germany
Follow Up
March, 19, 2009 01:51 PM
From contributer Patrick:
“Apropos your blog post, this article illustrates some glaring differences between US and UK regarding media violence and gun violence. Unfortunately, the watchdog group mentioned here was just a tad late, but maybe that indicates that gov't regulation doesn't stand a chance against commerce. I compare it to how building a Walmart takes about half a year, while merely renovating a subway station takes about three years.”
“Apropos your blog post, this article illustrates some glaring differences between US and UK regarding media violence and gun violence. Unfortunately, the watchdog group mentioned here was just a tad late, but maybe that indicates that gov't regulation doesn't stand a chance against commerce. I compare it to how building a Walmart takes about half a year, while merely renovating a subway station takes about three years.”
Videogames = Violence?
March, 18, 2009 08:09 PM
A good friend of mine and I have held a longstanding debate regarding media and violence, more specifically, the role of video games. While I maintain that nurture and direct parental involvement are the chief predictors of behavior in children, Patrick R’s insights on the recent school shootings in Germany were intriguing. As a dual citizen, he has a special insight on the situation.
Patrick’s thoughts:
This person took their father's registered gun, so it was in some sense the father's negligence that made this possible. And if someone is psychotic enough, no amount of gun control will stop them from their goal.
To me, gun control only helps prevent spontaneous shootings. If you don't have a gun on you, you can't just snap for a minute and do something extremely regrettable. But if you're sufficiently lacking in the head and pre-meditate a shooting, it is quite possible.
You could blame society for failing this individual, but we can't all check up on the activities of our neighbors all the time. That's how East Germany was, for better or worse (mainly worse, because it was being done for all the wrong reasons). The right to privacy in our modern society is also the right to be a recluse.
But since this person was underage, the parents would presumably be to blame more than society at large. I'd love to know some background on this person's after-school activities, media consumption, and family relations. Probably to your chagrin, I still strongly believe that media violence plays a huge role in youths' nonchalance toward killing, to an extent that effectively overpowers any attempted parental control. Walk into an electronics store and see hi-def violence across the walls of TVs. Walk down the street and see billboards of Angelina Jolie pointing a gun at you. You'd have to be a homeschooling helicopter parent to shield a child from today's barrage of antisocial imagery.
This kid went to a technical school. Translation: he was on the low end of society. In Germany, school isn't a one-size-fits-all K-12.. You can go to a "Gymnasium" after elementary school and complete 13th grade to get your "Abitur" in preparation for university. Or you can go to a "Realschule" and get a more basic diploma in 10th grade before deciding to continue at a Gymnasium or going into a trade. But if you weren't great in elementary school, you're likely to go to a "Hauptschule", where you basically learn technical skills earlier on and they don't bother so much with academic or philosphical matters.
So in Germany, your fate is almost sealed after elementary school. If you were bad at grades 1-4, the system sort of gives up on you and says "don't bother". It really creates a division between the haves and have-nots, except that what's had is not money (yet), but education. You don't have to pay to go to a Gymnasium (they are generally public schools), you just have to have had good grades beforehand.
Germany is definitely far from perfect. It just has different strengths and weaknesses than the US. Maybe this tragedy will bring these "Child Left Behind" practices to the forefront. Ironically though, these technical kids might be better-positioned to make money than their counterparts in academia during times like these, so maybe they're not doing too bad after all?
Patrick’s thoughts:
This person took their father's registered gun, so it was in some sense the father's negligence that made this possible. And if someone is psychotic enough, no amount of gun control will stop them from their goal.
To me, gun control only helps prevent spontaneous shootings. If you don't have a gun on you, you can't just snap for a minute and do something extremely regrettable. But if you're sufficiently lacking in the head and pre-meditate a shooting, it is quite possible.
You could blame society for failing this individual, but we can't all check up on the activities of our neighbors all the time. That's how East Germany was, for better or worse (mainly worse, because it was being done for all the wrong reasons). The right to privacy in our modern society is also the right to be a recluse.
But since this person was underage, the parents would presumably be to blame more than society at large. I'd love to know some background on this person's after-school activities, media consumption, and family relations. Probably to your chagrin, I still strongly believe that media violence plays a huge role in youths' nonchalance toward killing, to an extent that effectively overpowers any attempted parental control. Walk into an electronics store and see hi-def violence across the walls of TVs. Walk down the street and see billboards of Angelina Jolie pointing a gun at you. You'd have to be a homeschooling helicopter parent to shield a child from today's barrage of antisocial imagery.
This kid went to a technical school. Translation: he was on the low end of society. In Germany, school isn't a one-size-fits-all K-12.. You can go to a "Gymnasium" after elementary school and complete 13th grade to get your "Abitur" in preparation for university. Or you can go to a "Realschule" and get a more basic diploma in 10th grade before deciding to continue at a Gymnasium or going into a trade. But if you weren't great in elementary school, you're likely to go to a "Hauptschule", where you basically learn technical skills earlier on and they don't bother so much with academic or philosphical matters.
So in Germany, your fate is almost sealed after elementary school. If you were bad at grades 1-4, the system sort of gives up on you and says "don't bother". It really creates a division between the haves and have-nots, except that what's had is not money (yet), but education. You don't have to pay to go to a Gymnasium (they are generally public schools), you just have to have had good grades beforehand.
Germany is definitely far from perfect. It just has different strengths and weaknesses than the US. Maybe this tragedy will bring these "Child Left Behind" practices to the forefront. Ironically though, these technical kids might be better-positioned to make money than their counterparts in academia during times like these, so maybe they're not doing too bad after all?