Re: Special needs pupils are top of expulsions

April 13, 2008

I don't know if it is that detailed. What I do know is that you get points for violence against people like for assault, mugging, murder, carjacking, causing car accidents, destroying property, etc. even the Fantasy games I play aren't that detailed. You only get points for killing the enemy, not how. And like I said earlier, you go around being evil, there are consequences. Nothing like in the Oblivion game and entering town with a bounty on your head you didn't realize was there and seeing all the guards swarming on you. Pay up, jail time or get beaten down.

They get points per bloody whack of the 'innocent' characters in the game?Ewwwwwww! 50 for an arm, 60 if it spews blood a lot? Ugh.Randy GarrettAntioch, CA USA-----<---{(@It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms and advice on AOL Money Finance.

April 14, 2008

That's more what I understand. I have not seen GTA but it's not so much the

violence (it's just pixels and algorithms) but what is " promoted " by the

game. Not the points for killing (which my games don't have) but (somehow)

showing the violence as being against real life people (not other players)

and groups and glorifying the violence.

Like sideshow like games where the act including the violence involved is

shown as " fun " and wonderful.

However all the violence orientation is in the perceptions by the viewer or

player. Even the best game can cause a revulsion in a good person and

therefore not promote' or 'cause' violence. It's when the person playing

(or viewing the movie) does NOT have a revulsion there is a problem.

It's still blaming the 'other' and not the person committing the violent

act. The games, the gangster rap, the movies, etc. just " add " a tiny bit

but are better tests. If a person does not have a revulsion then that

person may have a problem that needs investigation (not by an authority,

just counseling).

Unfortunately the games, movies, martial arts classes, etc. are symptoms of

violent culture, not the cause. I wish I knew what the cause is but

certainly a major contributor is people actually believing a person when he

in essence says [paraphrasing] " The devil made me do it " .

Where they say they did not choose but someone else made the choice for them

and " programmed " them to kill. So when the media says it's the games

causing the violence then all those who decide to kill or destroy can just

point to the game as the blame and not themselves. As well as the public

pointing the finger at the wrong thing. Barking up the wrong tree.

It's like the comedy skit where a guy who just murdered a child points at

the person standing nearby and said " he made me do it " and everyone pounces

on the innocent bystander and ignores the murderer. The murderer made the

choice to kill. Not the " other " .

If I kill or destroy it is only myself that I can point at and punish. Not

the games, not the movies, not Hip Hop music, not Rap music, not any other.

However I do (and it does sound contradictive) that the WORST games that are

really, really horrible (which is hard to judge BTW) should be banned.

Ratings never work. There is always some kid who gets into the theatre and

watches the R rated or X rated movies!

Maybe GTA does qualify as the worst possible. Yet it still is digital

images, algorithms, simple sound files. And nothing more. We're still too

far away from seriously realistic environments and A.I.'s in the games.

Compare the images to movies and reality and the difference is night and

day.

Now addiction to playing games, that's another thing! Burying oneself in an

environment and ignoring reality (like getting a job) is bad!

Anybody sufficiently confused or rejecting the ideas here? I could try

harder to make it more confusing or more easily rejected! ;-)

Randy Garrett

Antioch, CA USA

-----<---{(@

Re: Re: Special needs pupils are top of

expulsions

I play violent video games like the Call of Duty series and some of the

Dungeons and Dragons series games (Baldur's Gate I and II the best,

Neverwinter nights good, Neverwinter Nights 2 good in concept stinks in

execution mostly because of bad camera controls) and even one of the Hitman

series games. That said, GTA was always too disgusting to consider. Its just

like gangster movies: it glorified the bad guys.

But I was also referring to rap music and thus culture and there was a teen

focused movie recently about a boy who joins a fight club to fight for a

girl because a bully kicked his butt. You know they are even having classes

for kids, young ones even, in Mixed Martial Arts like they use in Ultimate

Fighter? I don't mind kids learning traditional Karate or Judo and the like

because that teaches self-control and real respect. MMA is a pure pit

fighting art designed only to hurt people and bad. If adults want to fight

like that into he ring, fine, but kids shouldn't because its too dangerous

to teach them.

