Why Culture Is Never Responsible for Mass Murder

Esquire ^ | 12/22/2012 | Stephen Marche

[Larry Lucido]

It was this.

[Joe 6-pack]

Marche is almost breath-taking in his sheer stupidity.

And his hypocrisy. The same guy who is now saying Hollywood doesn't influence behavior wrote this essay last January, stating:

"Advertising works: Why do you think Americans are so fat and in debt? A world of hyperadvertising in which advertising dominates the basic functions of living will obviously be a world of hyperconsumption. We've blamed the bankers and the government for the inability of Americans to keep within sustainable limits, but everything ordinary people do, from walking down the street to sending an e-mail, tells them either overtly or clandestinely to spend more...advertising intrudes more and more surreptitiously into every aspect of life...as social-media companies dream of a world in which the persuasion is so subtle and insidious and constant and perfectly pitched that the distinction between a brand and an identity dissolves entirely, advertising has become too essential to life to treat so casually or contemptuously."

But now, 11 months later, he concludes that Hollywood doesn't influence behavior.

[Strategerist]

In the 1800's, there were no background checks, no waiting periods, no age requirements, gun locks did not exist, there were no arbitrary gun restrictions, gun safes were few and far between, yet school shootings NEVER happened.

Don't have school-shooting rates but the murder rate in the 1800s in America was a lot higher than it is today.

Last time I checked there were no Tarantino movies or Call of Duty games in 1850.

[y6162]

Nonsense. The violent Hollywood porn wave and the ACLU protected monsters commit mass murders. Not legally purchased guns.

[y6162]

There have been many mass murders in Europe most notably the school shooting in Scotland and camp shooting in Norway.
Committed by mad men. No evidence. duh

Comparing European culture to America is an intellectually lazy tactic.

[AllAmericanGirl44]

Believe me, I know this! I live in Chicagoland, so this is nothing new to me.

I was attempting to point out the nonstop hypocrisy...

[Alaska Wolf]

I live in Chicagoland,

At least you have the Cubs. ;^)

[Psycho_Bunny]

“He provides the evidence that other countries watch the exact same movies (and have even more violent locally-produced movies) and play the same video games, but are far less violent.”

Apples to oranges. The other countries can’t identify with the fundementals of the culture being portrayed and will - of course- be less effected by it.

But you’ll note, many foreigners actually believe our culture is how it’s portrayed in violent movies.

[Wuli]

if the argument that the media culture has nothing to do with a proliferation of demented mass killers, then

is there really no correllation at all with the ban on broadcast media advertizing for cigarette/cigar/chewing tobaocco products, together with the entertainment media’s carrying the tobacco-is-bad meme into every form of entertainment

and the very large decline in smoking???

or is the uber-Liberal entertainment and advertizing industries simply a bunch of hypocrites, with positions of “cultural promotion is not the problem” when it suits them and “cultural promotion is the problem” when it suits them

[vbmoneyspender]

Don't have school-shooting rates but the murder rate in the 1800s in America was a lot higher than it is today.

And the murder rates in the 15th and 16th centuries were much higher than they were in the 17th and 18th centuries - which would indicate that murder rates aren't tied to the lethality of available technology but rather to how civilized people are and how able they are to control their violent impulses.

Long-Term Historical Trends in Violent Crime