Is the entertainment industry the primary reason for massacres?s?

[Bogan]

yes, Unsubrocky, there have been a lot of scientific studies linking real life violence to the entertainment industries, and they all agree that there is a link.

When President Clinton asked the US Surgeon- General, to have his department begin collecting data, to try and ascertain if there was link between violent entertainment and real life violence, he was told by the Attorney General that there was no need. All of the studies had already been done. 40 years of scientific research had positively proven that link. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists, had conducted hundreds of studies, confirming that the increasing levels of violence in young people had a cultural link.

Between 1990 and 1996, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the National Institute for Mental Health, and the American Academy of Paediatrics, issued a Joint Statement, in which they unanimously concluded that violence in the media contributed to violence in the real world.

The American Psychological Association (APA) report began "The scientific debate is over." The APA also testified before congress and stated " There is absolutely no doubt, that the increased level of TV viewing, is correlated to the increasing acceptance of aggressive attitudes and increased aggressive behaviour........Children's exposure to violence in mass media, can have harmful lifelong effects."

The American Medical Association (AMA) concluded in September 1996, "The link between media violence and real life violence has been proven by science over and over again."

Professor Leonard Eron, of the University of Illinois conducted a 22 year study which found a direct correlation between middle class children between the amount of violent entertainment watched and subsequent violent and aggressive behaviour. In a speech at the Harvard School of Public Health, he stated that literally hundreds of studies provide "convincing evidence that the observation of violence, as seen in standard evening television entertainment, does effect the aggressive behaviour of the viewer We found that the more violent the programs that the kids watched at home, the more aggressive they were in school."

Professor Jerome Singer, Yale Univeresity, "If you came home and found a strange man ..........teaching your kids to punch each other, or trying to sell them all kinds of products, you'd kick him right out of the house. But here you are, you come in and the TV is on, and you don't think twice about it."

[LearJet]

I've gleaned the previous posts and would like some further clarification if possible.

Many different factors can influence behavior, but exactly what is your definition of a "Massacre", and what types of massacres are you talking about?

Where?

When?

What sort of methodology or methodologies were involved?

Please be as specific as possible.

Tnx

[UnSubRocky]

Not this shit again. After researching this topic thoroughly for 3 years, I went from holding a view that watching television is not good because of the sedentary lifestyle is the activity. Then I switched over to thinking that perhaps the entertainment industry has made society better.

We are lulled into a mindset that the world is a violent place, because that is what we are exposed to on television. I can go for a walk every night of the week, and the only problem I encounter is watching people heckle me from their cars as I pass by them. Had I been at home, I probably would not have experienced this kind of harassment. If I was recorded getting hassled by these same motorists, you can imagine the viewers would probably be a bit angry at the motorists.

People react to what they see. And if they are concerned about what they see on television, they are not going out to create havoc among the citizens because they got angry at what they saw or heard on the entertainment media. They are likely to make time to formulate strategies of how to best handle the matter in a similar situation in future.

[J o h n S m i t h]

before TV men used to go out and attack neighboring tribes or villages.

[Bogan]

Yes, Unsubrocky, this shit again.

So, if I have you right (correct me if I am wrong), you do not think that the images presented or the messages transmitted by the media have any effect upon human behaviour?

Well, if you believe that, I presume that you would agree that alcohol and tobacco companies should be able to advertise in children's magazines?

[Bogan]

Lear Jet wrote

I've gleaned the previous posts and would like some further clarification if possible.

Many different factors can influence behavior, but exactly what is your definition of a "Massacre", and what types of massacres are you talking about?

The standard definition used in every dictionary.

Lear Jet wrote

Where?

You are unaware of massacres happening around the world? Like, you are kidding?

Lear Jet wrote

When?

There appears to be a lot of them happening in the USA lately. You had better get your head out of watching Beavis and Butthead and have a look around.

Lear Jet wrote

What sort of methodology or methodologies were involved?

I have no idea what you are talking about? Try submitting a reasoned argument instead of demanding answers to questions even a 8 year old can answer.

Lear Jet wrote

Please be as specific as possible.

