Other Influences?

[JPH]

For obvious reasons, we've had a lot of good conversations related to the 2nd Amendment recently and those conversations have sometimes become heated. The problem is, we eventually pass the point where anyone is going to be swayed and we simply repeat ourselves.

I don't think anyone can deny that we have people in our society who do not value human life and this sometimes results in the misuse of guns. But rather than start another thread about guns, I'd like to explore the other issues that feed the phenomenon of mass shootings and other violence. Substance abuse, greed, and passion have always played into violent behavior. Nothing new there. What I'd like to explore are the modern cultural influences in the media and society that might be feeding the problem.

What role do you think TV, movies, music, video games, and pornography play? What other factors are feeding the violence? What can be done? Can anything be done?

And to feed the conversation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBGBBBTbbtk

[rthomas4]

None of the above are at fault. The drug culture, gang mentality and the societal influences of "you owe me" along with the decline of the family, and the lack of education about guns are the real culprits. Couple these with the liberal media and their cooperation with the anti-gun organizations in exploiting incidences of gun violence while totally ignoring the instances where guns have saved lives and prevented violence, and we see a concerted effort to promote an anti-gun agenda. When actors who make their living portraying violent gangsters and killers, then get paid to promote anti-gun propaganda pieces, it's pure hypocracy. When an idiot such as Obama can allow his children to be heavily guarded at their school, while denying the logic of armed officers and teachers in the schools, it's more propaganda. When the media perpetuates the myth of "assault weapons" and the dangers of "high capacity clips", those inaccurate terminologies are used purposely to inflame rather than inform.

The fact that inner city gangs and their cultures are predominantly responsible for the majority of gun violence in America, it's time to address the root causes of the gang existence. It's not religious, it's not lack of education, it's the fault of the ever increasing socialization of our country where the belief that "I am under privileged, poor, and the government owes me my existence". The Democratic party has more influence on crime and the propensity for violent crime than any other influence in the USA, today. The answer is less social programs, more enforcement of the laws, and active law enforcement activities in the urban environment. Crack down on the gangs, legalize pot, and eliminate the profit potential for the criminals. Force the welfare class to earn a living and eliminate social programs to third and fourth generation welfare families. Deport illegals, and heavily fine and prosecute those who violate the law by employing illegals. Step up border patrols, and increase the strength of border security. Declare all out war on those who ignore the laws, and remove restrictions on legal gun owners. Make national reciprocity of concealed carry an immediate concern, and allow the Castle Doctrine to become the law of the land. The right of self defense should have no limitations, while the rights of repeat criminal offenders to continue their lifestyle should result in summary judgement and execution when judicially expedient.

If there is any one thing that should be enforced from the Bible, it's "an eye for an eye". I personally believe that if someone takes one of my eyes, I should have the right to take both of his; but I'm a truly vindictive SOB!!!!!!!!

[Woods Walker]

J'per: Most of the societal ills you described can be traced in one word........"PARENTING"....or lack thereof.

IMO one of the biggest changes our culture...and especially in the inner city...have seen is the rise of the single parent household. Now there are many reasons for this from cultural to religious to economic and I'm not abut to debate who, what, or why at this point, but just to simply point out that until this is revresed then we will continue to rot from the inside at ALL levels of society.

Raising a child is a TWO parent job. That's not saying that a single parent cannot do a decent job or that all two parent raised kids turn out right.....not at all. But with two INVOLVED parents who have a basic core of decency and a work ethic the chances of them raising a decent, productive human being are a lot better. And the other great thing about when this happens is that that child now KNOWS HOW TO BE A PARENT. That's a VITAL core life skill that if we lose we are finished as a culture. No school, government or even a chuch can do that. The church and faith lays out the rules for living a decent life but where you really learn how to be a parent is by BEING RAISED BY YOUR PARENTS.

The same goes for a little boy learning how to be a man. He needs a MAN for a role model and preferably a good one. I didn't know it at the time, but the time I was able to spend with my father (when he wasn't working his keister off.....which, BTW, is a trait that I learned BY EXAMPLE from him) made such an idelible mark on me that I notice now things everyday of my life that I do that come from him. Young boys that don't have this type of a good father role model might eventually become fathers, but few will every be DADDIES because the just don't know how. They were deprived of that vital male role model which they and society now suffers for.

