Sure, because of 24 hour news and the internet we hear about this violence a lot more. Sensationalism and all that. Not hearing about the violence so much prior to the internet doesn't mean it didn't happen, just that not everyone and their dog knew about it.
Sorry, but this is patently absurd.
While there is certainly no denying that the 24 hour news cycle creates more sensationalism (although the TKDR and Sikh shootings got VASTLY different coverage), the idea that the level of violence never changed but we're just hearing about it now is just kind of silly.
Find me a Columbine in the 1930's. Didn't exist.
Now, none of this is to say that there is no individual responsibility. I agree with everyone who says crazy people will do crazy things from time to time. That's what happens with random genetic mutations, sometimes something goes wrong.
But look, something else is going on here. Of the developed world,
the US has the highest rate of gun violence.
We also have a culture which is incredibly desensitized to violence and violent imagery. I would encourage you all to check out 'This Film is Not Yet Rated' last time I checked, it was still on netflix streaming. It's not about violence per se, but it discusses the MPAA and their ratings criteria. In essence, under the MPAA's secret and mysterious guidelines, there's a pattern we can we whereby images of nudity or anything remotely sexual is censored much more than violence. Full frontal nudity is only for adults - it receives an R rating. But PG13 movies can be full of violence, blood, and gore.
Now, I'm not making any judgment here. You all are smart enough to decide what kind of content you want to view and you don't need me to tell you. I'm simply repeating an observation that other people have made; violence is less censored in the medium of film than is nudity or sexuality.
It's also the case that culture shapes human interaction. No, it is not the sole determinant, and culture does not remove individual responsibility. But anyone who tells you culture isn't an influence the actions of people within that culture, clearly doesn't understand what culture is and what it does.
Unless you think it's all a giant coincidence that we have a permissive attitude towards guns, have the highest rate of gun ownership per capita, and a very recent and very real history of mass shootings.
Seriously, you don't think that a nut that grows up in a culture that lionizes guns is going to be more prone to pick up a gun for his/her nutty antics than someone who grows up in a culture that doesn't?
