Oh, you poor thing. Now you just brought hell upon yourself. For one, thatâs not a âstudyâ. Thatâs just a list of people who imitated somethingâpeople that were already fucked up to begin with, and would have likely imitated any act of violence from any source. Iâm literally just gonna copy-paste a previous post, because I detest repeating myself:
Hereâs the problem with your statement: Being inspired by something does not equate to causing something.  Youâre using the âSlippery Slopeâ logical fallacy (which, ironically, is a favorite amongst overzealous fundamentalist conservatives).  By your logic, youâre placing the blame for an incident of a child jumping off the roof in the 90âČs on Wile E. Coyote, and not on the child being improperly educated about neighborhood dangers, and being without parental supervision.
Bear with me here, folks:  Iâve become increasingly tired of seeing the argument that âFICTION IS REALITY!â, and I think itâs time to stomp some sense into it.  It was bullshit when they tried to use the same argument against video games in the 90âČs, it was bullshit when they tried to use it against horror movies and heavy metal music in the 80âČs, and itâs bullshit now.
Letâs talk about the criminal mind for a moment. Â It has been shown time and time again that criminals and abusers have a lack of function in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for controlling our impulses, connecting our actions to their consequences, and having empathy for others. Now, there are those out there with low functioning in these areas that never harm a fly. Â Why? Â Because there are more ingredients required to create an abuser. Â How? Â Not by âproblematicâ works of fiction: Â They are primarily a result of broken homes, traumatic experiences, andâmost importantlyâparental abuse/neglect. Â Parental influence (or lack thereof) has been directly linked to lack of function in the brain, and behavioral issues, meaning that their time in the crib had a far greater influence on them than anything they will ever read, see, or hear. Â When nature and nurture have come together to create a psychopath, they have molded an individual that is disconnected from reality in a very dangerous way. Â It takes many factors working together to create people capable of committing abuse. Â No amount of fiction changes a personâs upbringing, genetics, or brain function. Â These are not average people. Â They are a very, very small minority of people that are fully, completely aware that their behavior is wrongâthey simply lack the inhibition to not go out and do it, and the empathy to care. Â They would be this way regardless of the media they consumed, and removing them from it would change nothing, except potentially causing them to actively seek out the real thing, whichâunlike fictional mediaâcauses real, physical harm.
http://bigthink.com/insights-of-genius/why-we-love-violence-in-fiction
http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/03/30/why-do-people-like-violent-movies/53211.html
http://elflands2ndcousin.com/2012/12/04/the-anatomy-and-value-of-fictional-violence/
https://edge.org/response-detail/23745
TL;DR: Not everyone who reads fiction even has the ability to act out in ways they know are morally wrong: A well-adjusted person (including most with lower-functioning empathy) knows and understands the consequences for such behavior. Â They are still able to connect their actions to how they may affect others, whichâin turnâkeeps those actions in check. Â The people that do act out inappropriately are already broken, and would act out regardless of whatever they see or hear (especially if they are already into or past adolescence, as the majority of brain growth takes place from infancy to early preschool).
Essentially, the people that might act out in violence would do so regardless of media input. Telling them âThis is WRONG!â wouldnât stop them, because theyâre already aware that itâs wrong and simply do not fucking care.
Even an actual horror movie had the self-awareness to point this out.
In short: Youâre ignorant and uneducated in this matter, and you have nothing to substantiate your claims, while there is a shit ton of scientific and psychological study proving you wrong.
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