"Active Shooter" video game lets you be school shooter

[G.T.]

GT's not a bad person. Despite my patient role modeling, he has not learned how to discuss an issue without giving his opponent an elbow in the ribs and a shove down the stairs. LOL

Let's agree to disagree about that. I think he's a very bad person and probably mentally ill. There are a lot of crazies on these forums, because they don't have much to do all day but spew venom on normal people.

I have come to think it's a boundary issue to let people talk with me who insult me or yell obscenities at me. People can't say anything they want and still get me to talk with them. I've come to think that's weak. I like discussion, but how much do we need it? Enough to allow someone to seriously abuse us?? Darn.

That's my decision. YMMV.

You're outta your fuckin mind

 

[Some Guy]

I am referring to the falling homicide rate (which could be entirely independent of anything about video games, for all we know now) but can't give you a link for anything ----- the idea that porn makes real rapes LESS likely knocked me over when someone speculated that a few years ago, no reference, sorry. Because, he said, they are sitting in their computer room with the porn doing it all there, and they aren't prowling the streets looking for women walking alone.

Yow, it made sense. It's at least a possibility to consider: I really don't know whether violent games and porn make real crime MORE or LESS likely.

Impossible to really tell. You can look at the correlation of less homicide along with more violent videogames and movies, but that ignores a lot of other factors that are going on. Continued diversity and integration of society, technology in general occupying people's minds, technology leading to better policing, less people subscribing to rigid forms of a religion and therefore less of a reason to see people as "the wrong people" and so on. All of which could explain why homicide is going down.

I found G.T.'s suggestion that the use of more profane language and taboo topics in mainstream culture taking the stigma and edge off certain language is an interesting thought.

 

[OldLady]

One for G.T.,
Here's what we know about the links between video games and violence

One for me:
Violence in the Media — Psychologists Study TV and Video Game Violence for Potential Harmful Effects

These aren't comparing exactly the same thing--the NBC article is about video games only, and although it is what sparked this discussion to begin with, I have been talking about media/entertainment as a whole, not only video games. Just remember, everyone, that I am not saying that every video game player who loves GTA or Active Shooter is going to become a mass shooter. I am complaining about an onslaught of violence in our entertainment industry. G.T. says it has no impact, since our homicide rate is falling. I believe part of that is improved trauma care. I'm glad he is optimistic about our country. I think we need to do more, is all.

 

[G.T.]

I am referring to the falling homicide rate (which could be entirely independent of anything about video games, for all we know now) but can't give you a link for anything ----- the idea that porn makes real rapes LESS likely knocked me over when someone speculated that a few years ago, no reference, sorry. Because, he said, they are sitting in their computer room with the porn doing it all there, and they aren't prowling the streets looking for women walking alone.

Yow, it made sense. It's at least a possibility to consider: I really don't know whether violent games and porn make real crime MORE or LESS likely.

Impossible to really tell. You can look at the correlation of less homicide along with more violent videogames and movies, but that ignores a lot of other factors that are going on. Continued diversity and integration of society, technology in general occupying people's minds, technology leading to better policing, less people subscribing to rigid forms of a religion and therefore less of a reason to see people as "the wrong people" and so on. All of which could explain why homicide is going down.

I found G.T.'s suggestion that the use of more profane language and taboo topics in mainstream culture taking the stigma and edge off certain language is an interesting thought.

At first, there's an attractiveness to boundary breaking when it pisses some people off, but doesn't hurt anybody.

Gangster rap was born.

Gangster rap still exists and all, but guess what happened? Rap itself as an art-form expanded itself into 300 sub-genres. There's "Christian Rap," now....there's what's called back-pack rap (suburban life rap, basically)............there's abstract poetry Rap....there's rock rap and even HARD rock rap....see what happened there? Open mindedness happened. Folks found out the art itself was.....kinda fun, sorta like movies and games. They expanded it 10, 000 different ways and still we have the stigma with the older generations: Rap is about guns and bitches.

