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What sort of Maniac?
Jan. 10th, 2013 11:38 amJust a quick note on a topic that hordes of others have already written about, and probably will continue to do so. I'll be brief.
You want less gun-related deaths? The solution is not "more guns". Although, in the interest of fairness and science, I would be more than happy to see a segregated area where they try out the "More guns mean safer streets"-approach, as long as there is nobody I hold dear anywhere in that area.
The ubiquitous flipside of this argument is of course that an alternative solution would be to have a ban on violent media, so young and impressionable people won't even get the idea of ever pointing a gun at another human being. In time I will write a post on the difference in public perception of the military in Germany compared to that in the UK/US.
The thing that gets me is that this argument is never really about "Well, the kids constantly see on telly/in films that conflicts are best solved violently and that Might is Right in this world."
They undoubtedly do. As I have said before and as I maintain, Frank Miller's/Zack Snyder's "300" is a glorious fascist wank fantasy, which tells you that being buff and dying in combat is better than living as a deformed hunchback and that diplomats/politicians are inherently untrustworthy. And that's only one of the more blatant examples. Yet this is not the sort of film/medium normally thought of when it comes to finding the reasons for massacres. Rather we end up with things like "A serbian film", "Hostel" and "Human Centipede" and the idea that if we were to ban these film and in this way in time decrease the number of people enjoying these films, we would live in a happier and safer world. Because, you know, who in their right mind really would want to watch something like that? Surely it's only weirdos and psychos and we need less of those!
And hey presto, we have some scapegoats who are not us and can sleep safer at night.
Have you ever tried watching these films? They are pretty unpalatable. They are supposed to be. That's why "those people" watch them. They are Horror films. They leave you in horror, terrified/disturbed/shaken, at best they have a cathartic effect. What they do not do is fill you with the energy and impulse to go out and commit anything as strenuous as a killing spree. That's what "The Matrix" does.
Their extreme nature also means that they would never find a wide audience to spread their craziness amongst, if we assume that that is what they do.
You want less gun-related deaths? The solution is not "more guns". Although, in the interest of fairness and science, I would be more than happy to see a segregated area where they try out the "More guns mean safer streets"-approach, as long as there is nobody I hold dear anywhere in that area.
The ubiquitous flipside of this argument is of course that an alternative solution would be to have a ban on violent media, so young and impressionable people won't even get the idea of ever pointing a gun at another human being. In time I will write a post on the difference in public perception of the military in Germany compared to that in the UK/US.
The thing that gets me is that this argument is never really about "Well, the kids constantly see on telly/in films that conflicts are best solved violently and that Might is Right in this world."
They undoubtedly do. As I have said before and as I maintain, Frank Miller's/Zack Snyder's "300" is a glorious fascist wank fantasy, which tells you that being buff and dying in combat is better than living as a deformed hunchback and that diplomats/politicians are inherently untrustworthy. And that's only one of the more blatant examples. Yet this is not the sort of film/medium normally thought of when it comes to finding the reasons for massacres. Rather we end up with things like "A serbian film", "Hostel" and "Human Centipede" and the idea that if we were to ban these film and in this way in time decrease the number of people enjoying these films, we would live in a happier and safer world. Because, you know, who in their right mind really would want to watch something like that? Surely it's only weirdos and psychos and we need less of those!
And hey presto, we have some scapegoats who are not us and can sleep safer at night.
Have you ever tried watching these films? They are pretty unpalatable. They are supposed to be. That's why "those people" watch them. They are Horror films. They leave you in horror, terrified/disturbed/shaken, at best they have a cathartic effect. What they do not do is fill you with the energy and impulse to go out and commit anything as strenuous as a killing spree. That's what "The Matrix" does.
Their extreme nature also means that they would never find a wide audience to spread their craziness amongst, if we assume that that is what they do.
