Boys kill friend using "Mortal kombat" moves

[Cerek]

Originally posted by Vaskez: Hehe, there's no point arguing since we're both saying the same thing in slightly different ways. LOL if you re-read our posts it seems that you are arguing with me by agreeing - I know that doesn't make sense grammatically, but that's what's happening. Let me just reiterate: The movies/games put the ideas into the kids' heads and may act as triggers as you say, but only in minds that are already messed up, and this usually happens due to lack of proper role-models and lack of source of "healthy" ideas when they are growing up. I also played loads of such games, starting with Wolfenstein 3D then Doom 1 & 2, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 1, 2 & 3 etc. I've never made anyone bleed in my life. I won't say I've never hit anyone, cos I have playfights all the time

LOLOLOL!!! I'm not arguing with you at all this time, Vaskez. My comments about the game and it's influence were directed to other posters who have claimed the game had NO influence on the actions of the boys.

Should have made that a little clearer in MY post, though.

[Cerek]

Originally posted by Luvian: If they really wanted to kill but had never watched that movie they just have stabed them instead. Knowledge is not a crime, it's how you use it that is.

Perhaps, Luvian, but there is no way to definitevily prove the teens were going to kill a homeless person anyway - then just happened to get the idea of burning them (instead of stabbing them) from the movie.

For one thing, pouring gas on a sleeping person and striking a match is a lot less "up close and personal" than stabbing. The teens never have to actually touch the victim (allowing them to remain somewhat "detached" from their actions mentally). They just pour the gas, then drop a match from a distance. Stabbing would require them to actually grab and hold the person while plunging a knife into them. No way to "mentally distance" yourself from that kind of action.

But whether they would have killed anyway or not is really a moot point. The salient point is that they DID kill two homeless people in the EXACT same manner as was done in the movie - and they did it within something like 10 days of seeing the movie. As I said before, the correlation between the movie and their actions can NOT be denied - because setting homeless people on fire for thrills is NOT a common action. There is no way to deny the movie influenced their actions.

The same principle applies to video games and other media that portray violent acts. These things DO have an influence on the kids that play or watch them. I agree that the MAJORITY of kids will not "act out" what they see in a game or movie, but there will always be some who do. When it is routine for you to shoot at police in a video game (such as the latest version of GTA) and be "rewarded" for it, then it isn't surprising that some kids will transfer that experience to real life. The game may not be the primary cause - but the influence it has on the kids actions cannot be denied.

[shamrock_uk]

Originally posted by Vaskez: That's cos the whole world's on a downward spiral in terms of humanity, even if it is on an upward spiral in terms of technology and wealth. It might take a Terminator-like turn of events to get things moving in the right direction again...but I digress...

I'm only 21, so for me to criticise the 'youth of today' is vaguely amusing, but I really agree with you. There have been several 'low level' instances of cruelty and some far more serious examples generally involving young teenagers. Two examples that spring to mind is a gang of about 20 kids that attacked a swan in my local town and left it half dead and missing some limbs. More seriously there was a black person stabbed in another large town near my home after being chased by a gang of 15 teenagers aged about 12-14 and including girls. Something is definitely happening

BTW Shamrock - I just checked the link in your sig - I've never seen that site before but it's funnny that I already used exactly all the things it recommends. That's Opera browser and email, Kerio firewall and AVG anti-virus and I use spybot. Glad to see that guy knows what he's talking about.

Glad you like the site! Actually I put it together a couple of weeks ago in a bid to reduce my 'housecalls' at university - going with the prevention instead of cure! I haven't really got the time available at the moment, but if people keep using it then I might expand it and include user guides, configurations etc and get a decent domain name for it.

The browser section is still too one-sided for my liking as well, so if anyone knows of some good Firefox sites like the Opera Wiki please do let me know - I just don't have time to go hunting myself.

[Cerek]

Originally posted by Bahamut: I have been enjoying violence in video games. In fact it has kept me sane. [img]smile.gif[/img] I mean come on, it's a video game. It has RATINGS to begin with so that very young children aren't able to get their hands on it. Parents also should be supervising their children. Bottom line is: if the parents know their children real well, this would not have happened. Apathy and non-action is the ultimate recipe for these types of situations.

Sorry, Bahamut, but I can't completely agree with your last sentiment. I've known parents who did everything they could to raise their kids right, and still had them turn out to be lawbreakers.

The two teens from Columbine were brought up in very respectable (and rather wealthy) homes. They had every socio-economic advantage a teen could want, but still went on one of the worst killing sprees this country has ever seen. Sure, it's easy to blame the parents and accuse them of not paying any attention to the kids and their actions. They were dressing in black all the time, but many of our OWN members here went through a "goth period" during their teens. And it is normal for ALL teens to go through a "rebellious" period as they establish their own identities. ANY parent who has a teen knows that trying to "pry" into their kids actions during this phase will often lead to the kid becoming even MORE reclusive and rebellious.

