We Live in A Sick Society: Voice Star Shot Dead Signing Autographs
I watch The Voice because my Daughter makes me, but in truth there are many talented people who appear on that show. Christina Grimmie was one of them that was a favorite of both my daughter and I.
Last night she was murdered by a man with two handguns who shot her in Orlando, Florida, as she signed autographs following what would be her last concert.
Hours before what would be her last concert, singer Christina Grimmie jovially invited fans to see her show in a video that she posted on social media on Friday afternoon.
Before the day was done, the former star of NBC's "The Voice" would be dead, a man armed with two guns walked up to the 22-year-old singer as she was signing autographs late Friday night and opened fire, Orlando, Florida police spokeswoman Wanda Miglio said.
The gunman fatally shot himself after Grimmie's brother tackled him, according to authorities.
Florida has some of the most ridiculous gun laws in the country, something the NRA proudly proclaims on its website. It is incredibly easy for people to carry concealed handgun in that state. Anyone with a concealed carry permit in any state can carry a concealed handgun in Florida.
My deepest condolences to the Grimmie family, her friends and family. She will be missed:
The video from her first appearance on The Voice:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTIfBXxgfrk]
And one more, her covering "Counting Stars" on YouTube before she ever became a famous. Her star burned out way too soon:
Comments
This is so sad
She was definitely a bright spot on the landscape, talented and with a great upbeat personality.
Our nation has a very serious sickness with guns
I liked her too. Very sad. And so young.
She seemed like such a sweet person, so full of life and talent.
America is truly insane about guns, and we're not supposed to talk about them after one of these shootings. Which is rather convenient for the fascist NRA and gun nuts everywhere, because we have these shootings every day. So when can we talk about the madness of our gun laws? If not now, when?
There is in me an anarchy and frightful disorder. Creating makes me die a thousand deaths, because it means making order, and my entire being rebels against order. But without it I would die, scattered to the winds.
-- Albert Camus
On Friday
a female traffic cop was stabbed to death in front of my work, in broad daylight.
Why do good people have to die
because of the insanity of others? Insane people always want to rope good people into their melodrama on their way out. How does a person so crazy get two guns? Oh yes, it's Florida, home of George Zimmerman.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." de Saint-Exupery
It goes beyond Florida and Zimmerman
John Lennon was gunned down by a mentally ill man in the streets of NYC.
And here in supposedly progressive California, two men held a 14 year old boy at gunpoint and stole his new puppy (fortunately the dog was found unharmed yesterday).
I have no objection to people owning guns for hunting game (for some families that can be a major part of their food supply for the winter) but it shouldn't be easier to get a gun than it is to get a driver's license. And we need to do a lot better job in both recognizing and treating mental illness -- it's not a "weakness" any more than cancer or diabetes is a "weakness", it's a disease that may not be able to be "cured" but with the right treatment it's manageable.
Thank you--
yes, indeed, this is not a state problem, it is a national one.
And not for nothin', but I really tire of the Florida bashing in general. It's a pointless, unfair association to any form of "stupid" for others to make, against the people who happen to live here at any given time. Can we be better than that here?
Sorry, Not a Lot of Hope for Change
How many times have we had this discussion regarding the proliferation of guns and the lack of proper gun legislation? Until campaign finance laws are changed, this incident is just another statistic. Yes there is outrage because the life of this talented young woman has been snuffed out by a heinous crime. However, with each incident the outrage lasts for a little less time. Eventually, people become numb. I used to hold out some hope for change in the gun laws, but that hope has dissipated. Women used to be the civilizing force in a society, but many of them are now gun happy, too. I see images of women holding large rifles in an assaultive stance and it's just frightening.
What can we expect different
when there are toddlers who gain pistol access and shoot someone? Fear has captured so many in the US and can be assuaged by going to a sporting goods store and a purchase. My husband did that years ago, I never felt safe with it around, maybe held it twice, never fired it. It got deep-sixed (for real) where it is unlikely to ever be recoverable and functional.
I am in NY, which I feel has slightly more safeguards. But I tend to have passing thoughts in stores about where exits are or hiding spots. I try to suppress those.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Our media, our parties, our candidates, Dem and Repub
want us scared.
That's the conclusion I've come to anyway.
Frightened people are easier to manipulate, less likely to question the lies we're fed.
I think the secretly enjoy seeing these stories, these slaughters.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
Just look at the pattern
of the "terror alert" going up when there was bad news for the Bush Administration. Keeping people scared is the best way to keep them in line.