The internet changed humanity. It was a forced reality that everything is not necessarily as smallish table-banter stereotypes would have you believe.

Chains are already broken, but some folks are holding onto them willfully.

The future is humans in a pod living in a reality where everything they experience is just as real to the senses as it is today, but minus the %-risk of mortality. That's just evolution.

 

[OldLady]

Many of the most popular video games, such as “Call of Duty” and “Grand Theft Auto,” are violent; however, as video game technology is relatively new, there are fewer empirical studies of video game violence than other forms of media violence. Still, several meta-analytic reviews have reported negative effects of exposure to violence in video games.

A 2010 review by psychologist Craig A. Anderson and others concluded that “the evidence strongly suggests that exposure to violent video games is a causal risk factor for increased aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and aggressive affect and for decreased empathy and prosocial behavior.” Anderson’s earlier research showed that playing violent video games can increase a person's aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior both in laboratory settings and in daily life. "One major conclusion from this and other research on violent entertainment media is that content matters," says Anderson.

 

[Circe]

I found G.T.'s suggestion that the use of more profane language and taboo topics in mainstream culture taking the stigma and edge off certain language is an interesting thought.

I didn't find it interesting at all: he was defending his obsession with grossly insulting everyone he replies to. See, if you claim it's great to detoxify bad language, then it's okay to do obscenity posting at everyone and they can't object: that's his game. Frankly, I think he's crazy as a hoot owl. There is a lot of madness on forums like this -- there always has been.

So then we are supposed to reply while letting him abuse and victimize us.

To that I say, in a pig's eye.


Your other points, I agree with.

 

[OldLady]

I am referring to the falling homicide rate (which could be entirely independent of anything about video games, for all we know now) but can't give you a link for anything ----- the idea that porn makes real rapes LESS likely knocked me over when someone speculated that a few years ago, no reference, sorry. Because, he said, they are sitting in their computer room with the porn doing it all there, and they aren't prowling the streets looking for women walking alone.

Yow, it made sense. It's at least a possibility to consider: I really don't know whether violent games and porn make real crime MORE or LESS likely.

Impossible to really tell. You can look at the correlation of less homicide along with more violent videogames and movies, but that ignores a lot of other factors that are going on. Continued diversity and integration of society, technology in general occupying people's minds, technology leading to better policing, less people subscribing to rigid forms of a religion and therefore less of a reason to see people as "the wrong people" and so on. All of which could explain why homicide is going down.

I found G.T.'s suggestion that the use of more profane language and taboo topics in mainstream culture taking the stigma and edge off certain language is an interesting thought.

At first, there's an attractiveness to boundary breaking when it pisses some people off, but doesn't hurt anybody.

Gangster rap was born.

Gangster rap still exists and all, but guess what happened? Rap itself as an art-form expanded itself into 300 sub-genres. There's "Christian Rap," now....there's what's called back-pack rap (suburban life rap, basically)............there's abstract poetry Rap....there's rock rap and even HARD rock rap....see what happened there? Open mindedness happened. Folks found out the art itself was.....kinda fun, sorta like movies and games. They expanded it 10, 000 different ways and still we have the stigma with the older generations: Rap is about guns and bitches.

The internet changed humanity. It was a forced reality that everything is not necessarily as smallish table-banter stereotypes would have you believe.

Chains are already broken, but some folks are holding onto them willfully.

The future is humans in a pod living in a reality where everything they experience is just as real to the senses as it is today, but minus the %-risk of mortality. That's just evolution.

still we have the stigma with the older generations: Rap is about guns and bitches.
That's because we can't understand what they're saying.

 

[G.T.]

I am referring to the falling homicide rate (which could be entirely independent of anything about video games, for all we know now) but can't give you a link for anything ----- the idea that porn makes real rapes LESS likely knocked me over when someone speculated that a few years ago, no reference, sorry. Because, he said, they are sitting in their computer room with the porn doing it all there, and they aren't prowling the streets looking for women walking alone.

