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Violence in our society increasing or decreasing

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As the capability to do massive amounts of violence on the cheap and easy increases, the over all amount of violence should decrease as it becomes incredibly unprofitable to become violent.
 
Seems like it's going down in many areas but there's still way too much. If I were in charge I would impose much more strict sentences for violent crimes.
 
It's just reported more often and sensationalized to a greater extent than it used to be.
 
i think violence is decreasing based on statistics, however, if more middle class jobs are destroyed by the 1% (sent oversees/destroyed by technology/etc), we could see violence rising again.
 
Less violence but I think everyone is bottling their anger up. Who knows when people start losing their shit. Once you open the floodgates, very little will stop it.
 
God Mode said:
Less violence but I think everyone is bottling their anger up. Who knows when people start losing their shit. Once you open the floodgates, very little will stop it.
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That's kind of my thoughts too. Even as little as 20-30 years ago you could stand up to a bully and fight back without getting suspended or having your college acceptance threatened. You'd get into a fist fight and settle your differences. Now kids have to bottle that shit up and eventualy go postal on a whole school. Get into a bar fight and now get threatened with a lawsuit. Ect.

Just a lot of people who are emotionally/physically pent up and not able to vent off in small amounts. They supernova and take dozens of lives with them.

Combine that with internet and 24/7 instant access media almost celebrating these events and it's a bad combo.

I don't think the number of violent crimes is necessarily increasing, but the extreme nature of individual events is.
 
MagickMan said:
Exactly.



If owning guns is proof that a person has violent tendencies, then owning a car is proof that you're a drunk driver, and owning a rottweiler means you're into dog fighting.
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Not sure about cars and rotties, but you are correct with regard to firearms.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/hicrc/firearms-research/guns-and-death/index.html

1. Where there are more guns there is more homicide (literature review).

Our review of the academic literature found that a broad array of evidence indicates that gun availability is a risk factor for homicide, both in the United States and across high-income countries. Case-control studies, ecological time-series and cross-sectional studies indicate that in homes, cities, states and regions in the US, where there are more guns, both men and women are at higher risk for homicide, particularly firearm homicide.

Hepburn, Lisa; Hemenway, David. Firearm availability and homicide: A review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior: A Review Journal. 2004; 9:417-40.
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actually there are fewer violent crimes today than say...10 years ago.

but because of our ability to transmit information so quickly, it seems like things are worse.
 
preslove said:
I'd probably be more violent if my wife stole $20,000 from our savings account...
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Right, but this is the guy who's so scared of his wife he tries to poison her dog with chocolate rather than confront her about it being ancient and not worth propping up at the Vet's office every other week.
 
Texashiker said:
<serious thread>
Humans are violent creatures by nature. How many species on earth kill each other for material possessions and ideas.
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Animals don't have possessions or ideas that can be communicated. Murder is very common in the animal kingdom within species over mates and territory.

Lions and bears will kill cubs to prevent future competition even though such competition is usually not very near or likely (since most cubs would have died of other causes anyway).

Apes and ants kill each other over territory.

etc.
 
Violent crime down, bottoms outs, then a rise in 'weird' crime like copper theft, or recyclable trash theft for profit, then a rise in violent crime. We're on track for dat societal degradation.
 
Fausto said:
Says the man with more guns that pretty much everyone else here.
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And? What is your point?

Instead of working towards a peaceful society, governments around the world are working on ways to better kill each other.

Case in point,

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...g-the-presidents-dna/309147/?single_page=true

With the nuclear arms race of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, how many nuclear weapons does a nation need? How many times do we need to destroy the world?

How many trillions of dollars do nations invest into military weapons, when our schools and hospitals also need money?

How much money has been spent on developing weapons of mass destruction, as compared to stuff like HIV and cancer research?

Why do we spend so much money on weapons, and so little money on bettering mankind?
 
Texashiker said:
And? What is your point?

Instead of working towards a peaceful society, governments around the world are working on ways to better kill each other.

Case in point,

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...g-the-presidents-dna/309147/?single_page=true

With the nuclear arms race of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, how many nuclear weapons does a nation need? How many times do we need to destroy the world?