I agree that parents do have a HUGE responsibility to be aware of what their kids are doing and thinking, but even the best parent in the world can't always predict or control what their child does. And how many parents would honostly believe their son was capable of that kind of horrific act???

Ultimately, the responsibility lies with the kids themselves. The parents can only do so much.

[Legolas]

Originally posted by Cerek: The same principle applies to video games and other media that portray violent acts. These things DO have an influence on the kids that play or watch them. I agree that the MAJORITY of kids will not "act out" what they see in a game or movie, but there will always be some who do. When it is routine for you to shoot at police in a video game (such as the latest version of GTA) and be "rewarded" for it, then it isn't surprising that some kids will transfer that experience to real life. The game may not be the primary cause - but the influence it has on the kids actions cannot be denied.

Actually, I think it's perfectly normal for children to "act out" what they see in a game or movie. I have shot and been shot by my brother and cousins more times than I can remember with both guns and arrows, thrown grenades, fought battles with swords and sticks, climbed rooftops, infiltrated military bases, flown airplanes, raced cars, shapeshifted into animal forms, captured beachheads and "acted out" countless other things. Some I thought up myself, most were inspired by something I'd seen or heard elsewhere.
However, cries of pain when your sword'd hit a hand instead of the other blade, or tears when someone fell painfully, or a call to signify dinner was ready has always meant stop to me. We used hands, or crude wooden models, or waterballoons, or pretending to make it all work.

I'd never seriously consider harming someone for laughs, because I was taught that when someone gets hurt, the game is over and it's time to find a parent who'll kiss the sore spot.

[Jerr Conner]

Correlations are just that, correlations. Correlations can't apply to everyone and everything, and aren't proof enough for me, IMO.

As I've said, I remember disobeying rules as a kid and the easiest way to get a lesser punishment was to say something else influenced me when that wasn't even on my mind at the time.

[Vaskez]

Originally posted by shamrock_uk: quote: Originally posted by Vaskez: That's cos the whole world's on a downward spiral in terms of humanity, even if it is on an upward spiral in terms of technology and wealth. It might take a Terminator-like turn of events to get things moving in the right direction again...but I digress...

I'm only 21, so for me to criticise the 'youth of today' is vaguely amusing, but I really agree with you. There have been several 'low level' instances of cruelty and some far more serious examples generally involving young teenagers. Two examples that spring to mind is a gang of about 20 kids that attacked a swan in my local town and left it half dead and missing some limbs. More seriously there was a black person stabbed in another large town near my home after being chased by a gang of 15 teenagers aged about 12-14 and including girls. Something is definitely happening

BTW Shamrock - I just checked the link in your sig - I've never seen that site before but it's funnny that I already used exactly all the things it recommends. That's Opera browser and email, Kerio firewall and AVG anti-virus and I use spybot. Glad to see that guy knows what he's talking about.

Glad you like the site! Actually I put it together a couple of weeks ago in a bid to reduce my 'housecalls' at university - going with the prevention instead of cure! I haven't really got the time available at the moment, but if people keep using it then I might expand it and include user guides, configurations etc and get a decent domain name for it.

The browser section is still too one-sided for my liking as well, so if anyone knows of some good Firefox sites like the Opera Wiki please do let me know - I just don't have time to go hunting myself. [/QUOTE]Well don't worry, I'm not much older than you but I feel grown-up enough to criticise those 7 or 8 years younger than me
And oh, didn't realise YOU made that site! Well, as I was saying: all the stuff you recommend, was the stuff I was already using, so would have recommended it too, great minds and all that [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Spelca]

Originally posted by Bahamut: I mean come on, it's a video game. It has RATINGS to begin with so that very young children aren't able to get their hands on it. Parents also should be supervising their children.

Ratings in Sweden, for example, are only advisory. The same in Slovenia, and lots of other countries as well. So a 12-year-old could go into a store and buy a violent game. I do agree with you, though, that it's the parents' responsibility to check what kind of games their children are buying.

[Hivetyrant]

But we cant expect parents to always know what games we are buying, i would easily have over 100 games, and my parents would only be aware of about 4 of them, I have gotten alot of them in recent years, but when I was young, I was playing blood, Doom, Quake, Blood 2, and so on...
I have been playing violent killing games all my life and the only way it has affected me was this random urge to viciously kill people....
*twitches and walks away from computer, axe in hand*

[Spelca]

I know that's a problem. I know lots of kids that know much much more about computers and games as their parents, so their parents really don't have much control there (since they're practically clueless).