Yow, it made sense. It's at least a possibility to consider: I really don't know whether violent games and porn make real crime MORE or LESS likely.

Impossible to really tell. You can look at the correlation of less homicide along with more violent videogames and movies, but that ignores a lot of other factors that are going on. Continued diversity and integration of society, technology in general occupying people's minds, technology leading to better policing, less people subscribing to rigid forms of a religion and therefore less of a reason to see people as "the wrong people" and so on. All of which could explain why homicide is going down.

I found G.T.'s suggestion that the use of more profane language and taboo topics in mainstream culture taking the stigma and edge off certain language is an interesting thought.

At first, there's an attractiveness to boundary breaking when it pisses some people off, but doesn't hurt anybody.

Gangster rap was born.

Gangster rap still exists and all, but guess what happened? Rap itself as an art-form expanded itself into 300 sub-genres. There's "Christian Rap," now....there's what's called back-pack rap (suburban life rap, basically)............there's abstract poetry Rap....there's rock rap and even HARD rock rap....see what happened there? Open mindedness happened. Folks found out the art itself was.....kinda fun, sorta like movies and games. They expanded it 10, 000 different ways and still we have the stigma with the older generations: Rap is about guns and bitches.

The internet changed humanity. It was a forced reality that everything is not necessarily as smallish table-banter stereotypes would have you believe.

Chains are already broken, but some folks are holding onto them willfully.

The future is humans in a pod living in a reality where everything they experience is just as real to the senses as it is today, but minus the %-risk of mortality. That's just evolution.

still we have the stigma with the older generations: Rap is about guns and bitches.
That's because we can't understand what they're saying.

Well if other people can, I suppose it's a generation gap and nothing more. Pink Floyd is hot garbage to me, but art is subjective.

 

[Preacher]

Don't like it don't download it. Simple as that. It shouldn't be banned.

How about a game where you get to rape Melania and Ivanka? Would you be OK with that, too?

Go ahead. I wouldn't download it because I am not a womanizer or rapist but since that's up your aisle be my guest.

 

[Some Guy]

I found G.T.'s suggestion that the use of more profane language and taboo topics in mainstream culture taking the stigma and edge off certain language is an interesting thought.

I didn't find it interesting at all: he was defending his obsession with grossly insulting everyone he replies to. See, if you claim it's great to detoxify bad language, then it's okay to do obscenity posting at everyone and they can't object: that's his game. Frankly, I think he's crazy as a hoot owl. There is a lot of madness on forums like this -- there always has been.

So then we are supposed to reply while letting him abuse and victimize us.

To that I say, in a pig's eye.


Your other points, I agree with.

I wasn't suggesting that the idea was interesting with regard to using it as an excuse to insult people. Rather it's something i'll have to wrap my head around in a broader context.

I haven't seen many insults coming from him, moreso dismissals of ideas or mental capacity, which i suppose could be construed as insults. I'll usually let those roll off my back (when anyone says them) and stay focused to see if someone can really argue their point, or they're just trying to "win" based on getting the other person to bow out.

 

[G.T.]

I found G.T.'s suggestion that the use of more profane language and taboo topics in mainstream culture taking the stigma and edge off certain language is an interesting thought.

I didn't find it interesting at all: he was defending his obsession with grossly insulting everyone he replies to. See, if you claim it's great to detoxify bad language, then it's okay to do obscenity posting at everyone and they can't object: that's his game. Frankly, I think he's crazy as a hoot owl. There is a lot of madness on forums like this -- there always has been.

So then we are supposed to reply while letting him abuse and victimize us.

To that I say, in a pig's eye.


Your other points, I agree with.

I wasn't suggesting that the idea was interesting with regard to using it as an excuse to insult people. Rather it's something i'll have to wrap my head around in a broader context.

I haven't seen many insults coming from him, moreso dismissals of ideas or mental capacity, which i suppose could be construed as insults. I'll usually let those roll off my back (when anyone says them) and stay focused to see if someone can really argue their point, or they're just trying to "win" based on getting the other person to bow out.

