Wednesday, October 18, 2006 Violence is the fruit of a tormented mind: The SSI Report By Zosimo T. Literatus, R.M.T. Breakthroughs
“The great fallacy,” said the Northern Irish soccer player Danny Blanchflower, “is that the game is first and last about winning. It’s nothing of the kind.
“The game is about glory. It’s about doing things in style, with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.”
In our previous article Video Games: War over Mind or Soul? we answered the email of CM of the GamePolitics.com and confirmed that there has been no conclusive cause-and-effect relationship between violent video games and the spate of killings in American schools from 1974 through June 2000, involving 37 incidents and 41 attackers. Even the association between video games and the killings are unclear.
In this article, we will take note of certain findings that would be helpful to parents and educators alike as warning for impending violence in their children.
One finding indicated that many attackers (71 percent) felt bullied, persecuted or injured by others prior to the attack.
In several cases, individual attackers had been subject to bullying and harassment, which are severe and long-standing. Most of the attackers’ schoolmates described the attacker as “the kid everyone teased.”
Most attackers showed some history of suicidal attempts or thoughts (78 percent), or a history of feeling extreme depression or desperation (61 percent).
Over half (59 percent) of the attackers demonstrated some interest in violence, through movies (27 percent), video games (12 percent), books (24 percent), and in their own writings (37 percent).
Most attackers (98 percent) were known to have had difficulty coping with significant losses of status (66 percent) or of a significant one (51 percent) or personal failures.
Revenge was the most common motive (61 percent). Most attackers (93 percent) engaged in some behavior, prior to the incident, that caused others concern or indicated a need for help. Such behavior include efforts to get a gun and violent writings.
While “not every child who is bullied in school will pose a risk,” the Safe School Initiative report observed, “attackers described being bullied in terms that suggested these experiences approached torment.”
The bullying behavior, if they occurred in the workplace, would likely meet the legal definitions of harassment and/or assault.
“Our torments,” wrote John Milton in his book Paradise Lost, “also may in length of time become our elements.” (For comments and suggestions, email to ztliteratus6046@lycos.com or text to 0927-979-3519.)