Yup
that's kind of where I was headed with what I was writing this morning. Was trying to get a handle on what was going on when Dimebag got shot on stage. But I'm too sad to deal with it for now. But it's the kind of shit I think about, too, let me tell you. I've seen this movie before, and so have you. So have we all.
And the Madness Continues Unabated
What a bummer. [speechless]
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You need to include in this
You need to include in this discussion our sick relationship to sexuality. Look at the video "games" boys grow up with. It is no wonder that men stalk and kill women. It doesn't need be this way. And, I agree, it is part of keeping us divided and distracted and easily manipulated.
A healthy adult can play games
like The Culling and be perfectly fine (I know several people on Twitch who like the game -- it's not really my cup of tea but I stick around for their commentary which can be hilarious). But I do worry about what a game like that does to younger people (mostly men but there are very talented female gamers as well). Games can be a great outlet for one's frustrations with life, but they should be part of a balanced life, not a substitute for it.
As a long time Gamer, I admit the quality is dropping...
especially considering that many games go for formulaic shock value instead of investigating why it works.
I liken it to the violence in a Greek play as opposed to the violence in a Michael Bay movie. In the first, it is a catharsis meant to purge the emotion in a valuable way. The Second is to make money through ever increasing Spectacle.
A game like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spec_Ops:_The_Line can really make a player examine what they consider right and wrong, in addition to providing a experience that is deeply moving.
TBH, the problem is not any of the usual charges placed against a medium. (Seduction of the Innocent, anyone?) The problem is crap writers, and people who look for justification for the sociopathic garbage they tell themselves.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
what about an unhealthy adult?
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
the
mass shooters almost always first work out killing people in video games.
The military loves video games. They prepare people to become serial killers.
And before video games they worked it out in manifestos.
It's a societal problem, not just a problem with a medium. Yes, any medium can be put to evil uses, and games have been. However, there are heights of interactive storytelling and real discussions of emotion and consequence that can be reached if writers and designers are willing to WORK for it. A game can handle issues like responsibility, respect, even Racism and Jack London-esque resiliance.
Two trailers that I think support this: Walking Dead, and The Long Dark. (Both "Indie" games, admittedly, who show far more care for the medium than most AAA developers, who are the ones that get the most exposure.)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGhhf5wDBN8][video:https://www.youtube.c...
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
no
The manifestos come after they have become practiced killers through the video games.
I'm going to have to disagree.
While I believe the modern AAA games are for the most part garbage, they don't create killers.
Even the Army has a hard time creating killers, and while the pop up/shoot(Don't Shoot) games acclimatize, the reluctance to taking of human life is an ingrained and very hard to overcome. I'd like to refer you to a book On Killing which explores this in much more detail.
Grossman has concerns about military training, and the refinement of such through video game style activities. Hence why I personally am extremely opposed to "Augmented Reality" and other medium which do not draw a clearly delineated line between fantasy and reality.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
and i would refer
you to Joanna Bourke's An Intimate History Of Killing, which, unlike the book you mention, is not written by a retired serial killer, and is not "required reading at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia and [] on the United States Marine Corps' recommended reading list." Bourke too outlines how the US military, as a result of the same Marshall study your author mentions, has since WWII deliberately set about to transform its recruits into serial killers.
I note that your author, Grossman, has also written Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence, in which he "argues that the techniques used by armies to train soldiers to kill are mirrored in certain types of video games. The conclusion he draws is that playing violent video games, particularly light gun shooters of the first-person shooter-variety, train children in the use of weapons and, more importantly, harden them emotionally to the task of murder by simulating the killing of hundreds or thousands of opponents in a single typical video game."
Often the mass shooters work out all day and all of the night on the video games, and don't even write manifestos. See, for instance: Lanza, Adam.
Video games feed aggression. That's just a fact. How could they not? It's what they're about.
I fail to understand why any human being would endeavor to kill another human being. Either in war, on the street, or in a "game."