Yea, exactly. I actually try not to be an asshole because it's way too easy over the internet. I'm a warm bloke when speaking with me in real life. The problem I had there is dismissing my Country's "culture" as degenerate, when I find that if you seek out perspective you'd learn it's as rich as ever. The poster might not understand it, but I took that as the 1st insult fired and felt free-ish to reciprocate, albeit I'd agree that I was quite tame.

 

[Circe]

Many of the most popular video games, such as “Call of Duty” and “Grand Theft Auto,” are violent; however, as video game technology is relatively new, there are fewer empirical studies of video game violence than other forms of media violence. Still, several meta-analytic reviews have reported negative effects of exposure to violence in video games.

A 2010 review by psychologist Craig A. Anderson and others concluded that “the evidence strongly suggests that exposure to violent video games is a causal risk factor for increased aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and aggressive affect and for decreased empathy and prosocial behavior.” Anderson’s earlier research showed that playing violent video games can increase a person's aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior both in laboratory settings and in daily life. "One major conclusion from this and other research on violent entertainment media is that content matters," says Anderson.

Thanks, real data.

Needs more recent research --- 8 years ago most games were not NEARLY as violent or violence directed at people as are available now. Games were more cartoony -- I think this is a recent issue. PUBG, in which people shoot each other's avatars instead of pre-programmed NPCs (non-playing characters) only came out last year, for instance.

Certainly violent games (movies, books) increase violent moods and thoughts! I agree. But --- does that matter? Does someone go out and shoot up the school with Dad's AR-15 because he just played PUBG and got killed 16 times in a row? (You only win one in a hundred times, so such frustration is the norm, they say ----- I've never won so I'm pretty far behind, if that's true. Got close several times.) I want to see how these game feelings translate to real life violence, if they do. Mostly people just rage quit, in my experience. And go do something else, non-violent. I usually make supper.

 

[Some Guy]

I am referring to the falling homicide rate (which could be entirely independent of anything about video games, for all we know now) but can't give you a link for anything ----- the idea that porn makes real rapes LESS likely knocked me over when someone speculated that a few years ago, no reference, sorry. Because, he said, they are sitting in their computer room with the porn doing it all there, and they aren't prowling the streets looking for women walking alone.

Yow, it made sense. It's at least a possibility to consider: I really don't know whether violent games and porn make real crime MORE or LESS likely.

Impossible to really tell. You can look at the correlation of less homicide along with more violent videogames and movies, but that ignores a lot of other factors that are going on. Continued diversity and integration of society, technology in general occupying people's minds, technology leading to better policing, less people subscribing to rigid forms of a religion and therefore less of a reason to see people as "the wrong people" and so on. All of which could explain why homicide is going down.

I found G.T.'s suggestion that the use of more profane language and taboo topics in mainstream culture taking the stigma and edge off certain language is an interesting thought.

At first, there's an attractiveness to boundary breaking when it pisses some people off, but doesn't hurt anybody.

Gangster rap was born.

Gangster rap still exists and all, but guess what happened? Rap itself as an art-form expanded itself into 300 sub-genres. There's "Christian Rap," now....there's what's called back-pack rap (suburban life rap, basically)............there's abstract poetry Rap....there's rock rap and even HARD rock rap....see what happened there? Open mindedness happened. Folks found out the art itself was.....kinda fun, sorta like movies and games. They expanded it 10, 000 different ways and still we have the stigma with the older generations: Rap is about guns and bitches.

The internet changed humanity. It was a forced reality that everything is not necessarily as smallish table-banter stereotypes would have you believe.

Chains are already broken, but some folks are holding onto them willfully.

The future is humans in a pod living in a reality where everything they experience is just as real to the senses as it is today, but minus the %-risk of mortality. That's just evolution.

