Bobby Jindal Announces Violent Games/Movies To Blame For All Those Mass Shootings
from the wrong dept
Not long ago, I wrote a post about the aftermath of the Oregon mass shooting and how every media outlet would retreat to familiar stances looking to blame all manner of things on idealogical grounds. That, of course, happened. Left out of that post is how grandstanding politicians would do the same: shifting attention toward familiar punching bags while diverting attention from other targets in their own interests. One of the first to do so, as it turns out, is Bobby Jindal, who certainly doesn't get any points for originality in trotting out the violent media scapegoat to sate some of the public's need to place blame for the shooting.
First on his hitlist was Hollywood.
We glorify sick and senseless acts of violence in virtually every element of our pop culture, and we have been doing that for at least a generation. Our movies and TV shows feature a continuous stream of grotesque killing of every kind imaginable. And this is true of virtually every genre, from horror to drama to comedy. We celebrate and document every kind of deviant behavior and we give out awards to producers who can push the envelope as far as possible. Rape, torture, murder, mass murder, all are cinematic achievements.This, obviously, is overstating things by several orders of magnitude. First, it's noteworthy that Jindal's suggestion that violent movies, ever ramping up, cause violence within the real world fly in the face of simple statistical analysis. The national murder rate, for instance, is roughly 60% of what it was in the 1970s. Does anyone want to argue that movies have become less violent since the 70s? I didn't think so. But, assuming that Jindal is solely talking about the mass shooting phenomenon, the data doesn't get any better for Jindal. An otherwise dumb opinion piece at National Review at least helpfully included the fact that, when taking the long view and looking at mass shooting incidents over the past century, they are no more common today than in the past. In fact, the high water mark for mass killings looks to have been achieved in the 1920s. Again, anyone want to argue that media in the 20s was more violent than it is today? I didn't think so.
I shouldn't have to say this, but none of this is to suggest that America doesn't have a very real violence and mass killing problem. We do. But it simply doesn't correlate to violence in movies. Nor in video games, which were Jindal's second target.
We have generations of young boys who were raised on video games where they compete with other young boys around the country and the world to see who can kill the most humans. We make it so fun, so realistic, so sensational.Quick show of hands: who is totally chill with their children watching people get murdered and raped on the internet after school every day? Actually, what the hell is Jindal talking about here? I'm fairly connected in the world of internet-ing, and I'm also a father, and I have no idea what Jindal is referring to. Where is this place where kids go to sit and watch people get raped and tortured? Is he referring to video games here, as he does in his culminating line, where kids are sitting down and super-murdering digital humans for 2 hours every day? Because does that really happen, either? Keep in mind, for all the hand-wringing over violent video games, the average age of the average gamer is going up and currently stands at something like "probably balding or in mid-management by now." For youths that find themselves playing games meant for adults, that's strictly a parenting issue, not a culture issue (for all the reasons described for violent movies above). And, regardless, there's nothing even remotely close to a scientific consensus that violent video games have any negative effect on children at all. In fact, many studies indicate there is no link between gaming and violence at all.
Oh, we make sure that we stop them from bullying at school, but we are completely fine with them watching people get murdered and raped on the internet after school, and we are willing to let them go to the basement and join a fantasy world where they pretend they are killing people for 2 hours after school.
So what is this? Well, it's a politician employing the aftermath of tragedy to gain support, headlines, and attention so as to better compete with a god damned reality show host in a presidential election cycle. And if that doesn't make you sick, no amount of violence in movies or games will either.
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Filed Under: blame, bobby jindal, mass shooting, moral panic, movies, oregon shooting, video games, violence
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Those Same Movies And Games Are Available In Other Countries ...
... and yet it is the USA that has the high violent crime rate.What’s different about the USA? The guns.
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"Mission Accomplished"
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Find them ...call them out , and ask them for scientific factual data supporting their views.
We make a list of the best to worst , at the end of the year , we vote and send out or post awards..
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Well done Tim!
My apologies for not mentioning this in the comments of the article in question titled "Predictable: The Fragmented Media Will Give Us All Our Post-Oregon-Shooting Outrage Blankets", but I do want you to know that is one of the most thought provoking and insightful articles I've ever read. Not just on TD, but anywhere.
Normally when I see your name attached to an article I expect (and you deliver in spades!) humor and snarky commentary, which didn't prepare me well for your profound analysis of mass shootings and our ingestion of them.
Just wanted to say "cheers" and keep up the great work!
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thousand words
http://www.oregonlive.com/data/2015/10/gun_deaths_other_causes.html
But like death-by-terrorism statistics, this tiny percentage punches far above its weight.
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Re: Well done Tim!
The editorial team here at Techdirt is sorry and we will not let Tim get profound, thoughtful and analytical again.
:)
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MPAA to blame
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murder rates peaked in the '20s, huh?
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Silly human
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But he has a point, americans have no idea what a real war is since there havent been any on US lands, and thats why they dont give a shit when their government bombs hospitals.
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Bobby Jindal
Who knows. Maybe we've forgotten him.
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Re: Well done Tim!
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On the US mainland in over 100 years; that part is true.
US territories, not so much. Alaska & Hawaii were US territories, not states, when Japan attacked them in the Second World War.
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No kidding! Just the saving alone would be welcomed.
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Candy crush alone is probably responsible for thousands of murders. Those heartless monsters crushing the life out of innocent pieces of candy just minding their own business
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The real horror is how quickly people on all sides of these debates start spewing out the same old tired well chewed crap each time one of these things happens.
