Violence in Movies

[retro]

Four Loko's are gross though

The Fruit Punch ones are freaking awesome! The rest are nasty though.

 

[itsmeJonB]

The Fruit Punch ones are freaking awesome! The rest are nasty though.

I had been drinking them before they became insanely popular, just for a cheap buzz

the fruit punch one tastes like robutussin, the only one i liked sort of was the orange soda flavored one

 

[retro]

I've never seen the orange flavored one... I've tried lemon lime, lemonade, blue raspberry and one other. I thought the fruit punch one tasted like alcoholic hawaiian punch.

 

[itsmeJonB]

I've never seen the orange flavored one... I've tried lemon lime, lemonade, blue raspberry and one other. I thought the fruit punch one tasted like alcoholic hawaiian punch.

When I started drinking them a couple years ago there was only 4 flavors

Fruit Punch, Orange, Uva, and Watermelon

I hadnt even heard of the lemon, etc ones!! you just blew my mind

 

[retro]

oh watermelon was the other one I tried... didn't think it was very good

 

[KimmyCharmeleon]

Kimmy I'm basing my beliefs on this matter off of my own experience in life, I know your upbringing doesn't determine your behavior because I behave nothing like the people who have brought me up, I know that your environment does not have to influence your behavior because I behave nothing like the people I grew up around, I know ones friends don't determine their behavior because I behave nothing like any of my friends, I know that Violent films don't cause violent reactions in people because I have watched violent films almost every day since I was a small child, now nothing any scientists tells me will convince me that my own personal experience in life is wrong, I know a person doesn't have to be a "product of their environment" because I am living proof of this.

So your beliefs are caused by your experience, in which experience is made of a multiple of things, including people and contexts and environments and numerous other things

I think you're a little confused on the meaning of 'product of surroundings'. No one says you WILL turn out EXACTLY like whatever you were exposed to. It's just likely you are to copy something when you're at such a young age, exposed to a COMBINATION of bad things and no morals are taught to you.

So if you're living proof that "you're not a product of your surroundings" because you are nothing like your friends and family, well wouldn't that contradict with me who happens to be a lot like my mum?
So tell me how that works? Wouldn't that make this whole thing just a matter of opinion?

The people who surround you can't tell you or force you to be anyone, but what goes on between you and them can affect you, in any/some way.

Here's a similar issue in terms of personal responsility

States are wanting to ban the caffeinated alcoholic drink Four Loko. Why? Because college students are being idiots with alcohol (gee, I never would have guessed), but they apparently need a scapegoat.

Here's the best part of the article though



http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-blackout-in-a-can-20101027,0,5150927.story

Why do we blame the beverage rather than the people that drink it? I swear, this country is going to drive me freaking insane eventually.Where is personal responsibility? Why is it that we have a need to blame everything but the people involved? Oh, it wasn't the idiot college freshmen's fault that they drank too much. No, it's the fault of the alcoholic beverage itself, and the company that makes it. It states clearly on the can that it has 12% APV, why does it comes as a shock that people can get really wasted off of it? Hell, I can mix passion fruit rum with some orange pineapple juice and not even taste the damn alcohol. Rum has a far higher percentage of APV, and can be mixed so you don't taste it at all, so theoretically you could get far drunker on it than you could on Four Loko.

We live in an age where we have to have something or someone to blame for people being idiots or having mental instabilities. A psychopath shoots up a school, and rather than blame the psychopath themselves, we have to blame the music they listened to, the movies they watched, the video games they played, the books they read, their upbringing, and the list goes on. Why don't we simply write these people off as being completely mentally unstable and they lost it. Chances are they would have lost it whether they listened to Marilyn Manson or Yanni, watched Shoot 'Em Up or The Back-up Plan, played GTA IV or Myst. But we just have to have something to blame. That's why I think these studies are biased and not really all that accurate. They're coming from the viewpoint that violence in movies and other areas begets violence that people act out on, so of course they're going to find data that supports their theories. On the flip side we have studies that come at the problem from the viewpoint that violence in those same areas does not beget violence that is acted out, so they have data that supports their theories.

It really all comes down to personal responsibility. When someone shoots up a college campus, is it the fault of the gun company, the movie studio, or the video game creator? No. It's the fault of the person that shot up the college campus, plain and simple.

Well doesn't that show that a lot of people believe in causes other than genetics?

If you ask me, about that article, I wouldn't just be pointing my finger at the drink, I would say it is the consumer's responsibility to drink responsibly, but the thing with causes is, there was probably something that caused them to drink it in the first place. Maybe it's the way they've been shaped and raised that's made them become risk-takers engaging in this type of behaviour. And something that caused that thing to make them want it, and something that created the drink. I don't know, you really want to play the blame game you have to go way back, and there's no point, so many things other than just ONE factor affect things.
Let's face it, the average human doesn't like taking responsibility or blame for something, you see people do it all the time. It's self-serving bias. People will gladly say "Oh, that success was thanks to me" but will also gladly blame others for anything shit that happens. Typical really. Everyone wants to look tough I 'spose.

 

[dkwrtw]

So your beliefs are caused by your experience, in which experience is made of a multiple of things, including people and contexts and environments and numerous other things

I think you're a little confused on the meaning of 'product of surroundings'. No one says you WILL turn out EXACTLY like whatever you were exposed to. It's just likely you are to copy something when you're at such a young age, exposed to a COMBINATION of bad things and no morals are taught to you.