How many trillions of dollars do nations invest into military weapons, when our schools and hospitals also need money?

How much money has been spent on developing weapons of mass destruction, as compared to stuff like HIV and cancer research?

Why do we spend so much money on weapons, and so little money on bettering mankind?
Click to expand...

And thanks to those WMD, the superpowers are in stalemate, which reduces violence by quite a lot.
 
Texashiker said:
And? What is your point?

Instead of working towards a peaceful society, governments around the world are working on ways to better kill each other.

Case in point,

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...g-the-presidents-dna/309147/?single_page=true

With the nuclear arms race of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, how many nuclear weapons does a nation need? How many times do we need to destroy the world?

How many trillions of dollars do nations invest into military weapons, when our schools and hospitals also need money?

How much money has been spent on developing weapons of mass destruction, as compared to stuff like HIV and cancer research?

Why do we spend so much money on weapons, and so little money on bettering mankind?
Click to expand...
So, let me get this straight:

You wonder aloud why we spend so much money on weapons, but you yourself have a tremendous sum of money relative to your meager income invested in weapons.

You want more spent on medicine yet every other thread you make is critical or skeptical (often in the face of overwhelming evidence contrary to your laughable positions, I might add) of the medical, pharmaceutical, and biomedical research industries.



I'm pretty sure your wife is skimming money because she finally realized she married an idiot and is looking for a way out.
 
vi edit said:
That's kind of my thoughts too. Even as little as 20-30 years ago you could stand up to a bully and fight back without getting suspended or having your college acceptance threatened. You'd get into a fist fight and settle your differences. Now kids have to bottle that shit up and eventualy go postal on a whole school. Get into a bar fight and now get threatened with a lawsuit. Ect.

Just a lot of people who are emotionally/physically pent up and not able to vent off in small amounts. They supernova and take dozens of lives with them.

Combine that with internet and 24/7 instant access media almost celebrating these events and it's a bad combo.

I don't think the number of violent crimes is necessarily increasing, but the extreme nature of individual events is.
Click to expand...

And then there is our ruling class who are so out of touch with reality (other than their posh circle) and the common mans plight. The fact that they think more and more policing and draconian laws will fix the problem.

You can place as many twigs, branches and dam all you want but eventually, the flood gates will burst.
 
Texashiker said:
And? What is your point?
Click to expand...

Don't know what his point was, but mine was to poke at you because you're on ATOT and not investigating whatever scheme your wife is running with your savings account and your options for a divorce that doesn't sodomize you in texas court.
 
Fausto said:
You wonder aloud why we spend so much money on weapons, but you yourself have a tremendous sum of money relative to your meager income invested in weapons.
Click to expand...

You do not have the slightest idea what you are talking about.


Fausto said:
You want more spent on medicine yet every other thread you make is critical or skeptical (often in the face of overwhelming evidence contrary to your laughable positions, I might add) of the medical, pharmaceutical, and biomedical research industries.
Click to expand...

When it comes to my health, I have a right to be skeptical.

Fausto said:
(often in the face of overwhelming evidence contrary to your laughable positions, I might add)
Click to expand...

How many times have skeptics been laughed at, only to be proven right later?

Enron
Lance Armstrong
Various medicines that caused birth defects
 
Texashiker said:
You do not have the slightest idea what you are talking about.
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Really? I know what you do for a living. I know the state pays for shit. I know you have a collection of weapons and ammo. These things are not cheap. Therefore, you have a relatively large amount of money invested in weapons.

Even discounting this, that you have money invested in an industry you decided to rail against at all is hypocritical. You can't yap about violence and also make youtube videos about your ammo sorting techniques.




When it comes to my health, I have a right to be skeptical.



How many times have skeptics been laughed at, only to be proven right later?

Enron
Lance Armstrong
Various medicines that caused birth defects
Click to expand...
As I already pointed out; there's skeptical, and then there's skeptical in the face of overwhelming evidence contrary to your stated position. You fall into the latter category.
 
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