In a message dated 4/13/2008 2:54:16 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

ravenmagic2003@... writes:

Yep. All we have to do is look at the Top Selling video games in recent

years and interestingly enough, it's GRAND THEFT AUTO with killing of

innocent women, most females being prostitutes and whores, stealing

cars (hend the name of the game), violence against police officers and

worse. How disgusting!

Raven

Co-Administrator

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1:45 PM

April 14, 2008

Actually animals such as lions will attack another animal but for food.

Definitely not for 'fun' though! Actually mankind's attach on another is

not for fun but similar: for the *thrill* of it. Fun implies happy thoughts

but what does occur is thrill feelings and other related.

Children have 'fun'. Adults have 'fun' with model railroading. Those

" girls " have a thrill of it.

Just thought I would mention that.

Randy Garrett

Antioch, CA USA

-----<---{(@

Re: Special needs pupils are top of expulsions

wrote: " I guess a person has to be pretty messed up to think

that violence is something to be respected, but that happens. "

Maurice responded: " The whole animal branch of life is messed up. We

inherited the animals' world. No wonder life defies every caring value

system. "

I'm not sure I know what you mean, Maurice. Animals, for the most

part, only attack when they are threatened otherwise they are content

to ignore other animals that hold no interest for them.

Not so with many humans. Many humans will attack another human for

the 'fun' of hurting the other person. That is very unlike the animal

kingdom.

Raven

Co-Administrator

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1:45 PM

April 14, 2008

Randy wrote: " ... <snip> ... If I kill or destroy it is only myself

that I can point at and punish. Not the games, not the movies, not

Hip Hop music, not Rap music, not any other ... <snip> ... "

Children need to be guided, Randy. While it is important that a

child learns accountability, a child must also be protected from

certain parts of reality until the child is old enough to properly

interpret the information provided to the child.

This is why video games come with ratings and warnings.

This is why CDs sometimes come with ratings and warnings.

This is why movies come with ratings and warnings.

Since a child is not sufficiently mature to differentiate between

reality and virtual reality and make believe the way that an adult

can differentiate, the negativity -- direct and indirect -- can and

does influence children. This is why it is important to ensure that

a child is not unduly influenced by negativity in games, movies, hip

hop music, rap music and anything else that touches and influences a

child's life.

Yes, it does count.

Raven

Co-Administrator

April 14, 2008

Randy wrote: " ... <snip> ... Definitely not for 'fun' though!

Actually mankind's attach on another is not for fun but similar: for

the *thrill* of it. Fun implies happy thoughts but what does occur is

thrill feelings and other related.

Children have 'fun'. Adults have 'fun' with model railroading. Those

" girls " have a thrill of it.

Just thought I would mention that ... <snip> ... "

Nope. Some girls attack for the 'fun' of it just as some boys attack

for the 'fun' of it. Children and youth do not always understand

that they are causing permanent damage. In those cases, those

children and youth are definitely having 'fun.'

And there are adults who get 'mean spirited fun' out of attacking

whether verbally or physically, emotionally or mentally.

Yep, in some, it generates 'happy thoughts.'

Raven

Co-Administrator

April 14, 2008

wrote: " ... <snip> ... This is in contrast from what I

understand of GTA. In that game you get points for beating up or

killing random people and police. It is purely about being a nasty

criminal. Even the Hitman game series encouraged you to inflict minimal

kills in the form of getting more points for less bloody campaigns ...

<snip> ... "

That's EXACTLY what Grand Theft Auto promotes. And the more damage the

player inflicts on another, the more points that player earns and THAT

makes the player HAPPY.

Furthermore, when HAPPINESS is associated with random violence, it is

easy to see how some individuals can then associate violence with being

HAPPY, especially impressionable minds like children and youth who are

allowed -- by their parents and caregivers -- to play GTA.

Raven

Co-Administrator

April 14, 2008

Sorry, I forgot the child versus adult thing. Most violent games, perhaps

the one I play like Half Life 2, should be banned from certain age groups.

But good luck in somehow preventing the child these days from getting it and

playing it since there is SO MANY bad families out there they can get it

from or be pushed into it.

I hear of lawsuits and others trying to blame and then ban in totality such

horrible violent subjects from EVERYONE.

There is no easy solution (or much of any at all for that matter) to the

violence but banning most video games and promoting them as the fault of the

violence as the media does as well as lawyers and such is just so wrong.