So if you're living proof that "you're not a product of your surroundings" because you are nothing like your friends and family, well wouldn't that contradict with me who happens to be a lot like my mum?
So tell me how that works? Wouldn't that make this whole thing just a matter of opinion?

The people who surround you can't tell you or force you to be anyone, but what goes on between you and them can affect you, in any/some way.

yes I agree that at a young age a person is influenced by their surroundings, but as we grow older and begin actually thinking more for ourselves we grow out of that IMO, we begin to have our own Ideas of what is right and wrong and how things work, at this point in our lives now that our brains are developed and we've matured into adults then our interactions with people can only really affect us if we choose to let them. I can't explain why you are like your mother and I am not, we're two different people. And yes Kimmy it is as you say, this whole thing is entirely just a matter of opinion, obviously neither one of us truly KNOWS the answer to this, nobody does, I know that I myself am not a product of my environment, I am a product of my own Will, I am who I want to be and not who I am "supposed" to be based off my upbringing, obviously I can only speak for myself but I don't think I'm that unique, surely I'm not the only one who didn't turn out the way their upbringing says they "should" have turned out.

 

[Keight]

I honestly beleive its the individual. I mean violence on tv can be blamed for an act as a scapegoat for "its ok to do it he saw it on tv" Its kinda pityful when you think about it.
I do however, beleive it shapes the opinions and feelings we have by giving us the idea to begin with (if that makes sense)

 

[dkwrtw]

I honestly beleive its the individual. I mean violence on tv can be blamed for an act as a scapegoat for "its ok to do it he saw it on tv" Its kinda pityful when you think about it.
I do however, beleive it shapes the opinions and feelings we have by giving us the idea to begin with (if that makes sense)

I agree an already violent person could get an idea from something he/she sees on TV, but a regular person with no history of violence isn't just gonna snap because he saw a violent film.

 

[Keight]

Thats right

I was going to rep you but i cant so youll have to wait until next time.

 

[dkwrtw]

Hey thanks, it's the thought that counts!

 

[FreightTrain]

Before this became a "Choose whose side you're on" debate there were some valid points. This thread started with open-ended questions, but it seems some aren't open to others opinions. Ed and Kimmy are correct about learned behaviors and the importance of environmental influence. That doesn't mean if your dad was physically abusive that you're going to be abusive to your own children. If your dad abused you there can be a variety of ways that you'll turn out. People have the ability to reason. You could turn out to be an abuser. You could be in the forefront of a charity that helps those who were abused. You could grow up with a fear of people who seem to be like your father. You could develop a propensity to seek those who remind you of your father. There's many factors that decide how one reacts to a particular environment, but you'd better believe that being abused will affect you and your future decisions differently than one who hadn't experienced any abuse.

Back to the original scenario of violence in movies and games. Obviously, we live in a society that is far different than what it was 50+ years ago. Cable tv didn't exist and video games weren't even dreamed of yet. Many people weren't exposed to violence on a daily basis or even weekly or monthly. The reality of violence of that frequency only existed in low-income neighborhoods or at war. If you want to make a comparison of how violence affects someone ask a Vietnam vet and compare it to a young soldier in Afghanistan right now.

Every member on this site has grown up around violence in tv and movies and games so naturally there's going to be an extreme bias. Does that mean everyone on here is going to become a murderer or an abuser? Of course not! Probably everyone here has viewed pornography, does that make us pornstars?? Maybe some dream it does.

There are many factors that determine how one's moral compass will operate and change over time. Would you allow your 5-year-old to beat up anyone who makes him angry? Would you let him hit you or your spouse? Did you take your 7-year-old daughter to get a tattoo for her 7th birthday? Why or why not?

 

[dkwrtw]

You're comparing fighting in a war, being forced to kill and watching your friends die around you to watching a violent movie on TV? that is just RIDICULOUS bro.

 

[itsmeJonB]

My friend's PTSD is triggered by war movies, not violent movies in general

 

[dkwrtw]

My friend's PTSD is triggered by war movies, not violent movies in general

as I said, a person who is already mentally unstable could be affected by violent movies, a person with no mental illness will not be.

 

[FreightTrain]

You're comparing fighting in a war, being forced to kill and watching your friends die around you to watching a violent movie on TV? that is just RIDICULOUS bro.

That wasn't my point at all. The soldier who fought in Vietnam grew up in the 50s--prior to violent games and tv. Ask that person who probably was hardly exposed to any violence real or not and then ask the soldier of today.:thumbup

 

[dkwrtw]

Real life violence can obviously have an effect on a persons Psyche, I'm not convinced at all that fake television violence can have any effect on a mentally healthy person.

 

[FreightTrain]

Real life violence can obviously have an effect on a persons Psyche, I'm not convinced at all that fake television violence can have any effect on a mentally healthy person.

And you never will be convinced otherwise because of the bias. Violent video games existed before you were born! And movie and tv violence hit its peak when you hit puberty!

 

[dkwrtw]

the fact that violent games and movies have been around since before I was born means WHAT?

 

[itsmeJonB]

Mortal Kombat was pretty cool, but it didnt come out before I was born