Yes, Grossman does reinforce my point
which I made in the last post about certain techniques being used and being problematic. However, that is not applicable to all video games, and the conflation of a game like "Civilization" with a game like "Call of Duty" is a deliberate one by the MSM which has a vested interest in shutting down or controlling their competition. A company like EA puts out the same filthy product, year after year, but it is never their products which come under fire from the media, who instead focuses on smaller companies which might try something new. (And usually that something new which comes under fire is something NON-violent, most often sexuality or exploration of gender roles)
And while I respect your opinion, hecate, I strongly disagree with the characterization of Grossman as a serial killer. While I did read his book in the service, it is one that helped me cope with PTSD from what I saw overseas. Yes, the Military has an interest in creating those who have the ability to kill. I'd paraphrase Smedley Butler at this point, who states that the failure to return our people to their pre-service mental condition is abominable. Service members need more support, IMHO, in returning to a state of morality and humanity, not shaming to guilt them into it.
I'd also like to point out that Lanza had been established for many years to have a fascination not with video games, but with Mass Shootings. That speaks to the Main Stream Medias glorification of mass killers. For those with a predilection for violence, the media's positive reinforcement of their behavior though guaranteed attention is a hideous miscarriage of power.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
lanza
racked up 83,000 kills on his beloved video games, including 22,000 head shots, before he loped off to kill the children. Without first writing a manifesto.
Yes, it is anathema that the military does not de-program the serial killers it creates, before discharging them back into the world. But the real problem, that is the people who volunteer to become serial killers in the first place. There is not a reason in the world for any person in the United States to be in the military. For there is no draft. No government compulsion. The universal soldier, s/he really needs to give it up. Now. Else, it shall never, ever, end.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A50lVLtSQik]
That's really not a fair assessment, though
it is surely a true statement to an extent:
I can completely agree with that sentiment. But here's the thing--until the United States government does more about their appalling economy, which has turned our military into a "career path" for millions of high school graduates, that's sure as hell not going to change any time soon. Lots of them go that route because, depending on where they happen to live, they think (and maybe have even demonstrated to themselves somehow) that there might not be anything better available to them.
so sorry,
but killing people and breaking things—which is what the military is about—that is not a "career path."
Our clients, they are not allowed to simply walk, because they are suffering in an "appalling economy," and "there might not be anything better available to them."
The dead and broken people around the world, they are not comforted by the fact that, as they were snuffed out of existence, or their lives destroyed, at least some Americans, in causing that, they had a "job."
The military is not a "job." It is anathema.
Ok, that's pretty clear.
And I don't believe anything I say can dissuade you from that belief.
However, I believe that the service is honorable if currently severely flawed. I've spoken many times about the need for severe reform, and my stance against war in general.
I just know that there are foul people in this world who attack others. The real trick is to prepare to deal with them, without becoming them. (IMHO Switzerland's managed it pretty well for centuries... we could learn a lot from them on the subject)
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
I didn't say it was a "good career path"
what I said was "it has been turned into one". You're barking up the wrong tree, battling anyone here over this, given the number of high school guidance counselors in this country who regularly host local military recruiters.
i didn't say
"good career path" either. Check and see.
I don't bark.
Who cares what is "the number of high school guidance counselors in this country who regularly host local military recruiters." They're not god. They can't order anyone into the military. People have to volunteer.
You're missing my point
Have you ever lived anywhere near the "sticks" in the last ten years? Lots of "flyover" country out there, and I wonder how much time you've ever spent in some of its poorer, more jobless areas.
I suspect the military is glad jobs are scarce
since the government wants soldiers then it works for them to not solve the problem of joblessness.
Still, just because the only job available to some is soldiering, to kill or be killed, that doesn't make it acceptable.
I've lived in the 'sticks'
I've worked in a pulp mill, been a waitress, worked at an old folks home for nothiing and experienced all my life 'bring poor'. How is this as rationalization for the people who sign on to kill, and afflict unspeakable torture mayhem and death on other humans that live on this earth? Wow I need a job so I'll join up and destroy, kill, torture, mutilate and enact unspeakable crimes against humanity and then come back to the USA to only be tossed in the dustbin as damaged goods. I may not live in flyover country but this is the lamest excuse I ever have heard for joining up to kill fellow humans on this earth. I need a job. So join the rest of us and do not volunteer to be America's death squad enforcers for the psycho's that Uncle Sam wants.
i've
always lived in the sticks. Always. All my life. I live there now.
And I do understand your point. You're arguing that people should get a pass for joining the military because they need a "job." I disagree. And the people who are killed, and whose lives are destroyed, by those who are in the military, because they needed a "job," they disagree too.
As I believe you also would disagree. If foreign soldiers came to where you live, and started there killing people and breaking things. Or would that be okay with you? Because they needed a "job"?
Well, I don't know if you've read Smedley Butler.