Sorry for the ramble! As a father now myself I now see and understand completely what was going through his mind!

[Sailfish]

None of the above are at fault. The drug culture, gang mentality and the societal influences of "you owe me" along with the decline of the family, and the lack of education about guns are the real culprits. Couple these with the liberal media and their cooperation with the anti-gun organizations in exploiting incidences of gun violence while totally ignoring the instances where guns have saved lives and prevented violence, and we see a concerted effort to promote an anti-gun agenda. When actors who make their living portraying violent gangsters and killers, then get paid to promote anti-gun propaganda pieces, it's pure hypocracy. When an idiot such as Obama can allow his children to be heavily guarded at their school, while denying the logic of armed officers and teachers in the schools, it's more propaganda. When the media perpetuates the myth of "assault weapons" and the dangers of "high capacity clips", those inaccurate terminologies are used purposely to inflame rather than inform.

The fact that inner city gangs and their cultures are predominantly responsible for the majority of gun violence in America, it's time to address the root causes of the gang existence. It's not religious, it's not lack of education, it's the fault of the ever increasing socialization of our country where the belief that "I am under privileged, poor, and the government owes me my existence". The Democratic party has more influence on crime and the propensity for violent crime than any other influence in the USA, today. The answer is less social programs, more enforcement of the laws, and active law enforcement activities in the urban environment. Crack down on the gangs, legalize pot, and eliminate the profit potential for the criminals. Force the welfare class to earn a living and eliminate social programs to third and fourth generation welfare families. Deport illegals, and heavily fine and prosecute those who violate the law by employing illegals. Step up border patrols, and increase the strength of border security. Declare all out war on those who ignore the laws, and remove restrictions on legal gun owners. Make national reciprocity of concealed carry an immediate concern, and allow the Castle Doctrine to become the law of the land. The right of self defense should have no limitations, while the rights of repeat criminal offenders to continue their lifestyle should result in summary judgement and execution when judicially expedient.

If there is any one thing that should be enforced from the Bible, it's "an eye for an eye". I personally believe that if someone takes one of my eyes, I should have the right to take both of his; but I'm a truly vindictive SOB!!!!!!!!

wow great post.
seems nowadays everyone is owed something and no one wants to "pay" (whether its time, effort, commitment) .
People used to scream they don't want xxxxx raising their kid, nowadays not only to they want it, they expect it.


I am not sure if I mentioned this on here or not, but last week my 6 yo boy came home from school and told me he had weapons in school

Apparently during art time in his kindergarten class it was free style day, he took popsicle sticks, tape, and markers (to color) and crafted a battle-axe (two sticks taped together like a T), a bow and arrow (3 sticks taped together to make a D shape sort of and one stick for the arrow) and a sword (one stick).
He colored them for battle.

Teacher took them away and told him no real or fake weapons are allowed at school

First I was .........beside myself. Then I figured well policy is policy no "weapons" of any kind. Then I was like........well a "pencil" could also be a "sword", a pencil with an eraser could be a "battleaxe", and eraser could be a "grenade".........................etc
So everything needs to be banned??

I've thought on it, and am going to ask the teacher how she approached it. If she said, "Boy, weapons are bad an evil and we can't have them here!" I will have to re-educate her, and inform her, I do not want you to raise my child. I pay you to teach, you teach. Do not impart your political or social beliefs onto my child (LOL, right......like a teacher isn't doing that). Weapons..........oh my. But, I'm one of those do-gooder parents that are to involved with their kids I guess

[Deebz]

I applaud you for being that parent Sailfish.

I don't know if this is a nationwide thing, or just something we are doing in Illinios now, but look into what is being termed SEL in our education systems. It stands for Social and Emotional Learning. I teach high school students, and twice a month we have to screw up our entire schedule to fit in a half hour class to meet the SEL requirement. We basically are teaching kids things like how to handle stress and conflict, what is bullying and why is it bad, and other things along this vein. Basically, we HAVE to take on the role of parents to these kids. I know some parents who are not very happy with this concept and feel that it is their place to teach their children about the finer points of being a good person. Then we have the other end of the spectrum who most likely have no idea what their kids do on a daily basis.

