What Prompts Violence In Society?

Re: What Prompts Violence In Society?

Imo, violent video games are what people who end up being violent (probably) tend to play in order to relieve stress, until eventually it builds up so much that they just snap. I think that people see the games in a different way. They're assuming that it's the prime contributing factor in violence in teens, which it may be a factor of, but definitely not the main cause. I think that the violence you're referring to violence is caused by stress building up from work piling up from school, or a job, and having unstable relationships (e.g. abusive parents/guardians, breaking up with their girlfriend/boyfriend). Most people might handle the two better than others, which explains why violent adolescents are a minority, although it depends what kind of violence it is. With stuff like school shootings, I'd assume that they did it cause they got picked on, had tough relationships, etc. but with stuff like just little fights, it might be over something mutual, like money, or merely to boost ego (that's what I've seen alot of, anyway).


off topic, but did you make this thread because of the recent shooting?

Re: What Prompts Violence In Society?

No, but now that you mention it I probably subconciously did. I can't believe that the kid would've done that. His dad told me that he just randomly went downhill really fast.

Re: What Prompts Violence In Society?

Actually humans are inherently violent, and even more so in the past. We are less violent now, as opposed to when masses had less education.

Re: What Prompts Violence In Society?

If by events in the past, you're referring to various revolutions that have taken place, I would tend to disagree with you. Although I agree that the masses did have less education in that time, I do not feel that that is the main cause of their violence. In the instances of revolution there is always a group of people that has been either oppressed or unfairly treated. However, the only way for the people to make any changes would be to violently overthrow the current regime. In the past it has also been intelligent people that have been leading these revolutions; they're not idiots. Thus, the smart people were able to spur the mob into using violent means to get what they want, and then the mob mentality kicks in. So in the instances that you're referring to then I'd have to say that the people are not inherently violent, rather, they are just doing what they see fit to create what they believe to be a just society.

Please correct me if I'm wrong and you were referring to other events in the past aside from revolutions.

Re: What Prompts Violence In Society?

I agree with Massflavour and Maid. Humans ARE violent creatures, though today we control it, mainly because of the justice system, IMO. If you pissed off a Roman soldier, he wouldn't ignore it or try to talk to you, he would just kill you. Even today there is little "talking", as we can see with wars and fights. We killed Saddam for things that didn't even concern us (though I'm not saying he didnt deserve it, genociadal bastard). But it shows that we ARE, in fact, violent by nature. Think about it, how many times have you thought "I'd really liek to beat the **** out of / kill that guy", but known it would land you in jail, so you didn't?

I agree. People that play violent video games to releive stress will, with enough stress buildup, probably decide to commit an act of violence. If someone gets pissed and plays Grand Theft Auto to calm down, they will probably think something along the lines of "If that's just a game, what would it feel like to really beat someone to death?" and most likely choose to find out, especially if they have a warped sense of right and wrong, which is why people who hav ehad violence in their past, whether towards them, or have seen acts of violence, are especially likely to commit an act of violence.

Re: What Prompts Violence In Society?

There is no way to prove that the media has really contributed to the violence that we see these days. Through studies it has been proven that people were more violent a few decades ago as opposed to now. The reason for this may be because of video games rather than not, due to the stress relieving factor that games such as CounterStrike, Halo, and Grand Theft Auto offer us. These games allow us to get our stress out in violent ways without us really having to go out and commit the violent actions in real life.

We learn more through observation, as seen in the Bobo Doll experiment by Bandura. In the experiment, children were put with either an aggressive adult who is punished, an aggressive adult who is praised, or a non-aggressive adult (control group). The study found that kids who were with the punished aggressive adult were less likely to beat up the Bobo doll while the kids who were with the praised aggressive adult were more likely to beat up the Bobo doll. The control group varied according to the child.

Thus, we learn through observation. Perhaps the first kids who committed school shootings and other violent crimes were influenced by television, but other kids who heard and saw the repercussions of the actions were discouraged to commit such crimes for fear of the punishment.

Re: What Prompts Violence In Society?

I'll post in here what I posted in the Violent Video Games thread:





Violence has decreased since the early 90s, not increased. Devonin has stated that violence as reported on the news has increased 600% or something, but violence itself has decreased drastically.

So don't blame video games for an increase in violence that doesn't even exist.

Re: What Prompts Violence In Society?

I don't recall anyone saying it has increased.

In this thread, anyway

Re: What Prompts Violence In Society?

Ahem:

Re: What Prompts Violence In Society?

Did you read my post or are you just reiterating what I said?

Re: What Prompts Violence In Society?

oh okay I was hoping you'd correct me if I was wrong, lol

Re: What Prompts Violence In Society?

I was responding to Go_Oilers_Go and massflavour, not you. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Think of what I posted as corroborating evidence :P

Re: What Prompts Violence In Society?

Some people assume that ____s influence people to do x without assuming that their appeal to ____s may be in light of their eminent fate to do x. E.g. Say I shot a person and I like guns. I might like guns because I'm violent, but who's to say guns made me violent?

Re: What Prompts Violence In Society?

If, as some people argue, we are inherently violent but we control our violence through the justice system, then what is it that drives people over the edge?

This thread isn't intended to argue whether or not violence has increased or decreased; sorry if I gave the wrong impression. Rather, this thread was made to discuss what we feel are contributing causes to violence in society.