It's funny how no one has brought up " Blood " (if I got the name right) that

really depicted the most horrible violence I've seen (outside of The

Godfather and a handful of other movies).

Just spouting opinions here kiddo! :-)

Oh (reading the message again), the rating systems are so messed up anyway.

I've heard nothing but complaints about how they don't work and don't help

anyone decide. Heck I can't tell if I will be repulsed by or enjoy a movie

(based on the level of violence). I've seen PG-13 movies that were

graphically horrible and made the R rated movie I just saw look like PG!

I don't know, what a mess!

Randy Garrett

Antioch, CA USA

-----<---{(@

Re: Special needs pupils are top of expulsions

Randy wrote: " ... <snip> ... If I kill or destroy it is only myself

that I can point at and punish. Not the games, not the movies, not

Hip Hop music, not Rap music, not any other ... <snip> ... "

Children need to be guided, Randy. While it is important that a

child learns accountability, a child must also be protected from

certain parts of reality until the child is old enough to properly

interpret the information provided to the child.

This is why video games come with ratings and warnings.

This is why CDs sometimes come with ratings and warnings.

This is why movies come with ratings and warnings.

Since a child is not sufficiently mature to differentiate between

reality and virtual reality and make believe the way that an adult

can differentiate, the negativity -- direct and indirect -- can and

does influence children. This is why it is important to ensure that

a child is not unduly influenced by negativity in games, movies, hip

hop music, rap music and anything else that touches and influences a

child's life.

Yes, it does count.

Raven

Co-Administrator

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1:45 PM

April 14, 2008

For the life of me I just can't imagine that. Childish like fun in those

girls beating up other girls? I just can't imagine that for the life of me.

Damned A.S. I keep dealing with *precise* meaning of words. The meaning of

" Fun " to me is they're doing a thing and then giggling " like a school girl " .

Sorry.

Man, I've gotta get out of this philosophy crap! ;-)

Randy Garrett

Antioch, CA USA

-----<---{(@

Re: Special needs pupils are top of expulsions

Randy wrote: " ... <snip> ... Definitely not for 'fun' though!

Actually mankind's attach on another is not for fun but similar: for

the *thrill* of it. Fun implies happy thoughts but what does occur is

thrill feelings and other related.

Children have 'fun'. Adults have 'fun' with model railroading. Those " girls "

have a thrill of it.

Just thought I would mention that ... <snip> ... "

Nope. Some girls attack for the 'fun' of it just as some boys attack

for the 'fun' of it. Children and youth do not always understand

that they are causing permanent damage. In those cases, those

children and youth are definitely having 'fun.'

And there are adults who get 'mean spirited fun' out of attacking

whether verbally or physically, emotionally or mentally.

Yep, in some, it generates 'happy thoughts.'

Raven

Co-Administrator

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1:45 PM

April 14, 2008

They get points per bloody whack of the 'innocent' characters in the game?

Ewwwwwww! 50 for an arm, 60 if it spews blood a lot? Ugh.

Randy Garrett

Antioch, CA USA

-----<---{(@

Re: Special needs pupils are top of expulsions

wrote: " ... <snip> ... This is in contrast from what I

understand of GTA. In that game you get points for beating up or

killing random people and police. It is purely about being a nasty

criminal. Even the Hitman game series encouraged you to inflict minimal

kills in the form of getting more points for less bloody campaigns ...

<snip> ... "

That's EXACTLY what Grand Theft Auto promotes. And the more damage the

player inflicts on another, the more points that player earns and THAT

makes the player HAPPY.

Furthermore, when HAPPINESS is associated with random violence, it is

easy to see how some individuals can then associate violence with being

HAPPY, especially impressionable minds like children and youth who are

allowed -- by their parents and caregivers -- to play GTA.

Raven

Co-Administrator

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Checked by AVG.

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1:45 PM

April 14, 2008

Sometimes I use shooters like Call of Duty to blow off steam. On the middling settings it isn't too hard, at least all but the last level which has some nearly impossible parts, so it burns off the energy. (The hard setting are frustrating though and make it worse.) Other times exercise works.

