What REALLY pissed me off was when Cpl. Maria Lauterbach went missing after reporting her rape, and people were saying things like “oh, her stepmom says she’s a drama queen, she must be faking” and called her a liar about the rape. I’m sure they didn’t take it back after her body was found.

A better example would be the public reaction to cases like Kobe Bryant where people attacked the victim and sided with Kobe before things went to trial. And even when it’s publicly known that Sean Connery is abusive and thinks it’s ok to hit his wife, he is still put up on a pedestal. And R. Kelly is still able to put out music successfully even though he is known to have sex with minors as young as 14 when he is well over 30 and even peed in a girl’s face (allegedly; and “girl” because she was underage). He may be a joke, but people still buy his music.

Here’s the Chicago piece: http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/zwecker/1071933,CST-FTR-zp24.article

Since Jill is studying, she would probably have a better idea about whether you can use physical force to remove someone from your room who you initially invited.

I did say “more likely”. I didn’t mean that they are necessarily violent, just that the more you tolerate, and normalize, even if it’s just “pretend”, it may be easier for you to overlook something like verbal abuse, which IS violence. Maybe you get so into the preparation for a role, that it becomes part of you.

Have you ever acted?

Because different people relate differently to their roles.

Everybody fights, it’s normal. Happens in most families. If you get insulted or smacked, you insult or smack right back, and don’t go running to Big Daddy State like some scared little b****. Lose the counterproductive victim mentality, and get some fucking diggity!

Okay, feel free to cut this comment if it’s a derail, but… WHAT?

I can only hope that this is just trying to get attention, and not an actual representation of beliefs. Most families do not, by any means, hit each other. It is NOT OKAY for anyone in your family to hit you.

I don’t want to fuel troll fire, but this comment just sounded so much like some of the things batterers I worked with used to say. Most of them were abused, and saw their fathers abuse their mothers, so they assumed this happened in every family. In a way, I think that the only thing that kept these guys functioning and not curled up in the fetal position was their total lack of information about families that interact with respect and love. They just had no idea what they could have had. If they knew, they’d cry for weeks.

Thinking about that made me sad for diggity dude, even if he is a troll.

I know that you might not believe me, but the more of something you consume, the chances of being desensitized to it go up.

You’re right about my skepticism as that is the common trope of many US right-wing culture warriors and the more censorious elements of the American left in an attempt to not only control the media viewing habits of children/adolescents….but also effectively the adult public.

However well-intentioned, I see much danger in allowing governments and politicians to decide what video games we’re allowed to play, what television programs we’re allowed to watch, and by logical extension….what books and information sources we’re allowed to access. We already have too many idiots on various local public school boards and town/state governments deciding certain authors such as J.D. Salinger, Toni Morrison, and more are considered “too dangerous” for the eyes of the delicate darling precious children.

Especially when this trope has yet to be definitively proven by any unbiased scientific methodologically rigorous study. All that seems to be out there so far are half-baked agenda-driven studies that are farcical in their reasoning and methods and a lot of ideologically motivated opinions.

I did say “more likely”. I didn’t mean that they are necessarily violent, just that the more you tolerate, and normalize, even if it’s just “pretend”, it may be easier for you to overlook something like verbal abuse, which IS violence.

Though your point may apply to some people, but not to everyone who has experienced or been exposed to violence in everyday life. I’ve met many war veterans from WWII to Vietnam who became more sensitized to violence because of their experiences…along with older relatives who witnessed/experienced brutalization at the hands of Imperial Japanese soldiers and/or Maoist security officials/Red Guards during the Second Sino-Japanese War/WWII and the Cultural Revolution respectively.

On the other hand, I have encountered some self-proclaimed “progressives” raised by peace-loving parents in socio-economically privileged, yet isolated hippie communes away from MSM influences who do advocate violent bloody revolutions to bring about their “ideal society”, no matter how many innocent people/bystanders are killed in the process. They were some of the most creepy people I’ve ever met in my life….and acted little differently from your average GOP chickenhawk.

As I mentioned in my previous comment, the correlation you are making here is far too simplistic to account for the complexity of how individuals react to violence. Not everyone reacts to violence…or any other traumatic experiences in the exact same ways as one may think.

Regarding Bale’s worthiness as Batman….never seen him in either of those movies. And unless I can borrow the DVD off of someone/library for free….doubt I would care enough to bother….

I didn’t mean that I equate actors with their parts, but I think there’s a reason they pick it and relate to it, so I think it’s more of a spiritual thing for me, like what is the story that your life of acting is telling? Anyway, I’m a weirdo.

And to the 75% that aren’t in prison for violent crimes, just because they aren’t locked up, doesn’t mean they haven’t been violent or have a capacity for violence. (like most people I know, at some point in their life)
I know that you might not believe me, but the more of something you consume, the chances of being desensitized to it go up. That doesn’t mean that everybody will commit violence, but if someone who sits and trains their brain to shoot on site (like how the military trains soldiers, that’s where these video games came from) and spent almost every night of their formative years watching somebody get killed in a movie, and watches women in those same movies get tossed around and/or used as props, or a piece of property to dispute over, and a complex number of factors cooperate, then I won’t be so sure that they could NEVER be violent. One time is all it takes to do some damage. Or if it’s that covert assassin of verbal/emotional abuse that sneaks up and breaks your heart and mind again and again, I’D SAY that all that shit might have had a part in it.

I see it day in and day out with the people in my life, not just my kids getting aggressive after watching Narnia, but my adult family members in their moods and ways of dealing with stress that sometimes reflects what kinds of things they’ve been consuming. I’ve noticed the difference it makes in people’s lives when they limit the violence and gluttony of American culture, so don’t tell me that our media isn’t as powerful as I know it is.

I’m sorry if I upset anyone, I wasn’t really clear in my post about what I meant. I’ve always disliked him in what I’ve seen him in, and it just struck a nerve with me, and made me have a “I knew there was something off about that man/woman” moment. I now have my tail between my legs and feel bad for being so mean. (I’m imagining him as the boy in Empire of the Sun and his lip is pouting out at me.)

I’m sure he’s great in some movies I haven’t seen him in, and I realize that he is NOT the American Psycho or any other characters he’s played.

But I still think he’s not worthy of Batman, sorry.

I’m not saying I think he’s violent, I don’t know, but if you surround yourself in violence by being in these kind of hollywood movies, even just watching them, then you’re more likely to be violent toward others.

I pity those who act as the monsters in Horror movies, then. I guess whoever played Freddy Kruger must have spent endless hours thinking about the many people he “killed” onscreen.

Seriously what part did he ever play that gave anyone warm feelings about him? I’m baffled.

I’m baffled as to why warm feelings is a pre-requisite for enjoying the work of an actor.

By that standard, Vincent Price and Boris Karloff should have been out dining on babies every night, and yet their friends and colleagues still tell stories about how nice they were.

You really need to stop taking the things you see in movies so seriously. Someone who plays light comic roles is just as likely to be an abuser as someone who plays dark, sinister roles.