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Why the Media, not Guns, are Responsible for Mass Shootings
Depths of Pentecost ^ | February 17, 2018 | Philip Cottraux

Posted on 02/19/2018 7:15:10 AM PST by pcottraux

By Philip Cottraux

I had another blog planned for this week; but with the terrible tragedy that happened in Florida, I feel the need to try to inject common sense into the inevitable controversy surrounding gun ownership and its role in the recent rash of mass shootings. I was a high school freshman when the Columbine massacre happened, and experienced firsthand the devastating effects it had on schools nationwide. But the spiritual sickness infecting the US was never addressed, and what was rare then has now become a sad epidemic. We are now living in a world where mass killings just as bad or worse than Columbine occur every few months.

A man walks into a church and shoots babies at point-blank range. A lunatic enters an elementary school and guns down as many children as he can. A man perched in a high tower rains bullets down on concert-goers he’s never met. Welcome to the new reality.

The outrage is understandable. No tragedy seems to spur any action. Once the smoke has settled and the bodies are rounded up, one expects lawmakers to do something.

The back and forth of the gun argument also never changes. Cries from celebrities and families of victims for “common sense gun laws” reach a hysterical point for about two weeks. They’re met with gun ownership groups calling for mental health reform and trying to address a spiritual crisis without violating second amendment rights. Or that armed guards or staff could prevent any more school shootings. Some blame the NRA. Some blame violence in movies and video games. Some blame both. But in the midst of this stormy debate, nothing is ever actually accomplished.

As a gun owner myself, I would point out the lack of common sense over emotion. Calls for “common sense reform” never define what exactly that means (there are already over 10,000 gun laws on the books), and also seem to be making that call out of emotion rather than reason. Jimmy Kimmel isn’t using “common sense” when he cries and points fingers to an applauding audience that lives in the bubble of his own worldview.

Gun advocates rightfully point out that gun control would be ineffective, and we should pursue an actual solution to stop mass shootings. Gun control activists, on the other hand, want to hysterically ban guns or pass laws as coping mechanisms to create the illusion of safety while exacerbating the real problem. No new law will stop a mass shooting in a nation where hundreds of millions of guns are already everywhere.

Gun control groups, in their emotional activism, also never consider the long-term consequences of what they want. Theoretically, let’s assume that the second amendment is repealed and gun ownership is banned in this country. But as I just mentioned, there are already hundreds of millions of legally owned guns across the nation. How exactly do we enforce this? I can tell you that many proud gun owners boast and taunt “try to take them!” Charlton Heston summed it up when he said “Out of my cold dead hands!”

So let’s play this out logically. Not every gun owner would fight back. Most law-abiding citizens probably will surrender their firearms. I’m not even saying that those who fight back would win. But with numbers in the hundreds of millions, even a small percentage of them shooting at anyone trying to confiscate their firearms would be catastrophic. If SWAT teams armed with M-16s and bullet proof vests break into their homes, gun owners will probably lose. But they will be killed. And inevitably, so will many of their families. Wives and children will be shot dead in more than a few instances. Some SWAT team members will die, too. On a nationwide scale, this may not equate exactly to a civil war. But it will be one of the most apocalyptic bloodbaths in American history. All of the mass shootings combined will pale in comparison to the collateral damage from an attempt at real gun control in America. It’s not worth it.

Politicians know this, and Washington DC can’t afford the public relations nightmare that would follow. I’m confident that we will never see real gun control in America; and even if we did, it could never be successfully enforced. And this is real common sense.

But if gun control will never happen, and wouldn’t work anyway, what can we do about mass shootings? This brings me to my main point.

It would be very easy to make the clichéd argument that ultra-violent movies, TV shows, and video games have desensitized children. But there’s another, perhaps more sinister side to the equation that rarely gets mentioned. And it points the finger of blame not just to mass media, but specifically the major news networks. You see, the dirty little secret is that big corporate news organizations don’t want major tragedies like the Florida high school shooting to end. Because they’re good for ratings.