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But that violent video games aren't good is true regardless who says it.
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You know who else played Classic Doom? The kids who shot up Columbine High School.
Ergo, using this same logic, I'll eventually shoot up a school.
Better turn myself in to the authorities before that happens.
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Re: But that violent video games aren't good is true regardless who says it.
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yet
im not the only one
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Re: But that violent video games aren't good is true regardless who says it.
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Re: But that violent video games aren't good is true regardless who says it.
Or reading the bible leads to raping your own daughters, slamming 'heathen' babies faces against rocks and burning people alive for wearing more than 1 type of cloth?
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Re: Re: But that violent video games aren't good is true regardless who says it.
Do not underestimate the internet. *eyes bleed with the memory*
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Bobby Jindal blames movies/video games for mass shootings.
I'm curious where he stands on drone strikes and enhanced interrogation, given that we still do it based on the Jack Bauer argument.
Oh wait here it is: Obama is not hard enough on terror.
Because violence is bad unless it's done to designated unlawful combatants (i.e. Lebensunwertes Leben). Even virtual violence.
Except when Bobby Jindal says so. For reasons.
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Violent video games aren't bad regardless who says it.
They also help me process my outrage regarding real world issues about which I'm pretty much completely helpless. (TPP, the US mass surveillance program, the CIA extrajudicial detention and interrogation program, our crazy imprecise civilion-massacring drone strike program, our law enforcement services who beat the snot out of people or gun people down and then walk away with impunity and smiles. The list goes on and on.)
We human apes do like to moral panic about anything that someone likes that someone else doesn't. And that's what's going on here.
(And this is, incidentally, why we can't take seriously when someone says guns are bad: too often we've seen other things pointed at as bad because stupid reasons. If people want their panics to be taken more seriously they should point and call things bad less often.)
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Adam Lanza liked Dance Dance Revolution
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Ok... riiiight
We get all the same films and games you do and there's only been 3 in my lifetime that I remember in the UK, versus how many in the US? Think there may be a little more to it than that... just sayin'
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Those Same Movies And Games Are Available In Other Countries ...
What’s different about the USA? The guns.
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The same mistake again and again
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Re: But that violent video games aren't good is true regardless who says it.
Then again, I'm not so deluded enough to try and conflate a video game with real life or even a simulacrum of real life.
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Re: Those Same Movies And Games Are Available In Other Countries ...
>
> What’s different about the USA? The guns.
So guns are responsible for non-gun murders (44%) in some states and non-gun beatings, burglaries, arson, and rape?
If you're someplace where you really have to worry about being a victim of a gun crime, getting shot just the tip of the iceberg.
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Re: Re: But that violent video games aren't good is true regardless who says it.
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Guns compel people to stab each other.
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Re: The same mistake again and again
Translated that into politician for you.
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Typical Republican...
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Re: Guns compel people to stab each other.
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Bobby Jindal
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Guns don't kill people, video games do.
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Re: murder rates peaked in the '20s, huh?
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Re: Those Same Movies And Games Are Available In Other Countries ...
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Re: Re:
http://www.wired.com/2010/05/0505japanese-balloon-kills-oregon/
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We've known this.
I suspect, maybe, the rampages are soon going to get more organized.
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I'd also like to add that violent $100 million movies that you support aren't good, and it's true regardless who says it.
Eat it, out_of_the_blue.
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Re: Those Same Movies And Games Are Available In Other Countries ...
The number of guns in the US has steadily risen, yet violent crime rates have steadily decreased. I won't say that it's caused by more guns, because then I would foolishly implying that correlation implies causation. Sort of like you did.
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But the point stands, all of these incidents were pretty mild in terms of military attacks.
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Re: But that violent video games aren't good is true regardless who says it.
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Which media is the problem again?
So which is more likely to result in violence?
Consider commercials like the Bayer "you are going to have a heart attack today" advertisement. From a psychology standpoint, that commercial probably CAUSES heart attacks. And there are hundreds of similar examples.
So while games release stress, corporate advertising manufactures it. Neuromarketing techniques are used specifically for that purpose.
So how many people who go postal suffer from anxiety or stress related disorders? And who is pumping FUD into the market making people more stressed out?
The same guys selling anxiety meds, that's who. Who is slinging all that FUD? The same guys who are selling tragedy porn, that's who.
Cabal news is to understanding, as drug cartels are to pain relief.
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Re: Those Same Movies And Games Are Available In Other Countries ...
It's The entitlement culture; winning isn't everything, it's the only thing! ie: Some people are going to "win" at any price even if that means killing a bunch of people.
and the 24x7 News Media ... that provides them with the stage for their triumph ... notoriety is guaranteed ... fame ... even a kind of immortality ... that's the victory.
That's whats different about the USA ... not the guns.
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Every politican needs a soundbite
1) I think we should look into the causes of mental illness and the reasons why people think they should express their anger by killing other human beings.
Or:
2) It's because of violent video games... and movies... and TV shows... and comic books.
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Re: Re: Re: But that violent video games aren't good is true regardless who says it.
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You know what kills people? People kill people. All the time. And have for centuries and centuries before guns or video games, and in extremely high numbers.
Heck, if you look at the historical record, and want to use faulty "correlation = causation" logic, if anything guns and video games have steadily been reducing worldwide violence.
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Gun culture apologists seem to be working from a paradigm in which the would-be victim has a loaded gun ready to aim and fire the moment they're attacked. That's not what happens. No one is going to wait for you to get your gun out and get the safety catch off before they act.
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Re: murder rates peaked in the '20s, huh?
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