In a message dated 4/14/2008 1:07:45 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

You possess self control though. People with violent tendencies are seldom attracted to a bath and classical music when they are upset. They get violent. For those select group of people, video games add to the frustration rather than act as a catharsis. Like you I don't think all vdeo games should be banned either, but I do agree with you that the extreme ones should be. AdministratorIt's Tax Time! Get tips, forms and advice on AOL Money Finance.

April 14, 2008

But Randy ... that's EXACTLY what some of these kids (and adults)

do! They do these awful things and then giggle " like a school girl "

because they find it amusing and loads of fun.

Raven

Co-Administrator

>

> For the life of me I just can't imagine that. Childish like fun in

those

> girls beating up other girls? I just can't imagine that for the

life of me.

>

> Damned A.S. I keep dealing with *precise* meaning of words. The

meaning of

> " Fun " to me is they're doing a thing and then giggling " like a

school girl " .

> Sorry.

>

> Man, I've gotta get out of this philosophy crap! ;-)

>

> Randy Garrett

> Antioch, CA USA

> -----<---{(@

April 14, 2008

" If I kill or destroy it is only myself that I can point at and

punish. Not the games, not the movies, not Hip Hop music, not Rap

music, not any other. "

You possess self control though.

People with violent tendencies are seldom attracted to a bath and

classical music when they are upset. They get violent. For those select

group of people, video games add to the frustration rather than act as

a catharsis. Like you I don't think all vdeo games should be banned

either, but I do agree with you that the extreme ones should be.

Administrator

April 14, 2008

" Actually animals such as lions will attack another animal but for food.

" Definitely not for 'fun' though! "

You are right. My perseverative interest is the 37 species of wildcat.

From studying them zoologists have observed that cats attack for food,

defense, and to fight over mates, as do most animals.

Animals tend to avoid conflict in most other circumstances because they

seem to know merely being maimed can sometimes mean the difference

between life and death.

For instance, a cut across a hamstring muscle impairs a cat's ability

to hunt, ergo it won't fight unless it has to, and even then, cats do

not fight blind, but do try to protect the parts of them that may be

very vulnerable.

Administrator

April 14, 2008

Snip

> You'd be surprised the reactions that AS kids and some autistics

have

> in mainstream schools in response to what APPEARS to be normal

> stimuli. They will throw things, hit their teachers, threaten to

kill

> themselves, etc. HOWEVER, I have never seen or heard of this

> happening spontaneously. In other words, I know of no instance

where

> an autistic has just stood up without warning and did something

> violent.

>

> Upon examination of the occurence, there is ALWAYS a causative

> factor. It ranges from lack of accommodations to a slow buildup of

> stress to outright bullying by another student, or even an EA, or

> educator.

>

> The problem is, most people who are in the education world are not

> trained very well in ASDs. They are pretty daft when it comes to

> identifying causal factors. Despite the fact that most teachers

ought

> to have taken educational psychology courses, most do not

understand

> the cause and effect stimulus/response relationship that happens in

> people, let alone autistics with special sensitivities.

>

> To put the onus on the child to refrain from acting out when being

> overwhelmed by sensory input or any other significant factor would

be

>

> Administrator

>

snip

what else is there to say you just summed up the whole enchalada of

special education. This is because NT's cannot expand their minds,

and they keep Aspies out of education(Nice isn't it)

April 14, 2008

>

> It has nothing whatsoever to do with Columbine. It has to do with

> the fact that people fear what they do not understand and most

people

> don't care to understand what Autism really is.

>

> It is easier to paint Autistics as being violent idiots who go off

at

> the drop off a hat for no reason whatsoever.

>

> Bottom line is schools see Special Needs students as being far more

> effort than they are worth but these same schools and school boards

> are more than happy to put their hand out to receive the additional

> funding from the Education Departments and Ministries of

Education.

> Just as long as they don't have to actually TEACH those Special

Needs

> students, they're ok with claiming them within their districts.

>

> It has nothing to do with Columbine.

>

> Raven

> Co-Administrator

>

It has to do with what you said. People that are different rock the

foundation of my existance (says an NT while shaking) therefor I must

get my mob mentality out and stomp them if I don't they will better

me and frighten me and I must hold on to my seeming authority.