In the 1800s, a German author named Johann von Geothe published a popular novel entitled The Sorrows of Young Werther. The book was a soap opera-esque young adult fiction. Its popularity was so immense that young people around Europe went to parties dressed up as the main characters (fandom was a thing back then, too). But the book also has a dark legacy. It ends with the lovelorn Young Werther committing suicide. And wherever this fictional story was sold, suicide rates among the youth skyrocketed.

The legacy of von Geothe’s novel was so terrible that many European nations banned in from publication. But this chillingly fascinating phenomenon, known as the Werther effect, has remained entrenched in large-scale psychological persuasion ever since.

According to scientists, the Werther effect is more powerful than any of us realize. And it saturates mass media today. It can be used to sell products in advertising. But its dark legacy continues, usually unseen. It’s so potent that even a character from a low-rated TV show dying will lead to a spike in suicides around the country.

Media moguls have known this for years. But this reveals the underbelly of 24-hour cable news industry. We live in a day and age where big media have to create news to stay on the air constantly. It makes advertisers happy and keeps them paying big bucks. And the horrifying reality is that we’re paying the price with our blood.

Mass shootings are a classic example of the Werther effect. When one occurs, news media jumps on it and blows it up into the story of the year. This may sound cynical, but the drama makes for great television. And they know it. Aerial shots of teenagers lined up evacuating school. Reporters breathlessly giving word-for-word coverage. Interviews with victims. Sheriffs giving press reports. The screams of the dying. All brought to you by Lipitor.

But the most sinister heart of this slimy beast is the portrayal of the suspect. Mysterious past photographs. Interviews with neighbors trying to make sense of what happened. Mug shots. Instant fame. For the mentally ill, it depicts an irresistible notoriety. These stories are scientifically formulated to appeal the depraved to follow suit. Barely have the bodies hit the floor, and mass media is already subtly creating a news scape that will breed the next shooter. It is inevitable.

And they know it. Media moguls devote their entire lives to the psychological science of creating stories that sell ads and make obscene profits. Don’t tell me they don’t know the lethal consequences the Werther effect is having on our children.

While the NRA tries to come up with solutions that won’t punish law-abiding gun owners, news corporations profit obscenely from mass shootings, sponsored by big pharmaceutical ad revenue.

But don’t be deceived by the cries for “gun reform now” (I’ve noticed that just like “climate change,” “gun control” has a negative connotation, so the master manipulators are trying to rephrase the language to something more appealing). Even if they are being made from exploited families of the deceased. Big media are trying to reshape the landscape of our collective minds. Famous actors and left-wing activists want to us be more open-minded to “common sense gun laws,” which actually has nothing to do with common sense and everything to do with power. They are the totalitarians crying out for total control. The other side of this rainbow isn’t a peaceful world where mass shootings never happen and everyone lives together in harmony. It does, however, resemble Orwell’s nightmarish future from 1984.

The people who want gun control couldn’t care less about saving children; if they did, they would take a stand against abortion and Islamic terrorism. They want total control. No matter how many people have to die to get there. They live and die by one of Saul Alinsky’s foundational Rules for Radicals: the ends always justify the means. The cynical tyrant wannabes cry crocodile tears when a mass shooting takes place, but deep down inside rejoice gleefully at the opportunity to enforce total control.

So how can we stop more mass shootings? Here’s where I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But the only truly effective method will involve overturning the Werther effect. The media must stop covering them. End the fame and notoriety the mentally get when they mow down innocent people, and copycats will quit. Sadly, windfall profits the news industry rakes in from tragedy give me very little hope this will happen. Hunker down, America. The killing is not likely to end soon.

Stay aware, stay safe. No matter what anyone says, pray. It’s more effective than gun control could ever hope to be.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Miscellaneous; Religion; Society
KEYWORDS: blog; guncontrol; guns; media
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Source:

Cialdini, Robert. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. William Morrow and Company, NY, NY, 1984, pages 45-47.