Specifically, you seem to be a moron.

Lear Jet wrote

Tnx

What the hell does that mean?

[lisa jones]

Bogan .... why?

[Bogan]

Why, what?

[Bogan]

When one Hollywood movie depicted a young surfer having fun by standing on the roof of a moving train and "surfing" it, teenagers all over the world began to copy the stupid stunt and several were killed. One young man in Perth who tried it, topped his performance by urinating on the electric train roof. The resulting high voltage, direct current short circuit, completely bonded his nylon/cotton jeans to the skin of his legs.

The 1978, Vietnam war movie THE DEER HUNTER, had several scenes where Robert Di Niro and John Savage play Russian Roulette. In the months following the release of the movie, no less than 26 people in the United States alone, blew their brains out imitating the movie. One of the dead was a 13 year old boy who was playing out the scene with a group of adolescents. Another was Brandon Lee, the son of actor Bruce Lee. Brandon Lee killed himself at a movie studio where he was the lead star in a new action movie. He and a circle of other young actors decided to play Russian roulette with a six gun loaded with a blank bullet. He was so unfamiliar with firearms, that he did not know that the hot jet of gas from a blank bullet is lethal at very short range.

1996 saw the release of the ultra violent, Oliver Stone produced movie, NATURAL BORN KILLERS. This film promoted the idea that being a mass murderer was a lot of fun, and a great way to become a popular celebrity. Movie critics hailed the movie as a masterpiece and claimed that it was a parody on violence in the news media. They also suggested that anyone who could not make that connection was unsophisticated and not very bright. But the graphic images and disturbing dialogue in the movie, made this claim a nonsense. It was like saying the movie GODZILLA, was really about habitat destruction and biodiversity.

The movie showed a young couple having a wonderful time going on a killing spree. The male star, Woody Harrelson, openly discusses how great it makes you feel, to pick out people at random, and just kill them. They murder the girl's parents, killing her mother by tying her to a bed, dousing her with a bottle of fuel, then burning her to death. They abduct a young girl and tie her up, leaving her cowering in the corner of their motel room. Before Harrelson kills her, he openly discusses with his girlfriend in front of the terrified girl, whether he should kill her before or after raping her. The two killers drive down the road killing people at random and they laugh as they shoot a pushbike rider off his bike for fun. Later they enter a shopping mall just to mow down the shoppers. The movie also contained scenes of incest and bondage.

In Lousiana, a 19 year old woman and her boyfriend, went on a multi state crime spree after watching the movie 20 times. After comitting a string of serious crimes, they shot and killed a convenience store clerk, Patsy Byers.

When NATURAL BORN KILLERS, was screened in France, two separate, young couples who became obsessed with the movie, also decided to ape their heroes and commit murders. The final cost, nine dead, including one male offender and three policemen. Veronique Herbert, Florence Rey and Audrey Rupin, are now serving 25 to 30 year jail terms. Engaging in a bit of Gallic posturing, the French denounced the Americans as the corruptors of their youth, and banned the screening of this film throughout metropolitan France.

Similar phenomenon has been observed for many other movies, including BONNIE AND CLYDE, POINT BREAK, DEAD PRESIDENTS, HEAT, and GONE IN 60 SECONDS. In these movies, actual connections can easily be discerned where criminals and immature young people, have either used the storylines as scripts for their own behaviour, or they have copied the methodology used by the criminal heroes. The helicopter rescue of Robert Duvall from a Mexican prison yard, by Charles Bronson in the movie BREAKOUT, started a popular new means of escape for real criminals all over the world.

An exemplary incident of an inadequate, poorly socialised young man modeling his life on a movie script, was the furore surrounding the plot of the movie TAXI DRIVER. Robert Di Niro acted the role of a low status male who was romantically obsessed with a child prostitute, played by actress Jodie Foster. In order to prove his manhood and attract her attention, he attempts to assassinate the President of the United States. Loner and drifter Mark Chapman, who was romantically obsessed with Jodie Foster, modelled himself on De Niro's character and tried to impress Foster by attempting to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. He wounded the President and seriously wounded three of his aides.