I don't necessarily think it's that people are holding onto them willfully. It could easily be explained away by not having the time/desire/ability to explore the farthest reaches of the internet which can provide you with a wealth of knowledge and exposure to stuff that you didn't know existed. Stepping outside your walls isn't easy, and for a lot of people, not desirable or even conducive. I didn't know about all those kinds of rap, like back-pack rap for example, cause i'm not really into rap and have no desire to explore the various forms of it, nor do i have the time to.

Most people are going off what's in the mainstream. What they're exposed to via radio and TV and most internet outlets as well. It takes a lot of time and effort to get into a topic to a certain depth, and someone will only do that if they're really interested in it. So for someone to say that rap promotes gang violence and violence against women, they're not wrong because that's what's been quite prevalent in the forms that actually have made it outside of their little loyal bubbles and into the (at least somewhat) mainstream. It doesn't make someone an authority on the topic but they're not wrong. "Ok, so rap has taken lots of forms, but we still have this version over here that's reaching millions of impressionable kids and could be having an adverse impact. Can we talk about that?"

..and the point i made earlier is that it just comes down to opinion on what that impact is or isn't, cause it's really not possible to prove. You can stand up for rap as an art-form in the various forms it takes while someone else can hate rap for valid reasons possibly including the subject matter of the rap they've heard and you can both be right. That's why i always defer to liberty, and respecting people's likes and wants so long as they do the same for mine.

 

[G.T.]

Many of the most popular video games, such as “Call of Duty” and “Grand Theft Auto,” are violent; however, as video game technology is relatively new, there are fewer empirical studies of video game violence than other forms of media violence. Still, several meta-analytic reviews have reported negative effects of exposure to violence in video games.

A 2010 review by psychologist Craig A. Anderson and others concluded that “the evidence strongly suggests that exposure to violent video games is a causal risk factor for increased aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and aggressive affect and for decreased empathy and prosocial behavior.” Anderson’s earlier research showed that playing violent video games can increase a person's aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior both in laboratory settings and in daily life. "One major conclusion from this and other research on violent entertainment media is that content matters," says Anderson.

What is the evidence he's using to "strongly suggest - " - ?

I actually kinda dont feel like critiquing this one study that says the area lacks study right now - - but that was a red flag, no?

Anyhoo - its getting hotter than a ....out there today!~

 

[Circe]

I found G.T.'s suggestion that the use of more profane language and taboo topics in mainstream culture taking the stigma and edge off certain language is an interesting thought.

I didn't find it interesting at all: he was defending his obsession with grossly insulting everyone he replies to. See, if you claim it's great to detoxify bad language, then it's okay to do obscenity posting at everyone and they can't object: that's his game. Frankly, I think he's crazy as a hoot owl. There is a lot of madness on forums like this -- there always has been.

So then we are supposed to reply while letting him abuse and victimize us.

To that I say, in a pig's eye.


Your other points, I agree with.

I wasn't suggesting that the idea was interesting with regard to using it as an excuse to insult people. Rather it's something i'll have to wrap my head around in a broader context.

I haven't seen many insults coming from him, moreso dismissals of ideas or mental capacity, which i suppose could be construed as insults. I'll usually let those roll off my back (when anyone says them) and stay focused to see if someone can really argue their point, or they're just trying to "win" based on getting the other person to bow out.

I think he's a total bastard. And the only thing to do with that type is to avoid them like a dogpile on the sidewalk. YMMV.

Okay, okay, sorry, I'll go somewhere else and calm down. Lately I've been very interested in the issue of how badly people get to treat each other and still get to hang around and continue the bad behavior. Boundary issues. This forum is pretty much the worst I've ever seen -- major social degeneration is going on, Mac is sure right about that -- it's a battlefield, not a discussion, usually. People like that character are the vultures who flap in during the battle to dig out the eyes of all the fallen without discrimination.

 

[G.T.]