****

I normally write about religion and Christianity (with emphasis on spirituality and apologetics) on my blogs, Depthsofpentecost.com. That said, occasionally I venture into current events and news as the situation calls for. I wanted to share thoughts on gun control and the role of mass media in tragic shootings in the aftermath of the Florida massacre and the revival of the gun control debate, which I am willing to share on FR. You can find more on the Archives page.

If you're interested in signing up for my mailing list, feel free to enter your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the side bar. You'll get an email every time I get a new blog up (every Saturday).

Thanks for reading!

1 posted on 02/19/2018 7:15:11 AM PST by pcottraux
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To: pcottraux

Three thoughts... One: #RustyIrony... the AR-15 is seemingly the official LibMedia weapon of choice for mass shootings. It’s all they talk about, and they’re glorified in movies by actors concerned with and who lecture us on “gun violence”. In these movies, the “good guys” (always armed) use them to destroy the bad guys (as it should be!). I wonder, how would many (most?) of these deranged shooters would even KNOW about the AR-15 and similar weapons if not constantly publicized by media. But they know the AR-15 is demonized by the press, so these demons choose it! Seems those losers who seek to be famous are willing to settle for infamous.

Two: media and Liberals proclaim in their constant demands for “something to be done”... that “weapons of mass murder” ONLY be in the possession of government... why spose that? In history the greatest genocides and holocausts have all been perpetrated by governments who have a monopoly on weapons. I guess Media/Libs want that to continue?

Three: as long as political posturing is the goal, there will be no dialog and no solutions, only yelling. Justathought or three.


2 posted on 02/19/2018 7:25:07 AM PST by FiddlePig (Who needs Truth & facts when you have narrative?)
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To: pcottraux

A lot of the media considers themselves to be the lower echelon of Hollywood...mini-celebrities.

Anything that reminds them of the movies sends a “tingle” up their legs and they go bananas trying to scoop all the other journalists. Those that miss the “scoop”, then go on for days with “think pieces” about the subject.

They all seem to have to give their personal opinion on every, single story. The more they preach, the more drama arises from the steaming pile of wastoid, journalistic mess.

The only way to win the game, is not to play. Don’t watch, listen to, or read and MSM.


3 posted on 02/19/2018 7:26:44 AM PST by FrankR (An armed society is a polite society.)
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To: pcottraux

If violence in films doesn’t promote violence, why did they ban smoking in movies?


4 posted on 02/19/2018 7:26:45 AM PST by Spok ("What're you going to believe-me or your own eyes?" -Marx (Groucho))
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To: pcottraux

This is the attitude behind a village’s raising of a mass murderer. If you haven’t seen it, you should.

Florida student to NRA and Trump: ‘We call BS’
https://youtu.be/ZxD3o-9H1lY?t=34s


5 posted on 02/19/2018 7:28:49 AM PST by familyop (President Trump said that we're all important, so let's do something!)
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To: pcottraux

Surely just as culpable is the medical industry that puts boys as young as 3 or 4 on mind-altering drugs. Psychotropic drug prescriptions are a common thread running through the histories of a vast majority of mass murderers.

Coupled with the thousands of deaths attributed to the use of prescribed opioids, the drug companies and the doctors who prescribe their wares ought to be severely regulated in their use on children.


6 posted on 02/19/2018 7:31:22 AM PST by txrefugee
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To: pcottraux

I am not to certain about holding the feet of the Obama/Clinton/Democrat Media, etc. to the fire relative blame for mass shootings at schools churches, concerts, parades, etc.

Nor, am I against any adjustment or change to Gun Control laws, mainly background checks and age requirements in order to obtain any “long gun”.

I am certain that these below listed, environments were almost 100% responsible for the murder and carnage of “innocents” that occurred in the Broward County ISD, in Florida last week. Here is the list of total failures that led to the murders of seventeen innocents.

- A failed Broward County, ISD leadership that did nothing to highlight the warning signs of an evil, mentally disturbed student.

- A failed multi FBI immediate follow-up, in fact no follow-up whatsoever, after being fully, alerted to the coming fatal danger at hand (FBI much too interested in “Russians, Russians” fake news). USA now has an DOJ/FBI with “Rogue leadership from top to bottom.

