn’t on anyone’s radar. Now it is. Again…I’m not saying good or bad…I’m just pointing out how when you flood the airwaves with things that promote it and castigates anyone with an alternate opinion, you are adjusting opinions of society. I’m suggesting the same thing could be true of violence, though maybe not as targeted.

@seawulf575 I understand what you’re saying and I agree. There is a concerted effort to normalize homosexuality and transgenderism (I’ve argued in the past that LGBT people would benefit from incorporating themselves into tradition rather than live outside of it). With violence, I don’t know there is such a focused effort; it does bring up a “chicken-and-egg” question, though. Is there more violence in the media because it reflects the desires of the people (who want to see violent movies and play violent video games) or are the desires of the people being shaped by the media? I would think there is a bit of feedback there. Violent imagery plays into a basal human instinct; I’ve often said that human nature hasn’t actually changed over time. Humans have always sought a cathartic violence, as @Zaku points out, but now perhaps the outlet is contained more in forms of media, than in say gladiator shows, public executions, duels, and blood feuds.

@Seawulf Please, don’t call it transgenderism. This is not correct. They are transgender. That’s it. And, I didn’t become unglued. When I read false statements about the transgenger community I like to share facts. This is how people learn.

Let me point it a different direction. We use advertising to help mold your decisions. There were tests done with subliminal advertising years back that showed that even a quick frame or two in a movie could be effective at influencing the minds of those watching. Our culture has filled its various medias with violence. How could it NOT influence us?

Or easy access to guns. How is this even a question anymore?

Opioids… I love the things. Do you think it would be unwise for the doctor to give you a big bottle of oxy when you make him your G.P? As a gift.. You don’t have to take them. But they are there if you ever need them.

As recorded in Steven Pinker’s book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, violence has been declining. People don’t appreciate how violent people were in the past. Maybe video games and movies provide an outlet for our violence.

OR THE FUCKING GUNS

I think there is an instinctive desire to control one’s environment, which includes aspects of nature (weather, availability of resources necessary for survival, et al.) as well as the behaviors of others. When attempts to control are frustrated, aggression is generated; consider the actions of a mother bear when her cub does not respond appropriately to her dictate.

Human offspring witness and imitate the mechanisms that their nurturers use to maintain control. By the time children are observing behaviors displayed by media (movies, TV, computer games, etc.) they have already been prepared to unconsciously/automatically respond with levels of aggression when prevented from satisfying their immediate desire.

The same “programing” dictates the child’s emotional response to people displaying different political, religious, cultural and sexual behaviors. The actions one observes others performing in life or represented in media can strengthen the likelihood of their unconscious responses and provide rationales to support them when consciously considered.

Raised in an environment where there is little opportunity to feel secure, the likelihood of failing to become socialized increases. The demoralizing effect of being isolated initiates self-destructive behaviors often imitating those of others with similar feelings who acquire notability from suicide or violent acts leading their being killed.