I am referring to the falling homicide rate (which could be entirely independent of anything about video games, for all we know now) but can't give you a link for anything ----- the idea that porn makes real rapes LESS likely knocked me over when someone speculated that a few years ago, no reference, sorry. Because, he said, they are sitting in their computer room with the porn doing it all there, and they aren't prowling the streets looking for women walking alone.

Yow, it made sense. It's at least a possibility to consider: I really don't know whether violent games and porn make real crime MORE or LESS likely.

Impossible to really tell. You can look at the correlation of less homicide along with more violent videogames and movies, but that ignores a lot of other factors that are going on. Continued diversity and integration of society, technology in general occupying people's minds, technology leading to better policing, less people subscribing to rigid forms of a religion and therefore less of a reason to see people as "the wrong people" and so on. All of which could explain why homicide is going down.

I found G.T.'s suggestion that the use of more profane language and taboo topics in mainstream culture taking the stigma and edge off certain language is an interesting thought.

At first, there's an attractiveness to boundary breaking when it pisses some people off, but doesn't hurt anybody.

Gangster rap was born.

Gangster rap still exists and all, but guess what happened? Rap itself as an art-form expanded itself into 300 sub-genres. There's "Christian Rap," now....there's what's called back-pack rap (suburban life rap, basically)............there's abstract poetry Rap....there's rock rap and even HARD rock rap....see what happened there? Open mindedness happened. Folks found out the art itself was.....kinda fun, sorta like movies and games. They expanded it 10, 000 different ways and still we have the stigma with the older generations: Rap is about guns and bitches.

The internet changed humanity. It was a forced reality that everything is not necessarily as smallish table-banter stereotypes would have you believe.

Chains are already broken, but some folks are holding onto them willfully.

The future is humans in a pod living in a reality where everything they experience is just as real to the senses as it is today, but minus the %-risk of mortality. That's just evolution.

I don't necessarily think it's that people are holding onto them willfully. It could easily be explained away by not having the time/desire/ability to explore the farthest reaches of the internet which can provide you with a wealth of knowledge and exposure to stuff that you didn't know existed. Stepping outside your walls isn't easy, and for a lot of people, not desirable or even conducive. I didn't know about all those kinds of rap, like back-pack rap for example, cause i'm not really into rap and have no desire to explore the various forms of it, nor do i have the time to.

Most people are going off what's in the mainstream. What they're exposed to via radio and TV and most internet outlets as well. It takes a lot of time and effort to get into a topic to a certain depth, and someone will only do that if they're really interested in it. So for someone to say that rap promotes gang violence and violence against women, they're not wrong because that's what's been quite prevalent in the forms that actually have made it outside of their little loyal bubbles and into the (at least somewhat) mainstream. It doesn't make someone an authority on the topic but they're not wrong. "Ok, so rap has taken lots of forms, but we still have this version over here that's reaching millions of impressionable kids and could be having an adverse impact. Can we talk about that?"

We could talk about it, pull up a chair

And I understand all of that, and not having the time - - but that's where I reach the idea of intellectual laziness: I take issue when a non-researched human promotes un-found propaganda in a would-be serious discussion. Just bugs me, in a way. I hate inefficiency. It's part of my job, I guess.

I love being wrong when it comes from an honest place. That's how pragmatism works....and it happens a lot, where I'm wrong. I just don't seem to jump into many discussion on the internet that I'm not familiar with, because I think it's kinda silly that's all. I understand all perceptions involved, here.

 

[G.T.]

I found G.T.'s suggestion that the use of more profane language and taboo topics in mainstream culture taking the stigma and edge off certain language is an interesting thought.

I didn't find it interesting at all: he was defending his obsession with grossly insulting everyone he replies to. See, if you claim it's great to detoxify bad language, then it's okay to do obscenity posting at everyone and they can't object: that's his game. Frankly, I think he's crazy as a hoot owl. There is a lot of madness on forums like this -- there always has been.

So then we are supposed to reply while letting him abuse and victimize us.

To that I say, in a pig's eye.


Your other points, I agree with.