- The worst, however is Democrat, Congresswoman, Debbie Wassermann Schultz and her bosom buddy, Broward County Democrat, Sheriff, Scott Israel, whose left-wing led department missed obvious “tell tale” sings of the coming murders between twenty or thirty-nine times.

It really breaks my heart & soul that the voters of Broward County, Florida could ever support and vote for two incompetents such as “criminal”, Schultz and failed LEO, public servant, Israel. Rather then having their kids scream out for gun control...they should be screaming for and demanding for the removal & replacement of these two neglectful losers, who slept at the wheel of leadership as a mentally ill, left-wing Obamabot, nutcase planned his evil massacre with no barriers or roadblocks thrown in his way, from Democrat Party leaders. Sad!!! Go figure. Voters of Broward county are clearly not the sharpest knives in the drawer of reality and politics. My fear is the American Republic is dying right in front of our very own eyes.


7 posted on 02/19/2018 7:45:59 AM PST by JLAGRAYFOX (Defeat both the Republican (e) & Democrat (e) political parties....Forever!!!)
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To: Spok
"If violence in films doesn’t promote violence, why did they ban smoking in movies?"

Please explain your rationale for such an inane comment.

8 posted on 02/19/2018 7:51:30 AM PST by Buffalo Head (Illegitimi non carborundum)
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To: knittnmom

pfl


9 posted on 02/19/2018 8:09:22 AM PST by knittnmom
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To: Spok

Excellent point.


10 posted on 02/19/2018 8:14:42 AM PST by DivineMomentsOfTruth ("Thanking the Lord Jesus every day for President Donald J. Trump!")
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To: Buffalo Head

“If violence in films doesn’t promote violence, why did they ban smoking in movies?”

Audiences won’t pay to see people smoke..smoking bad, so it disappeared in the movies.

Audiences WILL pay to see “John Wick” shoot up the town. So the producers turn a blind eye to the violence, as long as the money keeps coming in.

By the time a child enters high school the child has witnessed thousands of murders on TV and or the movies. They are desensitized to the violence.


11 posted on 02/19/2018 8:30:22 AM PST by READINABLUESTATE ("If guns cause crime, there must be something wrong with mine." -Ted Nugent)
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To: JLAGRAYFOX
"Nor, am I against any adjustment or change to Gun Control laws, mainly background checks and age requirements in order to obtain any 'long gun'."

I am against any new federal legislation against our Second Amendment and will be writing to members of Congress and state legislators in advance to stop it. I will be sending a small membership fee to yet another pro-Second-Amendment organization and sending the NRA fee a little early. If the anti-freedom opposition gets an inch of success for their disrespectful effort, they will have been rewarded again for their incrementalism against families and freedoms.

This is what the cultural foreigners near our coasts did and what they're trying to bring to our whole country.

Fla. shooting suspect had a history of explosive anger,...
The Washington Post
By Kevin Sullivan, William Wan and Julie Tate
February 15, 2018
Cruz started throwing eggs at Speno’s car with no warning, Speno recalled. He and a friend chased Cruz back to his house. "We were pissed off, so we knocked on the door and his mom came out," Speno said. When the two told her what happened, Cruz’s mom had a strange reaction. "She said, ‘No, my son would never do that. He’s inside sleeping,’ " Speno recalled.


Deputies called to suspected shooter’s home 39 times over seven years
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3632591/posts


12 posted on 02/19/2018 8:37:56 AM PST by familyop (President Trump said that we're all important, so let's do something!)
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To: pcottraux

In the olden days a massacre massacre happens.
Day 1, all the locals know of it.
Day 5.T he county knows of it.
One month later the state capitol knows of it.
4 months later, Washington DC hears of it.

TODAY a shooting happens and it is known around the world within a minute, the blood dancers come out demanding more “gun control”.