But it is not the soldier who creates war. It is the captains of industry, the politicians, and the chickenhawks who create war. Soldiers would rather spend their time of service in peace, and any that tell you differently have never experienced war. Those that have are some of the greatest advocates for peace.
There is government compulsion, unless of course you believe that there is no government/corporate interest in keeping wages so low that the service is the only option save crime.
Lanza was a huge fan of shootings, as I said before. He was also unstable, taken off medication, and while the media claims that there were multiple "Games" that allow you to roleplay a mass shooting, I know of only two that were available at the time of the massacre. One is of course Super Columbine Massacre, A widely panned game that is only widely known due to unceasing media attention, and the "No Russian" scene from Call of Duty that attempted to gain the same kind of publicity through mindless violence and controversy courting. Sadly it worked.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
lanza
killed people in video games, tens of thousands of them. That's simply a fact. Apparently no amount of links will get through to you. That's fine. Deny it if you will.
Complete falsehood, that "service is the only option save crime." The young men living either side of me, they have managed—and easily—to live lives, at low wages, without either committing crimes in civilian life, or becoming serial killers for the military. And they are but two, of millions. And millions. And millions.
Of course I've read Smedley Butler. And of course it is soldiers who create war. For "the captains of industry, the politicians, and the chickenhawks"—these are nothing but big, impotent mouths. Without all those universal soldiers, who willingly shoulder the guns, and go off to kill.
The universal soldiers, they can either "drop their rifles and go home to their families," as Gurdjieff suggested, or they are complicit as serial killers. They do not get to evade responsibility. They have volunteered.
You're repeating a refrain here.
I am not denying a thing. What I am saying is there is a vast difference in experiences. When you claim that Lanza Killed people in games with headshots, that makes me assume that he was a player of Mainstream Media games, which emphasize the glory and gore of war. These are the games that are extremely profitable, and degrade the industry and people as a whole. Grossman had issues with them, and so do I. Especially those that use a light gun (Mostly found only in arcades now) and those that glorify war without consequences. While these are profitable and numerous, it is due to MSM relentless marketing. These are cheap and easy to produce games (While the budget is high, the reason for that is similar to the reasons for the budgets for hollywood blockbusters. Essentially they pad the budget with unrelated expenses in order to skim off the top) which are then sold as widely as possible. They are gaming junk food, and just as good for you.
And I will tell my story, and you can decide if it's a complete falsehood. There I am, living on the street, children about to be taken by social services unless I can IMMEDIATELY show stability. Military offered room, board, medical and dental for my family immediately. I chose to join the service. No, my family would not help me, I checked with them first. Did I eventually lose my kids? Yes, but it was only because I served that the judge took my side against social service workers who kept moving the goal posts when I endeavored to get them back.
You claim that all those who advocate for war are impotent, but they are the ones who can destroy a soldier should he choose not to serve. Be it through social shaming, economic destruction, or just flat out imprisonment, there are many tools in the hands of those "Impotent Mouths" to ensure grist for the mill of war.
You clearly believe that nobody can choose to defend his fellow citizen without desiring to kill and to consider it a good thing. I disagree. I believe that a soldier bears the burden of a societies choices. It is when that society chooses to treat the soldier as a sacrificial goat onto which to place its sins, that is when war truly is terrible.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
i will
say this as gently as I can, and then I am going to bow out.
I am sorry for the situation that you found yourself in. Truly. But I do not believe that it justifies you entering an entity devoted solely to killing people and breaking things. And the people killed, and the things broken, they don't—didn't—think it does, either.
If, someday, the topsy is turvyed, and the United States is blanketed with foreign soldiers, come to kill people and break things, I doubt many Americans are going to think that's okay, because those soldiers were hard up, and could use a job, and believe they are "defending their fellow citizens."
I bear you no malice, though we disagree strongly.
I respect the fact that you disagree honestly, and openly.
I never believe that war is a good thing. I will never believe that killing people is a good thing.
I do believe that the soldier can be FAR more than what the media wants us to think of him as. I believe in service, and I believe that sometimes the best way to avoid doing something is to understand it.
I will quote a soldier, Miamoto Musashi, so I understand if you consider the source biased, but I think it an important quote for understanding the mentality of many soldiers: "The ultimate aim of martial arts is not having to use them"
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Nobody who knows anything about psychology would
agree with you. There can be no reasonable doubt that first-person shooters enable more effective and efficient slaughter by the individuals who play them.
