[mquinn]

>Can’t agree with him about the ‘movies not providing an influence’, though. This form of mass-media drives much of our culture, good and bad. You would have to be deliberately blind not to see it.

I grew up with an overdose of on-screen violence via Tom & Jerry, Bugs Bunny, and a slew of Western movie shootouts. I don’t have the slightest inclination to go kill random people in real life.

[Joe Brower]

So did I. False comparison. The violence between Bugs Bunny and "Saw V" is akin to a candle vs. a bonfire. Like so many other things, it is a matter of degree, and present day is off the scale. And in those older days, there were also a preponderance of good examples, something sorely lacking now.

Add to that how you only need one psycho to make the headlines for the next year, until the next copycat is inspired. But that's another, although related, subject.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Lots of Germans read Nietzsche and listened to Wagner without dedicating their lives to becoming Chancellor and burning Jews in mass ovens. Does that mean they had no influence?

[redgolum]

Here is the thing.
Advertising works. Why are we shocked that violent video games and films influence people?

[Gene Eric]

>> I don’t have the slightest inclination to go kill random people in real life.

Then how do you explain your collection of anvils, safes, and baby grands?