Take for instance the desire for the Israelites to worship graven

images (at the mount with Moses gone) Graven images were comforting,

visable controllable. A g'd was abstract, morals were whispy verbal

things, gold was tradable, sacrifice of woman was exciting. NT's

have not progressed beyond that mentality, anything that cannot be

boxed and packaged, and put in a convinent store is discarded.

I like to use the stories of Judism to illustrate current behaviors.

I think bible stories are an attempt to get people to think in an

abstract way. The stories of Jesus are the same to me. People will

quote the saying but miss the Ideals. We aspies turn the other cheek

and continually forgive. (often we find our pracicing religious

brethern (of all faiths) will spout the story but not adhere to the

standard.

I guess I use everything to study human nature but I find the

disparity shocking. NT masks are masks of convience to be cast off

whenever the pressure is on, they may not even be aware they are

doing it. I find people lie whenever they don't understand a

concept, they think they are agreeing with you, but they never got it

in the first place.

We assume they understand(we cannot read faces because we can)

someone says oh yes I understand what you are saying, thanks

The look you get is anger mixed with disgust and fear (oh you read

right) that was what their face said, but their mouth said= would you

like to go get a drink now, I will seriously change my thinking(not),

will you sleep with me now.

It can be that diverse but the theme is the same I will control you

by any means possible. (fire you, bed you, keep you from achievement)

because you are DANGEROUS!!! in any case that is what happens to me

every freaking day. yeahhhhhhh!!!!

April 14, 2008

mimi wrote: " ... <snip> ... It can be that diverse but the theme is

the same I will control you by any means possible. (fire you, bed you,

keep you from achievement) because you are DANGEROUS!!! in any case

that is what happens to me every freaking day. yeahhhhhhh!!!! ...

<snip> ... "

The concept is: " Whatever it takes to silence you. " It's wrong and

it's inappropriate but it's the concept that most NTs operate under it

would appear.

Raven

Co-Administrator

April 14, 2008

The video game discussion is really an allegory of human coping

mechanisms and age or awareness approiate ideas.

Entertainment, animal behavior, games, books all human leisure

activities, are to compensate the human brain for being denied " toys "

or experiences.

While any game can be made age approiate( well not any game) Grand

theft auto seems to coincide with ganster rap and a disregard for

life.

as Raven said tghe white man (or any people is not yet ready to throw

off the idea of things giving one a thrill)

Living vicariously through a fantasy based situation. Logan's run

(old age is bad, but what is given up? wisdom and experience

All women are whores and prostitutes (explaination of why I can't

find a mate) but of course I deserve one (translation by the way

is women are a mystery and I fear they are making fun of me so I will

see them as things to be bought or used)

Women that look for relationships through type of car and ability to

afford stupid dinners that all go into a porcelin contarption (which

the Italians, Germans, and Japanese (seem to think is the really big

ticket item) perhaps they are right (oh twisted, but still funny)

These women use men as a means toward an end (fiancial security) all

the while making fun of and berating them (conclusion relationships

are bad things as most of the participants lie) this is true but on

rare occasions people get together because they actually find a

member of the opposite sex stimulating and engaging (problem= people

do not have patience to wait for a good match; so they take any)

Children exposed to violence, children learn on their own if they are

not guided, this alone learning is akin to lord of the flies laws

because strength and direct attack usually work(they adopt this

methodology, because another model isn't offered) Or children chase

butterflies until they encounter the last type of child mentioned.

In any case the victim/victor model of behavior (where the negative

behavior is reinforced(because it worked)

Anyway I am trying to say NT's are messed up and animals look like

scholars and icons by comparison (perhaps why they were worshippedin

previous eras) Their structures seemed better thought out and

mysticle

April 14, 2008

What's also bad is when these same people go on to become famous. Queen Latifa who now has a talk show, back in the 1990's she said she thought it was ok to kill police and white people. Didn't hurt her career any.

It is also bad when these stars don't really suffer any penalty. Even Michceal Vic of the dog fighting and killing fame had legions of supporters who wanted to see him play ball more than they cared about a brutal violation of the law and basic humanity.

We have created quite a fine subculture and we are very likely to pay a heavy price for it shortly. Amusingly though, the real ones to blame for all of this are a handful of record execs who promoted this mess and made a fortune from it.