Another movie noted for blurring fantasy and actuality is the movie DOOMSDAY FLIGHT. On December 3, 1966, NBC ran this made-for-television movie that had been written by 6 time Emmy Award winner and TWILIGHT ZONE creator, Rod Serling. The movie was a well written thriller about a disgruntled airline employee who (as usual) seeks revenge on his employers, by placing an altitude sensitive bomb on board a passenger airliner, then demanding a hefty ransom.

The show was a huge hit and one of the highest rating shows of the season. But within a week of the screening, airline companies all over the world began receiving ransom/extortion demands. Threats were made against Pan Am, Northwest, Eastern Airlines, TWA, National and Qantas. The Qantas extortionist, Peter Macari, (Mr Brown) was eventually arrested after he had successfully picked up the ransom money and escaped. He was only apprehended when people who knew him for the complete idiot he was, suddenly realised that he was conspicuously spending large amounts of cash.

Rod Serling, who had had serious reservations about writing the story, was personally devastated. He told reporters who interviewed him that "I wish to Christ that I had written a stagecoach drama with John Wayne instead." The causal link between art and criminal inspiration was confirmed 5 years later, when the movie was re-screened, and once again a wave of extortion demands followed.

Perhaps the most famous example of life imitating art is the incredible saga of the movie BIRTH OF A NATION, which is actually responsible for the creation of the Ku Klux Klan After the end of the American civil war, die hard Confederate soldiers began a campaign of terrorism against Black freedmen. One group pretended to be the ghosts of dead Confederate soldiers and rode around at night dressed in white sheets, killing, burning and lynching. This group was part of a social circle (kuklos Greek for circle), to which someone added the word clan as a suffix. The Kuklos Clan was highly organised for several years after the war. But it was eventually disowned by it's own leadership when it degenerated into a straight out criminal gang preying upon whites as well as blacks. Arrests followed and eventually the movement faded away.

All was good for the forces of light and reason for 50 years until 1915, when the block busting motion picture BIRTH OF A NATION, was released in Los Angeles. The movie was typical for films of this period in that it was silent and shot in black and white. But in other respects it was ground breaking. It was a 3 hour extravaganza backed by a full orchestra playing a powerful, evocative score. This movie was based on the little known and highly racist book THE CLANSMEN, by a Baptist minister, Thomas Dixon.

The book told the story of the period of Reconstruction after the civil war, with lurid tales of outrages committed by freed black slaves and black Union soldiers upon the civilian population of the South. The final scene in the movie showed white sheeted clansmen riding to the rescue in a mass cavalry charge, to the tune of RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES.

The movie was produced by D.W. Griffith and was steered around the censors by none other than President Wilson, a southern Democrat well known for his contempt of African Americans. It was a huge success and played to packed houses every night, despite it's steep $2 dollar entrance ticket. The effect of the movie was so profound, it prompted a surge of lynchings right across the entire United States. Violence and terrorism became so bad in the southern states, that it created the so called "great migration" of blacks from the south to relative safety in the north. The movie also created a desire to resurrect the long dead clan. By 1924 there were 4 million members of the new clan, now named the Ku Klux Klan and membership continued to grow until 1940. By this year there had been a series of serious, well publicized financial and sex scandals involving Klan leaders. In addition, the Klan's close connection with Nazi Germany also saw numbers evaporate. This film is an instructive example of the power of this industry to negatively influence the values, attitudes and behaviour of an entire nation.

In 1973, the Walt Disney Co. took the unprecedented step of removing a scene from a movie within days of it being released. The movie was THE PROGRAM starring James Caan. The movie depicted a scene where a group of young football players show how tough they are, by lying down on the centreline of a busy highway while cars whiz by around them. The media executives moved quickly to cut the scene from every movie house in the US, when one young man was killed and two others seriously injured in separate incidents, imitating the movie. Disney executives had to quickly remove the scene, not only from every copy of the film, but also from every other film who's coming attractions trailer included the offending image.