I wasn't suggesting that the idea was interesting with regard to using it as an excuse to insult people. Rather it's something i'll have to wrap my head around in a broader context.

I haven't seen many insults coming from him, moreso dismissals of ideas or mental capacity, which i suppose could be construed as insults. I'll usually let those roll off my back (when anyone says them) and stay focused to see if someone can really argue their point, or they're just trying to "win" based on getting the other person to bow out.

I think he's a total bastard. And the only thing to do with that type is to avoid them like a dogpile on the sidewalk. YMMV.

Okay, okay, sorry, I'll go somewhere else and calm down. Lately I've been very interested in the issue of how badly people get to treat each other and still get to hang around and continue the bad behavior. Boundary issues. This forum is pretty much the worst I've ever seen -- major social degeneration is going on, Mac is sure right about that -- it's a battlefield, not a discussion, usually. People like that character are the vultures who flap in during the battle to dig out the eyes of all the fallen without discrimination.

You're a hypocrite, and an asshole. You've spent your last like 10 posts bashing me because I said you're old after YOU called MY CULTURE degenerate. Then, you flipped and blocked me, like a kid. Then, you went onto to berate me times 10. Look into the mirror.

 

[Some Guy]

I found G.T.'s suggestion that the use of more profane language and taboo topics in mainstream culture taking the stigma and edge off certain language is an interesting thought.

I didn't find it interesting at all: he was defending his obsession with grossly insulting everyone he replies to. See, if you claim it's great to detoxify bad language, then it's okay to do obscenity posting at everyone and they can't object: that's his game. Frankly, I think he's crazy as a hoot owl. There is a lot of madness on forums like this -- there always has been.

So then we are supposed to reply while letting him abuse and victimize us.

To that I say, in a pig's eye.


Your other points, I agree with.

I wasn't suggesting that the idea was interesting with regard to using it as an excuse to insult people. Rather it's something i'll have to wrap my head around in a broader context.

I haven't seen many insults coming from him, moreso dismissals of ideas or mental capacity, which i suppose could be construed as insults. I'll usually let those roll off my back (when anyone says them) and stay focused to see if someone can really argue their point, or they're just trying to "win" based on getting the other person to bow out.

I think he's a total bastard. And the only thing to do with that type is to avoid them like a dogpile on the sidewalk. YMMV.

Okay, okay, sorry, I'll go somewhere else and calm down. Lately I've been very interested in the issue of how badly people get to treat each other and still get to hang around and continue the bad behavior. Boundary issues. This forum is pretty much the worst I've ever seen -- major social degeneration is going on, Mac is sure right about that -- it's a battlefield, not a discussion, usually. People like that character are the vultures who flap in during the battle to dig out the eyes of all the fallen without discrimination.

If you think he's bad then you might as well leave the message board entirely. I've seen a whole hell of a lot worse here. The partisan robots who are only here to feed their addiction to hate and cheer on their team in the never ending political game. G.T. is clearly not one of them, and is putting some thought provoking stuff out there with some logic and reasoning behind it. But, if the way he talks is too much for you then so be it. I haven't seen anything egregious is all. It's hard not to get sucked into the hyperbole of this place.

 

[OldLady]

I am referring to the falling homicide rate (which could be entirely independent of anything about video games, for all we know now) but can't give you a link for anything ----- the idea that porn makes real rapes LESS likely knocked me over when someone speculated that a few years ago, no reference, sorry. Because, he said, they are sitting in their computer room with the porn doing it all there, and they aren't prowling the streets looking for women walking alone.

Yow, it made sense. It's at least a possibility to consider: I really don't know whether violent games and porn make real crime MORE or LESS likely.

Impossible to really tell. You can look at the correlation of less homicide along with more violent videogames and movies, but that ignores a lot of other factors that are going on. Continued diversity and integration of society, technology in general occupying people's minds, technology leading to better policing, less people subscribing to rigid forms of a religion and therefore less of a reason to see people as "the wrong people" and so on. All of which could explain why homicide is going down.