Simulations -- including simulations of slaughtering other people for entertainment -- create the neurological patterns necessary to enable the simulated actions in non-simulated circumstances. They just do. In this sense, the simulations certainly do create killers -- they allow the brain experiencing the simulation to become prepared, emotionally, rationally, and practically, to carry out the simulated behavior.
This is why we train. This is why martial artists train. This is why athletes train. This is why first responders train. This is why soldiers train. We need what is an extreme and rare circumstance to become familiar and ordinary, so that the brain can respond deftly in real time, without shock or amazement or befuddlement.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
And Grossman agrees with you.
It was one of the points of the book near the end where he discusses the modern methods for training shooters with the pop-up green targets and how those techniques were adopted by modern "Light Gun" games. In essence he disagreed strongly with the use of Shoot/Don't Shoot simulations as entertainment. (He also was writing at a time when these were the prominent games in arcades. )
The point I make is that blaming games for acclimatizing people to violence resonates very strongly with arguments that have been put forth in the past with regards to comic books, music, film, and even plays. Yes, there is a difference, between acting out an act and merely observing, but the difference between a modern FPS and actual combat is so severe as to be quite similar to those who think they can be an action movie hero because they watched Arnold Schwarzenegger mow down enemies.
Yes, I believe that violence in media is over-saturated, and frankly am very uncomfortable with it. It is the reason I pulled the plug on my TV, and only allow what I choose to see into my home. Of course, that's also coming from someone who has been involved in actual violence and as a result finds little joy in that form of entertainment.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
I think we should also keep in mind
that a number of very talented developers have managed to subvert the genre and create games that explore racism, sexism, and xenophobia through the first/third person shooter. DetroitMechWorks already mentioned Spec Ops: The Line, which is an amazing anti-war game, but you also have a series like Bioshock, which is an epic takedown of objectivism and conservative ideology.
You also have Japanese games like Metal Gear Solid, which are critiques of the military industrial complex, action movie tropes, and nuclear proliferation. It was talking about private military companies (PMCs) and technological warfare before they became mainstream topics of debate.
Sure, you'll always have the dudebro cash cow FPS series like Call of Duty, but there is a lot of diversity out there and people trying to create new kinds of software that make gamers conscious about what they're doing in playing them.
Did I wander into a religious right forum?
Really? We're back to blaming media?
Oh no, the video games are poisoning our children!
Oh no, that evil rock and roll music and those swaying hips are poisoning our children!
Please, leave that stuff for the far right nutters.
you are in denial about the narrow-mindedness
with regards to the impact of media on the people. May be in ten to twenty years this discussion would reveal more honest facts and arguments. In my 16 years of reading blogs, I have never found anybody among the bloggers and gamers, who would admit any impact of their trade on their users. I think it's ridiculous.
Obviously I have no interest in that discussion, because it's always one-sided and prejudiced.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Mimi,
I'm not going to blame video games on all the violence or misogyny in the world. Just like I'm not going to blame music on it, like the poster you responded to mentioned.
My 17 year old son has played video games, sometimes violent ones, for years and has never been violent. Never had an issue at school, and never with police. As a matter of fact, unless someone moves to his school next year, or god forbid, something horrible happens, he'll be valedictorian. At least 50 different colleges & universities have contacted him via snail mail - even Harvard and other Ivy Leagues.
I was worried about his DNA, because his father is a sociopath serving a 99 year sentence, but maybe nurture worked. Or, maybe enough of my DNA has kept his father's at bay. I don't know; but, the fine young man I've raised is capable of empathy, so a sociopath he is not.
Those violent video games didn't turn my son into a killer or a misogynist. He was watching Bernie videos before I'd even made up my mind about Bernie last year. He came to me about Bernie.
the poster to which I responded talked in broad terms
about "media blaming" because apparently everybody who does has some right-wing religious fundamentalist pov, which I consider baloney.
Media is not video games. I doubt that anyone who is raised today can see himself consciously living within a lifestyle that is manipulated by the media. They are born into it and there is no way of knowing, how people would be different if they had not been raised in the media dominated and dominating world.
People who did not grow up in this environment but see themselves growing into it and being more and more dependent on it, have no courage to face the changes involved in their lifestyle.
This site is showing it too. How large is the percentage of posts and comments that make an argument with help of a fictious piece of video clip? How much is your perception influenced by thousands of twitter and facebook video hints that reflect on a political point in repetitive ways over and over again, the more in your face or funny or brutally honest, the better.
