Soak up and Slash out!

Nobody expected 9/11 despite all the precedents set in the media

Isn't it a little demeaning to tell us as a race that we are categorically subliminally influenced by the violence we perceive in the media?

Yes there are thousands of thousands of films out there that are as some may say "no holds barred, adrenaline fuelled thrilled rides that only exist to express a conceit of violence. Kill Bill, the evil dead, jack ass, anything by Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude, Steven Segal etc. and generally anything that is typically shown on five US. Films that just show us how cool it is to round house a guy unconscious.

Is there any point to it? Let's face it we are violent beings, it's an evolutionary imperative. Fight or flight. Live or die. So is all the violence we see in the media really turning us into mindless zombies . Yes sure if we only focus on the death and destruction side of things. We are violent there's no denying it but letting that single trait define us and let it be how others define us really does turn us into mindless zombies.

There's no doubt that high violence video games like DOOM certainly had an effect on the kids at Columbine, but did it really define there actions? Should we forget about all the wars and massacres and all the terrible things humanity has shown itself capable of simply because of the possibility of it happening again. After lest we forget what has come before we can't prepare for is still to come?

NO-ONE predicted 9/11 despite all the aircraft high-jacking precidents set in the media and popular film, but that had a flip-side to in that no-one could have predicted what happened after that tragic day. I remember exactly where I was that day in 2001, stood in the teachers lounge at my secondary school staring in disbelief at the atrocity on screen. No doubt it was a heinous act but I never understood the response...the invasion and sacking of countries before then I had never heard never mind understood why it was so important to invade these countries to maintain peace...how oxymoronic. Eye for an eye and the world would be blind but no doubt we would still find a way to fight.

It's interesting how people tried to explain the actions of those involved in Columbine by passing it off as being the media's fault and them being exposed to too much aggression and violence through gaming. Nobody, tried to explain away 9/11 with such pretences. Nobody said " those guys were watching too much Executive Decision and Air Force One before deciding to do this " Religion is usually justification for a lot of the terrible things in the world, but only when that side comes out on top, obviously.

The notion that screen violence can lead to copycat behaviour is now so familiar that it has been the subject of various television fictions, from episodes of The Simpsons to Law and Order, subject to it's own mockery and exposition. You either believe that from violence begets violence, or that viewing violence can in no way automatically cause a person to be violent, a mindless zombie only subject to a cause and an effect. There's no hedging your bets in this debate, despite the fact that we know more about the dark side of the moon than we do about the human brain and the formation of consciousness, society and the media in particular wants you to take a side on the debate. In science if you come to a conclusion without basing it on solid results we see it as speculation but yet we are expected to take a side on screen violence with no such guarantees.