Columbine, a model for the new world.

And the computer game will be blamed again.

It's an easy answer.

It's as much a symptom of something more basic as the shootings themselves.

Blaming this sort of violence completely on computer games is overly facile but life immitates art as much as art immitates life.

We have a culture of violence and we reap the whirlwind.

Unfortunately, this could become a long long thread

Yesterday, a sick, sick bastard killed little innocent school children
from the Amish community. He killed 5 girls and critically wounded
5 others. I am at a loss for words, and saddened by such violent
outbursts people seem capable of. They found KY Jelly in the classroom
where that monster shot the kids. I could vomit just thinking about it.....

How many children have to die before a national gun contol
will be finally enacted?

Whuke I think that is true, I do think that rehearsal and preoccupation with crimes such as these, such as that possibly provided in such a video game, is frequently a part of the move from thought to action.

Certainly, if working therapeutically with someone, if they began to focus a lot in their thoughts about such a crime I would be on super alert...(and alerting authorities, especially if they had any accesss to weapons, and warning any institution on which they had become focussed) and in planning with clients who have sexual behavioural problems I am helping them work very clearly on acting to stop preoccupied thoughts about doing something.



I would see preoccupation with such a game as a clear aid to moving towards commission of a crime for some people.

I do not think we can blame the game, as such, but it sure wouldn't be helping. Violent fantasies have a fabulous assistant in such a "game."

I joined just to reply to this topic.

This unnecessary violence is sickening. I think we're all in agreement about that.
But I'm very.. not touchy but defensive, for lack of a better word, when it comes to the topics of music and computer games and their effects on people (or wastes of genetics really) who do these crimes.

I've been raised around violent computer games my whole life. I was playing Doom, Quake, Hexen and Duke Nukem before I was 10. I've also been listening to heavier music from a young age too.
Right now I'm listening to KMFDM (one of the favourite bands of one of the Columbine shooters).
But despite all these factors in my life, I have never been tempted to go kill people. I have never seen glory in these acts.
I'm not saying that violent games, music and movies don't have any effect on these people, but it's not the only factor (which some people in this world prefer to believe).
In my opinion, it also comes down to how the person was raised, what environment they grew up in and how mentally stable they are.

Shadowed Angel, how old are you now?

I'm 17

Good post, Shadowed Angel. But see what dlowan says above. While violent games and suggestive music are not necessarily the causes of anti-social behavior, they can be triggers for such behavior for people who are already prone to act inappropriately. You or I play such a game and it has no adverse effect on us. A homicidal nut does so and it's the one factor which decides whether this afternoon he'll go down the street and have a Coke and a burger or whether he'll load up the Manlicher and take a walk to the playground. The trick is to identify and isolate such people early on.

Yes, but to be triggered in that manner would have to be caused by some mental issue.
As you said, if you or I play such a game and it has no adverse effects on us. That's because we are mentally stable and adjusted enough to separate a fun game from a sick fantasy. We know that we shouldn't go out there and kill people, and we don't.
These people seem to play these games and create a fantasy world of their own where killing people is okay, or they don't care about the negative effects that their actions have. And I believe that comes down to how mentally stable and healthy they are.

Yep, you've got it! That's what dlowan meant.