Has Our Nation Gone Mad???

[JohnnyReb]

Another thought on this subject. If it wasn't for television and the Internet we wouldn't even be aware of most the things happening in the world. Only the past 100 years have we been so tuned in to world events. Before then anything short of a big war was unheard of outside your local community. Now with 24/7 news nothing goes un known.

The world had always been mad. We are only more informed and aware of it.

 

[HankD]

Another thought on this subject. If it wasn't for television and the Internet we wouldn't even be aware of most the things happening in the world. Only the past 100 years have we been so tuned in to world events. Before then anything short of a big war was unheard of outside your local community. Now with 24/7 news nothing goes un known.

The world had always been mad. We are only more informed and aware of it.

Good thought Johnny and exactly correct. Actually that's only part of the problem. International tension can be inflamed in seconds now rather than weeks, months and even years. Take the schoolboy antics between Obama and Putin. They can turn deadly in a moment and everyone sees and hears it instantly.

Also, the same human technology that gives us this instantaneous communication also gives us "bigger and better" killing machines (Hiroshima, Nagasaki), WMD's, etc...

"Bigger and better" delivery systems - Stratospheric air craft, rockets, ICBM's, etc...

Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.​

Our response (or should be): Prayer not fear.​

HankD​

 

[Yeshua1]

Good thought Johnny and exactly correct. Actually that's only part of the problem. International tension can be inflamed in seconds now rather than weeks, months and even years. Take the schoolboy antics between Obama and Putin. They can turn deadly in a moment and everyone sees and hears it instantly.

Also, the same human technology that gives us this instantaneous communication also gives us "bigger and better" killing machines (Hiroshima, Nagasaki), WMD's, etc...

"Bigger and better" delivery systems - Stratospheric air craft, rockets, ICBM's, etc...

Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.​

Our response (or should be): Prayer not fear.​

HankD​

just seems that the world is getting close to the 'boiling point", and that especially in the Mid East now, the jews and the <uslimsappear to be heasding fora showdown!

seems that conditions are getting set up to have a world leader to set up peace in the Mid east, to help economic, and to promote peaxce and unity among religions of the world!

 

[HankD]

just seems that the world is getting close to the 'boiling point", and that especially in the Mid East now, the jews and the <uslimsappear to be heasding fora showdown!

seems that conditions are getting set up to have a world leader to set up peace in the Mid east, to help economic, and to promote peaxce and unity among religions of the world!

Agreed. It seems so.

HankD

 

[saturneptune]

Another thought on this subject. If it wasn't for television and the Internet we wouldn't even be aware of most the things happening in the world. Only the past 100 years have we been so tuned in to world events. Before then anything short of a big war was unheard of outside your local community. Now with 24/7 news nothing goes un known.

The world had always been mad. We are only more informed and aware of it.

Yes, I agree. We have been mad since sin entered the world. It is like in another thread someone mentioned the increase in earthquakes as a sign of the end. Is this true, or do we just detect them better with advanced technology.

One thing I do notice from fifty years ago, in general, the public is more selfish, demanding, less courteous and respect and love have grown cold.

Instead of looking to headlines from FOX and CNN, notice it in your everyday life. For example, when I hold the door open for someone, I used to get a thank you. Now they walk through without a word like it was my obligation. You can notice it in retail stores, driving in traffic, and waiting in line. You notice it even at churches, how people act in a self centered manner. That is the difference.

 

[HankD]

One thing I do notice from fifty years ago, in general, the public is more selfish, demanding, less courteous and respect and love have grown cold.

And abortion was considered a horrible crime.

HankD

 

[Dr. Bob]

Getting real tired of having to move topics of general interest (like this one on a current event topic that is NOT limited to Baptists) and that are NOT BAPTIST-SPECIFIC.

Sigh. That's why I get paid the big bucks to help folks. :BangHead:

MOVED from Baptist only topic to current events

 

[General Mung Beans]

Each generation thinks it is seeing the "end of the world" on the horizon. Well, it is coming, but this behavior goes hand in hand with Jesus' warning of "wars and rumors of war." It happens. It always has. It always will. Be on watch for yourself, not the world.

Amen.

Yes this all the result of sin. We also condone these violent video games like Grand Theft Auto, violent movies, and the like. I will also add that the workplace in many places is unfair in that we allow employers to lie, and treat people unfairly, etc..

Violent video games and movies are far less contributive to violence then guns are. Yet just as I am willing to stand for the Second Amendment, so I am for the First.

 

[Revmitchell]

Violent video games and movies are far less contributive to violence then guns are.

A recent Harvard study showed less guns does not mean less violence. And there are no studies to show your point.