I found G.T.'s suggestion that the use of more profane language and taboo topics in mainstream culture taking the stigma and edge off certain language is an interesting thought.

At first, there's an attractiveness to boundary breaking when it pisses some people off, but doesn't hurt anybody.

Gangster rap was born.

Gangster rap still exists and all, but guess what happened? Rap itself as an art-form expanded itself into 300 sub-genres. There's "Christian Rap," now....there's what's called back-pack rap (suburban life rap, basically)............there's abstract poetry Rap....there's rock rap and even HARD rock rap....see what happened there? Open mindedness happened. Folks found out the art itself was.....kinda fun, sorta like movies and games. They expanded it 10, 000 different ways and still we have the stigma with the older generations: Rap is about guns and bitches.

The internet changed humanity. It was a forced reality that everything is not necessarily as smallish table-banter stereotypes would have you believe.

Chains are already broken, but some folks are holding onto them willfully.

The future is humans in a pod living in a reality where everything they experience is just as real to the senses as it is today, but minus the %-risk of mortality. That's just evolution.

still we have the stigma with the older generations: Rap is about guns and bitches.
That's because we can't understand what they're saying.

Well if other people can, I suppose it's a generation gap and nothing more. Pink Floyd is hot garbage to me, but art is subjective.

Ouch! Dark Side of the Moon, even? I had a lot of trouble understanding those lyrics, too, though. Good thing albums always came with the lyrics written somewhere

 

[G.T.]

I am referring to the falling homicide rate (which could be entirely independent of anything about video games, for all we know now) but can't give you a link for anything ----- the idea that porn makes real rapes LESS likely knocked me over when someone speculated that a few years ago, no reference, sorry. Because, he said, they are sitting in their computer room with the porn doing it all there, and they aren't prowling the streets looking for women walking alone.

Yow, it made sense. It's at least a possibility to consider: I really don't know whether violent games and porn make real crime MORE or LESS likely.

Impossible to really tell. You can look at the correlation of less homicide along with more violent videogames and movies, but that ignores a lot of other factors that are going on. Continued diversity and integration of society, technology in general occupying people's minds, technology leading to better policing, less people subscribing to rigid forms of a religion and therefore less of a reason to see people as "the wrong people" and so on. All of which could explain why homicide is going down.

I found G.T.'s suggestion that the use of more profane language and taboo topics in mainstream culture taking the stigma and edge off certain language is an interesting thought.

At first, there's an attractiveness to boundary breaking when it pisses some people off, but doesn't hurt anybody.

Gangster rap was born.

Gangster rap still exists and all, but guess what happened? Rap itself as an art-form expanded itself into 300 sub-genres. There's "Christian Rap," now....there's what's called back-pack rap (suburban life rap, basically)............there's abstract poetry Rap....there's rock rap and even HARD rock rap....see what happened there? Open mindedness happened. Folks found out the art itself was.....kinda fun, sorta like movies and games. They expanded it 10, 000 different ways and still we have the stigma with the older generations: Rap is about guns and bitches.

The internet changed humanity. It was a forced reality that everything is not necessarily as smallish table-banter stereotypes would have you believe.

Chains are already broken, but some folks are holding onto them willfully.

The future is humans in a pod living in a reality where everything they experience is just as real to the senses as it is today, but minus the %-risk of mortality. That's just evolution.

still we have the stigma with the older generations: Rap is about guns and bitches.
That's because we can't understand what they're saying.

Well if other people can, I suppose it's a generation gap and nothing more. Pink Floyd is hot garbage to me, but art is subjective.

Ouch! Dark Side of the Moon, even? I had a lot of trouble understanding those lyrics, too, though. Good thing albums always came with the lyrics written somewhere

I watched an interesting Nirvana interview yesterday....from the 90s. Kurt was saying his lyrics made no sense on-purpose because he was lazy...........he was dead honest about it.....and he sort of giggled when the interviewer asked him about everyone's interpretations of their deeper meaning.