I am personally conflicted as to how I feel about this program. I absolutely hate losing more of my already limited time to get through the Bio and Chem curriculum I'm supposed to be teaching the kids, but at the same time I hope that maybe something I say in our SEL groups actually helps one of those misguided children to take a few steps on the right path...

[rthomas4]

Deebs, some of the social issues, such as social promotion, having to set aside time in class for remedial education, the lack of institutional control through the loss of corporal punishment, and the politics of the teacher's unions are the reason I opted out of teaching as a profession, after one quarter of student teaching while in college. For every teacher who truly believes in their profession and the good they hope to impart, there are at least 5 or more teachers who teach simply because they aren't qualified to do anything else. I have the utmost respect for the professionalism of dedicated teachers; but nothing but disdain for the tenured puppets who claim to be teachers. I blame the National Teachers Association and other teacher unions, along with the misguided school boards who only want to satisfy Federal Aid requirements for the schools, rather than to actually educate their students.

Thank you, for being a true educator, and good luck as you try to impart knowledge to your students!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JPH]

Personally, I think our behavior is heavily influenced by what we take in and I think this is exacerbated in cases of mental imbalance. I find it odd that the entertainment industry denies how hours of gratuitous sex and violence may influence behavior, yet they are willing to spend millions on 30 sec advertisements that they feel will influence people to buy their products. Just like junk food, most of us have the ability do digest a certain amount of junk media without any serious problems. It is when an individual begins to take on large amounts of this junk and does not properly balance it with things that are healthy. Furthermore, I think there are some types of media (and food) that have no value whatsoever.

I do agree with a few things said above. We do have social problems that lead to children being raised by gangs, civil servants and the entertainment industry. There is a lack of accountability and a lack of civic responsibility in our nation. But I disagree with the idea that is is a political issue. I see this as much deeper and more personal than politics. We have to first understand why violence for the sake of violence and sex for the sake of sex are bad. We have to first understand the value of every human life. We have to first understand the value of our own lives. We need to accept that finding these truths is inconvenient and they call us to reconsider everything. It is against the grain and it is scary, but we have to get there as a people if we are to turn the tide.

I'm not getting into the question of censorship. I'm saying that we need to turn hearts in order for things like slasher films and porn to be no longer desirable. We need to offer the unbalanced loaner and alternative to hours of violent video games. It's not a task that we can ever fully accomplish, at least not on our own, but I feel it is a task that we must take on nonetheless.

[Woods Walker]

And don't discount the parental influence J'per! Too many parents today want to be a "buddy" to their child before being a parent. That usually doesn't work out all that well.

I remember when I was 13 and I wanted to subscribe to Field and Stream magazine. I came from a non-outdoors type family and my parents knew nothing about outdoor magazines. My mother told me to buy the first one at the book store before I subscribed. When I brought it home she demanded to see it and she leafed through every page! Field and Stream! Only after it passed HER acceptability test was I able to subscribe. I was aggravated at the time, but years later I understood what and WHY she did that, and to this day it makes me understand that this type of "parenting" is what's lacking many times today with kid's upbringing. (You know, when I think back on this, I sometimes think that if she did this today that she WOULDN'T let me subscribe what the all the Viagra ads and the like!)

I can guarantee you that if I grew up in this day and age, that ALL of the computers in our home would be monitored and filtered 24/7/365!!!

[rthomas4]

And pray tell, what's wrong with good pornography? I love looking at beautiful naked women having sex, and I've never even considered raping anyone!
Sometimes the repression of natural curiosity creates mental deficiencies. After all, sex is good, if it wasn't most of us wouldn't exist!!!!!!!

[Woods Walker]

If you're a consenting adult then that's your business. I was refering to CHILDREN and the responsibility we have as parents to raise the next generation of our species so that they can function as sane, productive adults.