 

[Crabtownboy]

A recent Harvard study showed less guns does not mean less violence. And there are no studies to show your point.

You continue your wishful thinking Rev.

Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: A meta-analytic review …
CA Anderson, BJ Bushman - Psychological science, 2001 - pss.sagepub.com
Abstract Research on exposure to television and movie violence suggests that playing
violent video games will increase aggressive behavior. A meta-analytic review of the video-
game research literature reveals that violent video games increase aggressive behavior in ...
Cited by 1315 Related articles All 25 versions Cite

An update on the effects of playing violent video games
CA Anderson - Journal of adolescence, 2004 - Elsevier
This article presents a brief overview of existing research on the effects of exposure to
violent video games. An updated meta-analysis reveals that exposure to violent video
games is significantly linked to increases in aggressive behaviour, aggressive cognition, ...

The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance
DA Gentile, PJ Lynch, JR Linder, DA Walsh - Journal of adolescence, 2004 - Elsevier
Video games have become one of the favorite activities of American children. A growing
body of research is linking violent video game play to aggressive cognitions, attitudes, and
behaviors. The first goal of this study was to document the video games habits of ...

Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries: a meta-analytic review.
CA Anderson, A Shibuya, N Ihori, EL Swing… - Psychological …, 2010 - psycnet.apa.org
Abstract 1. Meta-analytic procedures were used to test the effects of violent video games on
aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal,
empathy/desensitization, and prosocial behavior. Unique features of this meta-analytic ...

 

[Bro. Curtis]

Art imitates life, not the other way around. Charles Whitman never played a video game.

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

You continue your wishful ... [yadda yadda yadda] ... Unique features of this meta-analytic ...

I would suggest you read this, from no less than PBS:

http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html

Synopsizing the lengthy discussion of the eight myths discussed ...

1. The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence.
According to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a 30-year low ...

2. Scientific evidence links violent game play with youth aggression.

Claims like this are based on the work of researchers who represent one relatively narrow school of research, "media effects." This research includes some 300 studies of media violence. But most of those studies are inconclusive and many have been criticized on methodological grounds ...

3. Children are the primary market for video games.

While most American kids do play video games, the center of the video game market has shifted older as the first generation of gamers continues to play into adulthood. Already 62 percent of the console market and 66 percent of the PC market is age 18 or older ...

4. Almost no girls play computer games.

Historically, the video game market has been predominantly male. However, the percentage of women playing games has steadily increased over the past decade ...

5. Because games are used to train soldiers to kill, they have the same impact on the kids who play them.

[Note: This is a very llengthy paragraph discussing research on how and what people learn from video games, and it negates this argument.]

6. Video games are not a meaningful form of expression.

On April 19, 2002, U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. ruled that video games do not convey ideas and thus enjoy no constitutional protection ... Overturning a similar decision in Indianapolis, Federal Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner noted: "To shield children right up to the age of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming; it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it." ...

7. Video game play is socially isolating.

Much video game play is social. Almost 60 percent of frequent gamers play with friends. Thirty-three percent play with siblings and 25 percent play with spouses or parents. Even games designed for single players are often played socially, with one person giving advice to another holding a joystick ...

8. Video game play is desensitizing.

Classic studies of play behavior among primates suggest that apes make basic distinctions between play fighting and actual combat. In some circumstances, they seem to take pleasure wrestling and tousling with each other. In others, they might rip each other apart in mortal combat. Game designer and play theorist Eric Zimmerman describes the ways we understand play as distinctive from reality as entering the "magic circle." The same action — say, sweeping a floor — may take on different meanings in play (as in playing house) than in reality (housework) ...

That's a bit long, too, but it beats cutting-and-pasting the whole page. The nonsense about video games turning youth into killers and "living dead" with no feelings is the same kind of horse hockey that was said about 50s rock music. That said, I wouldn't recommend anyone buy or play the games Grand Theft Auto 1-5 simply because I can think of better ways to spend my time or recommend time-spending to others. The reality is, anything can become obsessive/addictive, if one engages in it to unreasonable lengths. The key -- as we keep coming back to time and time again -- is parents taking responsibility for their children and making sure they aren't being "baby-sat" by things, but are spurred to physical, mental and spiritual activity in a well-balanced manner.

 

[poncho]

Blaming violence on video games is being used as a distraction from the very real possibility that the violence comes from all the SSRI drugs these mass murderers have been on.

I can't think of one "mass shooter" in the last few years that hasn't been on some type of SSRI drug and these drugs are known to cause violent and suicidal tendencies.

Why the lack of public debate? Corporate $$$