[lbo-talk] German school gunman 'kills 16'

[John Thornton]

Dennis Perrin wrote:
> I agree, Woj, but only to a degree. I think there's a lot more 
> atomization and alienation these days, as capital has been very 
> successful in reducing humans into target demos and market units. That 
> naturally feeds one's fantasy cocoon. But pop-cult images of "cool" 
> gangsters is hardly new --  recall how film noir in the 40s was seen 
> as a breakdown in social morality, and how lurid pulp novels 
> supposedly inspired drug use and rape. It's like an endless cycle with 
> this shit, and all of it serves those who own what you and I can never 
> own.
>
> Dennis

In the 1940's one wasn't subjected to the same level of violent images 
as one is today.
The majority of the violence from earlier periods was not seen as an act 
of having power but was rather acted out of powerlessness.
How much blame you can place on pop culture images and glorification of 
violence is uncertain but todays violence is far more violent, portrayed 
more positively and far more ubiquitous than ever before.
I don't really believe that as a culture we are more violent than in the 
past.

John Thornton