I am not a debater. I just call baloney to say we are not manipulated by media.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Fair enough
Love ya, as always, lady!
heh, I got cranky during the last four days, should step
away for a bit and not get miffed about some lax language. Sorry.
https://www.euronews.com/live
I'll always love my Mimi
Don't ever stop being you, please! And never stop posting how you see things. This is not TOP, so we're free to disagree. As some say in my parts it, 'Ain't nothin' but a thang.'
Sorry, but it baffles me why a certain subpopulation of
left/liberal/libertarians maintains this one very specific blind spot. Culture drives behavior. Mass media is our culture. Denying a relationship between violence in "entertainment" and violence elsewhere in our culture is bizarre. There is nothing far right or nutty about asserting what is in fact obvious to anyone who does not have a particular emotional attachment to the material being challenged.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
So the religious right is correct?
Are you saying that you agree with the religious right, and that we need to legislate morality?
Be careful where the desire to shape morality takes you. It opens up justifications for a lot of things you probably hate.
I'm okay with letting YOU arbitrate whether
or not we as a society will tolerate "entertainment" that stokes violent anti-social behavior in a subset of the population, very much in line with G2Geek's "stochastic terrorism" model.
What I'm not okay with letting you do is pretend that you are not sacrificing some of your fellow citizens on the altar of your personal "right" to be entertained by simulated psychopathy.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Our sick relationship with sex & sexuality
With all due respect, the Bible refers to rape, homosexuality (and not just the stupid abomination shit in Leviticus), and also places women in a position always second to men.
As far as I know, there were no video games 6000 years ago. Prior to the days the Bible talk about, women had more equality in the region - at least according to the book When God was a Woman.
Also, our Puritan settlers had very sexist, yet entitled views toward women (god only knows how they viewed homosexuality). Again, as far as I know, there were no video games 500 years ago, 200 years ago or even 50 years ago.
Rape, misogyny, homophobia, ridiculous gender roles, etc. have been around wayyy longer than video games.
I blame organized misogynistic religion for our views on sex and sexuality.
6000 years ago, contempt for women and approval of violence
towards them as a "solution" to their behavior was promulgated through the holy texts and other "media" of the time -- through the mainstream organs of social communication of those societies.
Today, those same ideas are promulgated through our organs of social communication -- mass media and popular culture "entertainment". What seems to you as a slam-dunk argument very nearly is -- but for the opposite conclusion to that which you endorse.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
So many sick bastards in the world.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
I was just trying to put something together here
for this sick, senseless tragedy. The luna household is saddened and stunned this morning. We have lots of artist friends and in this part of Florida (Volusia/Flagler/Seminole/Orange) we're pretty close-knit. Many of them are younger than us and many, many Voice fans. So many loved and admired this amazing, talented young artist.
It doesn't help that this shit happened just right down the road from us, relatively speaking. It's horrible. When the fuck does it stop? It happens every single day to those who *aren't* artists. But to add to the misery, for me, personally, it evokes Dimebag Darrell and John Lennon. I am sick to my soul over another senseless shooting....
Holy mother of FSM
can anybody confirm this?
People is now reporting that someone hacked Grimmie's account last night, and tweeted "The End".
How do you hack someone's Twitter account, anyway? Something is going on with that platform in general lately, I had a similar thing happen the other night, but Twitter claimed they caught the hacking attempt, and locked my account. My guess is that it happens a lot, but I only noticed it at the time because I happened to be posting in it when it was locked. But it took them a couple hours to get back to me with a reset link, so in my mind, that means it happened to a lot of people at one time. Talk about "keeping people in fear"? That is actually pretty freakin' scary, if it's true, even if it's just some sicko-humored 4chan alum with nothing better to do on a Friday night...
Twitter was hacked, luna
and up to 32 thousand passwords were stolen. I have only seen one article on it and I think it was on SF Gate.
Not sure of the number of passwords stolen, the story was 2 days ago.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Thank you for that info!
Had no idea, but maybe one of them was mine. It actually happened 2 days ago, I was eating dinner and surfing around while I was doing it. I hadn't been on Twitter much lately, either, so glad I dropped by with the timing I did it in.
As for this story? Yeah, some loser with nothing better to do, that happened to have access to her account.
That's mighty fascinating...