I agree with you that rap and gangsta rap and nearly all hip hop is violent and based on hating the ultimate degree. Disrespect of authority and calls to violence against the police, against the government, against women, against children, against each other -- how can people who promote this sort of garbage live with themselves? There isn't a month that doesn't go by where some rapper isn't either jailed for a violent crime or a weapons offence or shot dead by a homey.It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms and advice on AOL Money Finance.

April 14, 2008

Most animals do realize that. That is one reason animals, including humans, have an instinct to prey on creature smaller than themselves: they are less likely to get hurt that way. The rest is a lot of bluffing and aggressive behavior, something humans also do. However, just like animals, we also defective people who are more prove to violence and such. That is simply more rare in animals because there are fewer of them and they probably wouldn't survive as long as more cautious animals, unless they were major, solitary predators like a bear, that is they would last until they ran into an armed human. But with humans, there does seem to be a class of people of all races who prefer that kind of person and so those traits get bred selectively for. That's been going on for ages, but I think it is more of a problem now because medical care can keep them alive to breed (and with enhanced reputations they are more likely to), whereas before they probably would have died. It is really annoying to see on the real police shows thugs who have been shot and stabbed multiple times, but are still loose on the street where a citizen might get shot or stabbed once and die.

In a message dated 4/14/2008 1:13:03 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

Animals tend to avoid conflict in most other circumstances because they seem to know merely being maimed can sometimes mean the difference between life and death. It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms and advice on AOL Money Finance.

May 5, 2008

I've been thinking for a while now about this whole issue of violence

portrayed in various sources and began to wonder just where does one

draw the line? For example at present video games, violent movies and

music are being blamed for breeding violence. In the 80's we

had 'vidoeo nasties'. However erradicate the aforementioned and what

are we left with? Cartoons often depict violence - just think of Tom

& Jerry. The news is often violent, accompanied by violent images and

sadly these are depictions of real life humans destroying one another.

Also I have always found it interesting that as a child that there

were age guidlines regarding what I could watch, however I could read

basically anything I wanted as books did not have these guidlines. I

was an avid reader from quite an early age. I was a member of the

local library and I remember being quite shocked regarding the

content of some of the books I was reading - however the book

jacket/cover did not always give indication to the adult material

within. Mmmmmm the line 'don't judge a book by it's cover' instantly

springs to mind.

I guess I am pondering just how far do we go?

>

> In the D & D games, you sometimes kill people, but they are

the " bady guys "

> like thieves, bandits and so on. Most of what you kill are monsters

of some

> kind. It is possible to go attacking random people, but its not a

good idea. In

> Baldur's Gate, you had a reputation score. If that score got low

enough,

> merchants would stop selling to you and the " police " would

constantly hassle you,

> maybe even kick you out of town. In the Morrowind series, it was

the same.

> If you did bad things, the guard would come and get you and make

you pay a

> fine or go to jail. Fighting them wasn't a good idea because they

were MUCH

> stronger than your character, so you just need up dead.

>

> This is in contrast from what I understand of GTA. In that game you

get

> points for beating up or killing random people and police. It is

purely about

> being a nasty criminal. Even the Hitman game series encouraged you

to inflict

> minimal kills in the form of getting more points for less bloody

campaigns.

>

> I would agree that the games and movies are a symptom rather than

the cause,

> but it is a chicken and the egg kind of thing in that both feed on

each

> other. In the case of rap music, it is interesting to note that it

originated as

> a way of blowing off steam to prevent violence, just as the old fad

of break

> dancing did. Fights were supposed to be replaced by dance or

rapping contests

> instead. Seemed to work for a while, but rap quickly degenerated

into the

> very thug culture it was invented to try to prevent.

>

May 5, 2008

With Tom and Jerry, Popeye and even the Three Stooges, you pretty much knew the violence wasn't real and was slapstick. I mean, people then had enough sense to know that if you hit someone in the head with a cast iron frying pan or a hammer, you'd probably kill them, or if you poked them in the eyes, you'd blind them, etc.

I think the real problem came with the action movies probably in the 1970's where the hero runs around shooting up everything but never takes more than a flesh wound nor do any of the feature good guys get hurt either. The music that I can see influencing violence is gangsta rap, because that's all it is: violence and sex. Certain video games like Grand theft auto might also contribute.