13 posted on 02/19/2018 8:42:00 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Re-open the insane asylums, stop drugging the kids.)
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To: Spok

Back in 1970, smoking advertisements were banned on TV, so the companies put product placement in all the movies. Everyone smoked, or drank beer or sodas with the name on the can or pack clearly visible.

Has something changed now to not show smoking in movies?


14 posted on 02/19/2018 8:44:51 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Re-open the insane asylums, stop drugging the kids.)
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To: Buffalo Head

???

Yes or no answers only...

Does commercial advertising work? If not, then why do it.

Does cigarette smoking in films promote cigarette smoking? If not, why ban it?

Does “product placement” in films work? If not, why pay to have your product placed in them

Does violence in films promote violence?

It is a fair question.

If your answer is no, then it is on you to defend your position as well.


15 posted on 02/19/2018 8:52:41 AM PST by Ouderkirk (Life is about ass, you're either covering, hauling, laughing, kicking, kissing, or behaving like one)
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To: Spok; Buffalo Head; READINABLUESTATE

Only psychopaths will use fictional violence in movies or games as an excuse to murder innocent people. We’re human beings—not animals. We know the difference between real violence and fictional violence, no matter how “graphic.”

And violence done by righteous people for righteous reasons is good. Good soldiers, good police and all other good Americans know it.

Children of the past who grew up to be righteous and caring adults said, “Let’s play cops and robbers! Bang, bang! You’re dead! Let’s play army next!” We’re better than the counter-culture that advanced so much against our freedoms and thoughtfulness.

I’m a baby boomer who long ago saw the light of the generations before ours and followed it. American exceptionalism, yes. Realizing our superiority to animals with our ability to reason and change, yes.

Violent movies and firearms don’t make the maniacs or make them murder others. They should have had spankings, when they were small and first trying to rebel against paternal authority and disrespect it.


16 posted on 02/19/2018 9:01:23 AM PST by familyop (President Trump said that we're all important, so let's do something!)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

I don’t think it’s been totally banned, but it is highly critcized, the point being that there seems to be no argument that seeing people smoke in movies encourages the behavior, while the same effect of violence is denied.


17 posted on 02/19/2018 9:01:57 AM PST by Spok ("What're you going to believe-me or your own eyes?" -Marx (Groucho))
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To: Buffalo Head

Really? You don’t see any correlation?


18 posted on 02/19/2018 9:16:28 AM PST by subterfuge (RIP T.P.)
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To: Ouderkirk; Buffalo Head

Advertisements and movie characters did not lead us to smoke back then. We were only mildly annoyed by adults around us who smoked.

Enticements and pressure from peers pushed us to smoke. Some of those peers seemed compelled to try many things that were bad and were impulsive young people. They pushed their vices on others.

Notice the marijuana fad. There were no advertisements promoting it in the 1970s, except for a very few strange and boring movies that only hippy potheads flocked to. Yet it was all the rage and spread throughout much of the population of youth. During the ‘80s, there were many ads that said, “Just say no to drugs.” Look at the pot paradigm now, as a large part of the population of all ages is participating in the same old dope fiend fad and preaching it.


19 posted on 02/19/2018 9:19:24 AM PST by familyop (President Trump said that we're all important, so let's do something!)
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To: Ouderkirk
“Yes or no answers only...”

“Does commercial advertising work?” Yes

“Does cigarette smoking in films promote cigarette smoking?” Yes

“Does “product placement” in films work?” Yes

“Does violence in films promote violence?” Yes

“It is a fair question.” No, it is not. There is no reasonable relationship between the two.

Most enlightened people realize that the ban on smoking in theaters was instituted originally because of fire danger and the discomfort of other theater patrons. That was far prior to the current political correctness dogma.

P.S. The ‘second hand smoke’ hoax is pure B.S. propagated by the anti-smoking crowd. Dosage is the key factor with any medication or carcinogenic. The studies attempting to link the two are a phony as the Anthropogenic (Human Driven) Global Warming cult studies.

20 posted on 02/19/2018 9:25:30 AM PST by Buffalo Head (Illegitimi non carborundum)
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