Making a virtue of necessity, Motion Pictures Association President Jack Valenti praised the decision by Disney to pull the scene a "A statesmanlike thing to do.". When pressed about the obvious connection between the tragic incidences and the movie, he replied. "I am not one who believes that a movie makes you do anything". Of course, movies may not make a wealthy, highly educated, intelligent and overpaid media lobbyist like Jack Valenti do anything. But there are obviously plenty of immature youngsters out there, who most definitely can be motivated to do things that are illegal, irresponsible and downright idiotic.

In the 1995 movie MONEY TRAIN, muggers rob the ticket booth of a train station after throwing liquid fuel upon the cashier manning the booth. They then throw a lighted match on her, setting her ablaze. You guessed it, in December of that year, two morons copied the incident in New York, and a rail cashier was burned to death. In 1979, a movie about violent youth gangs THE WARRIORS, was screened throughout the US. Theatre managers noted that entire youth gangs, in full gang regalia, trooped into the movies en masse to watch the show. When the movie was over, they then trooped right out again. Once outside, they started stabbing, bashing and shooting each other. Dozens were injured and three young men were killed.

When Sydney's Channel Ten TV station began a popular soap opera in the early 70's, an interesting social phenomenon occurred. The program was called NUMBER 96 and was set around the antics of an inner city apartment full of very sexually active young people. The actors in the show reported in media magazines, that people who saw the actors on the street, or in supermarkets, actually asked the actors if they could "get them a flat at number 96."

American actor Larry Hagman, who played the conniving Texas oil Billionaire "JR" in the soap DALLAS, was once attacked in an airport by a well dressed Texan lady. Swinging her handbag at him, she screamed. "How DAR you treat your sweet little wife like that!" These two incidents clearly show that even some "adults" are unable to differentiate fantasy from reality.

In the movie BAD BOY BUBBY, a son who is committing incest with his mother, finally murders her by putting a plastic bag over her head. He then goes on to be a rock star. The tragic sequel to this movie occurred on Perth, when a disturbed young man used the same, unique method to murder his girlfriend. Similarly, in the US, a young couple went the the Tom Cruise movie, INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE. This movie depicted Cruise as a vampire who had to drink blood in order to live. Two days later the young man stabbed his girlfriend seven times and drank her blood. The young woman only just survived. The male youth was arrested for attempted murder.

In California, two adolescents were convicted of murdering a disabled man by kicking, beating, stabbing and finally choking him to death. Before he died, the young boys obtained a container of salt which they poured on the dying mans severe wounds. When asked by investigating police why they had done that, one of the boys replied. "I dunno. I just seen it on TV."

In the early seventies, the dangerous stunts of professional motorcycle stuntman EVEL KNEVEL were widely publicised. For a short time, stuntmen, their work, and their lifestyles were glamourised in the media. Many TV stations produced shows screening clips of spectacular movie stunts, complete with their behind the scenes preparations. At this time, emergency room, medical personnel, coined the phrase EVEL KNEVEL SYNDROME, to describe the phenomenon of emergency rooms being swamped by the smashed, broken bodies of teenagers and adolescents. These kids had been seriously injured, imitating their heroes on trail bikes and pushbikes.

Emergency rooms were also seeing children being admitted with seriously burned faces, who had been immitating the dangerous "fire eating" stunts of the rock band KISS. Television programs depicting dangerous practices began to advise kids "don't try this at home".

After the release of the violent cartoon series TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, teachers all over the world were horrified to observe little children Karate kicking each other all over school playgrounds. When the teachers intervened and ordered the kids to stop, many teachers reported that the children simply did not understand what they were doing wrong. The kids believed that by imitating the TURTLES, they were engaging in normal, social interaction.
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In 1994, Lebanon reintroduced the death penalty "to serve as an example". The Lebanese conducted one double hanging, which was not only performed in public before a crowd of 1500, but was also televised on national television. Within days two children were hung by their playmates in separate incidents. Eight year old Suzanne Mohieddine was rescued in the nick of time by teachers at her school in the town of Taalabaya. Six year old Mahommed Said Younnes was similarly rescued by parents and resuscitated.

[UnSubRocky]

These posts are basically copies & pastes of what was written in PublicDebate 19 years ago.