A lot of it comes down to the individual. There is a TV series called "Most Evil" which is about various kinds of evil things people have done and study of the perpetrators. It is based on the work of a psychiatrist who developed the rating scale. He says that generally speaking, there are three things that are needed for people to do evil things.

1. A miswired brain. By that he means they are psychotic, sociopathic, schizophrenic, etc.

2. Brain damage either suffered at birth, a childhood or later injury, possibly drug use damage.

3. An abusive childhood.

Granted there are exceptions to the rule, such as people with normal brains and good upbringings that just go bad, but in the main this is what he has found.

I can see how this would apply to video games too. The unconscious brain can't distinguish reality from fantasies of the waking mind. So in the wrong brain, it could see this entertainment and games as the real world. Over time, it would adjust to this "reality" and order its survival reactions accordingly. I can also see this applying to high crime areas and such where children are treated dismally, underfed, abused etc. That would give them the worst of all three conditions. They would probably have some kind of brain damage from malnutrition and abuse and they would see a very twisted version of reality with lots of violence and brutality and neglect.

So some people would be more susceptible to all of this than others.

I've been thinking for a while now about this whole issue of violence portrayed in various sources and began to wonder just where does one draw the line? For example at present video games, violent movies and music are being blamed for breeding violence. In the 80's we had 'vidoeo nasties'. However erradicate the aforementioned and what are we left with? Cartoons often depict violence - just think of Tom & Jerry. The news is often violent, accompanied by violent images and sadly these are depictions of real life humans destroying one another.Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food.

May 5, 2008

I saw the episode. It annoyed me too, but they did say that autistic people had low rates of criminal activity. They also said that mirror-cell-empathy was a new science and not well understood.

What I did find rather insulting was that they chose to use autistics for the mirror cell study rather than criminals. More precisely I should say it was that they used the research done for the understanding of autism and compared it whole cloth to criminals. What they need to do is study actual criminals and I am sure that they will find there is much more going on in the criminal mind than just misfiring mirror cells.

I do agree with you though that many NTs would hear: Autism + mirror cell + lack of empathy = criminal tendencies.

I've seen this programme a couple of times, what really annoyed me on one particular episode was that they were looking into the lack of empathy in killers and yeah, sure enough autism was mentioned. Now they didn't actually say those with autism were likely to be killers, however I think it might have been implied in a subtle way - I certainly could guess what kind of conclusion NT viewers would be jumping too (sigh).Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food.

May 5, 2008

Here is what I think:

I think that there is a certain type of weak person that is

influenced by violence to the point where they are fully willing to

act on or mimic what they see.

Then there are other people who will be influenced by violence to

either shy away from it, or curtail it.

I will give two examples of this:

1) There is a video of a beheading being done by Muslim terrorists,

and there is an audio recording of a bunch of Muslims sitting around

jeering as they are watching the video. Well, what can we say about

that? I will say that the men who did the beheading are thugs and

those who enjoy watching it are thugs.

When I heard the audio tape, it made me physically ill. When I saw

the edited version of the beheading, I was physically ill. While I

would love to see those people caught, it would give me no thrill to

see them beheaded. If they were sentenced to die, I'd rather it would

be quick and painless, and I would rather find out about it after the

fact.

2) I know that I have cousins who used to enjoy shooting rats at the

dump up at my Uncle's resort. If they could plug a rat and send it

flying up in the air with the force of the bullet, they were

thrilled. If it landed on the ground not dead but squiggling in its

death throes, they would bet money on how long the rat would last

before it would die.

While I wanted to whack them for being a bunch of country bumpkins,

and while I understood the need to keep down the rat population, I

never understood how anyone could get a THRILL out of plugging

animals like that and making bets on how long these suffering animals

would take to die.

My cousins' eyes tended to be crazed, and something tells me that the

stupid and vacuous look they get is typical of the kind rapists get

when they are on the verge of success.

If I was supposed to control the animals at that dump for sanitary

reasons, I'd do it, but I would be a heck of a lot more humane about

it and have enough respect to make sure the animals were out of their

misery before gpoing on to kill the next one.

My point: For the type of people out there who are little more than

trolls and thugs, society has to have limits. In other words, because

some people cannot handle things responsibly, responsible people have

to suffer.

Ironically, the people who are the least able to control themselves

are the MOST likely to claim that their rights are being violated.