Let's cut to the chase
In order to defend our rights, court proceedings are notoriously slow and meticulous. In order to speed up the process, we'd need more courtrooms, judges, and support staff. We'd need more defense attorneys, especially public defenders.
But the people refuse to pay for such a system. It would cost a great deal. They would rather let the NRA talk them into armed anarchy with laws that allow you to decide to be judge, jury, and executioner just because you felt threatened.
A logical person would likely conclude that no one would be safe under such a system. A logical person would be correct.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
It's not "the people"
It's the people's alleged representatives in legislatures, who get bullied or bribed into bowing to the NRA's will. The situation has already gone beyond appalling into the no words left to describe it territory.
And what of the courts?
The people of CA MUST approve tax increases in order to fund things like expenditures to expand courts and jurists. Such initiatives don't pass very often. Our backlog in our courts is incredible, and "retired" judges might as well be working full-time, for it would coast us tax payers less money for the same production. Yet all you hear out here is "Prop 13! Prop 13!" if you dare to insinuate that Justice can't be served without more money going into the effort.
Jerry Brown went to the people to get a small increase in our state sales taxes to get the deficit under control. We voters approved, and we are now in much better economic shape than we were. It can be done, but a politician would have to demonstrate LEADERSHIP - something too few know anything about.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Shooting at The Plaza Theatre.
I live about 2 blocks (walking distance) from The Plaza Theatre in downtown Orlando. It is a stupid, tragic shame that some loony tune fruitcake decided to commit murder/suicide and take this young woman's life. It will also make attending shows a royal P.I.T.A. The Plaza is a great venue to see shows, be they music, theatre, multi-media, etc. We are now going to have to deal with the security fear syndrome. The cops have stated that the young woman did not know her murderer. This is Floridumb, the Gunshine State. It is much easier to walk into a bar here, armed, than to get a healthy meal. GRRRRRRR, it makes me so mad! Rec'd!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
I bet that disgusting pig of
I bet that disgusting pig of a human Wayne Lapierre is sitting at home right now spanking the monkey while fantasizing about all the new gun sales being generated by yet another high profile shooting.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
We loved watching her . . .
in her YouTube days.
Sad shit
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
I grew up in Orlando within walking distance of that place
I lived right down the road off Bumby, and it's not a place you would expect to have a lot of violent crime. Well lit, city police patrols. Even today. It used to be part of the old Colonial Mall before it was remodelled extensively. You can drive from there to the original Bernie Sanders HQ in Orlando just in five minutes or so. Generally residential areas, except for busy Colonial Blvd.
Never heard of the singer until the shooting. A crime of passion? A jilted fan or stalker? Who knows? The world spins faster for me every year that I get older.
A new twist on the old 'murder ballads"
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogTh2CpOwzo]
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Even before 9/11
this society was inundated with violence as entertainment and news.Video games TV movies and people like Franken saying on air America as he touted Toby Keith 'hey were a violent people, so what.' After 9/11 they flooded the populace with violence, hatred and fear. They soften us up for torture and war crimes.
I had two boy children in the 60's. As a DFH peacenik anti-war activist I intentionally washed their brains in hopes they would not take to killing 'gooks' or who ever we deemed the enemy in the future. I would back my car over the toy guns their patriotic relatives gave them. I monitored their TV watching so they didn't get exposed to, or softened to killing torturing or maiming each other as normal or entertainment. It worked neither of them believe violence, torture and killing is acceptable and do not as adults watch or condone this violence porn this culture of death seems to love so much.
I do not like violent dark computer games or violent dark TV and movies. This is a warped view of humans. Sure it exists and always has but this culture, this society has adopted it as the world as we find it. It's not. It's the culture of death the US now perpetuates on the world via entertainment, hate propaganda and insane fear and loathing of other.
It amazes me that sex, an act of love is rated x where as violence, war and death are PG. Yeah it's manly and honorable to kill to protect your country from existential threats. Dehumanization is required and computer games are chilling in their casual killing and mayhem to the other. You win the game. Your score was high. The Joker was defeated, the enemy isn't human. Psychotic snipers are hero's. Torturers are patriotic.
I got HRed into oblivion at dkos by the witches of DEO for saying that our military was racist in that black people had been funneled into the voluntary military. As desperate people they were offered a way to escape the poverty and violence they lived in, only to trade one form of violence and death for another. Didn't Rumsveld say that a bad economy made more people willing to join up? None of this violence porn is defensible it's the stuff of future and past nightmares.
Yes!
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X