tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6226269873507053740.post8008513256022567291..comments2024-03-27T22:53:43.943-04:00Comments on Daffey Thoughts: The Seven Samurai and a Parkland shooting reflectionDavid Griffeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06629314279592541401noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6226269873507053740.post-69228858998238548292018-03-08T13:15:08.022-05:002018-03-08T13:15:08.022-05:00A nice way of saying it, and true. I hope the prob...A nice way of saying it, and true. I hope the problems manifest themselves, but it seems we can be pretty stubborn when it comes to admit we were wrong about leaving the road. Maybe because no society is ever completely on the road, and others can use that fact to encourage us to keep moving in the wrong direction as a result. David Griffeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06629314279592541401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6226269873507053740.post-26080068606876238702018-03-08T12:08:50.490-05:002018-03-08T12:08:50.490-05:00The natural law is like a road, and a society is l...The natural law is like a road, and a society is like a man (who is possibly drunk) walking down the road. Even if he means to keep to the road, he is likely to stumble into the ditch from time to time, and of course he may choose to leave the road altogether and fight his way through the wilderness on either side. If he does so, he can expect to be scratched by the briers and twist his ankle on the rocks, so on the whole he is likely to spend most of his time on or near the road -- not because anyone tells him to, or punishes him if he deviates from it, but because the problems of leaving the road quickly manifest themselves.Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04843514873861242426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6226269873507053740.post-68712572252484861122018-03-08T10:21:22.884-05:002018-03-08T10:21:22.884-05:00The difference is that as horrible as WW2 was, it ...The difference is that as horrible as WW2 was, it was merely what human civilizations had been doing for eons. Just with bigger weapons. I'm at pains to remember a time where individuals, and even groups purposefully and continuously singled out the largest group of individuals for as much mass slaughter as possible - without some state sanctioned purpose. Not that there haven't been terrorists, or serial killers, or even mass killings. But usually, they are linked to some political target, revenge killing, business deal gone bad, something. Just 'I want to kill tons of people because...', at least on such a consistent and continuous basis, seems a rather modern development. I've often wondered if it is simply the hyper individualism taking the place of state sponsored violence. Or what I said above. Or possibly a mixture of both. <br /><br />Though this was just thinking off the top. I wasn't thinking so much of 'violence and sex makes us violent' as much as something about the explicit depictions doing something to us in taking away the demand that we think about it ourselves. I'll think on that a little more. That was from a conversation I had with my boys some time ago about the graphic nature of video games - they don't have to use their imagination or creativity - it's right there before their eyes. Versus, say, the old Atari Adventure game. It isn't as if we though it was realistic or anything, but it forced us to use our imaginations, which are no longer needed. Same with movies and TV and the like. Not 'violent movies leads to violence' as much as explicit anything leads to no longer having to flex the cognitive muscles, and maybe that has some unintended impact. Perhaps. David Griffeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06629314279592541401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6226269873507053740.post-87351539756562372822018-03-08T10:11:21.008-05:002018-03-08T10:11:21.008-05:00A good video on the director in case you want to k...A good video on the director in case you want to know more:<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doaQC-S8de8<br /><br />Anyway, it makes you wonder. During the time of movies you were talking about, there were mass killings. They were just often state sanctioned. I suspect sometimes there may be a balance to things. After the horrors of WW2, the world had had its fill of sex and violence and didn't need it graphically depicted on screen. But now, after a period of peace, do we have folks who haven't experienced such things intently curious about them? Kids don't even hunt any more or gut & clean their own food today. So death increases - perhaps until again we have a great bloodletting war again.<br /><br />That's what I wonder about. That and changing jobs. After all, farmers (especially when working with livestock) deal with plenty of sex and violence every day, so why would they want to see it on screen?Nate Winchesterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00630873800235819300noreply@blogger.com