I do believe that unfortunately, in the diversity of life, that there are creatures, such as men and dogs, that are simply Wired Wrong from the Factory.
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Studies have shown that psychopath/sociopaths have different brain chemistries, not just poor upbringing. I think this kid has some pretty clear signs of being a sociopath. That's not to say that he wasn't exposed to too much violent media and neglected by his parents, but that sort of thing doesn't happen without some deep rooted disfunction. I do find it ironic that he found a "hero" with his own sick mentality on a television show (Dexter), but keep in mind that that show is on a premium channel (Showtime), and is geared toward adults. It's like the 10 year olds that recently beat up a red head because they watched Southpark. Who are the idiot parents letting their children watch this cr@p?
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I saw that movie Hanibal a few years back, and it had me freaked out for weeks. Whoever wrote that thing has some serious issues. I won't watch modern horror flicks anymore. :-)
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I generally agree with everything you've stated. I hate blaming TV, music, and video games for peoples' behavior. I prefer, more often than not, to call a crazy a crazy. However, I don't think we can completely dismiss some of these potentially contributing factors.
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My wife and I refer to that as Reptilian.
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There's an interesting book on psychopaths in the white collar world called Snakes in Suits.
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I believe it can be both TV and video games. A few years ago, they found the body of a woman with her head, hands, and feet cut off. The suspects turned out to be her two young sons, who saw the dismemberment in a video game they had been playing.

I think a kid with some type of psychopathic characteristics, could be influenced by TV and/or video games to what extent no one knows until they lash out against society and use it as their defense.
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Feral Youth. Can't get the phrase out of my head.
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I've bolded reason why it seems like it is worse now.

We as a society are not any better or worse than we have ever been as a society.

The fact that it seems like we are is because of the access to the amount of information we have at our fingertips.

The "society is worse now than it was when I was growing up" thinking is a fallacy and has been disproven over and over.

:-)
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:-) My mother was a teacher for 35+ years. Till the day she retired she always said the same thing: "The kids are the same the parents just got dumber".

And the stories she had about evil little children from the 40's on varied very little. But trust me when little Johny Rotten skined and flayed a felow 14 year old in 1950's Tucson no one but the people of Tucson knew about it.
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I have to agree very strongly that parents need to more closely monitor and control the types of entertainment their kids have access to and at what age. This violent behavior, sexting, and other similar behavior that shocks us at how young some of the kids doing are have to be in part caused by kids being exposed to certain types if violence, sex, and other situations at ages too young for them to truly deal with them on a rational basis.

It seems to be a classic situation of crap entering their minds coming back out in their actions because they haven't developed the ability to filter the information yet.
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I didn't know that you were a teacher. I teach 9th grade English and see some kids who are very sadistic. I would say that the world is getting worse, but despite all the bad publicity, we are the most educated society in the world today.
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give me your phone number, I'll show ya what it's about Image


on an unrelated note to my above post, my wife wonders why I want to carry a gun
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Ditto this and as has been said,,,just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to how they were raised and by whom. I am glad I won't be around to see the next generation deal with all of the issues that they will own because of all of the "crap" that is going on now. It starts with the family and if it fails there then there is no hope. Anyone who has studied the fall of the Roman Empire can see the similarities. While RArgent and I don't agree on a lot of things I back up what he says here 200% and commend him standing up and saying this.
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Perhaps there are two arguments here.

For I agree on the one side that we are doomed in a lot of ways as parents fail to bring up their children with the respect and dignity and work ethic that our parents instilled in us. There are every day instances where I am aghast at how people interact with each other and at the expectations of todays youth and the whats in it for me attitude.

But....... and here is where I maybe step off.

TV or Video games did not create this kid. A phsycopath or a criminal sociopath is not created by inappropriate media. That is like saying sexual preference is determined by external sources or that you can cause the sex of an unborn child by playing the appropriate gender related music while in the act of procreation. This is a mis-wired individual and they are as prevalent in our society as they are in third world countries where media influences are not as prevalent.

I am all about careful censoring of products that kids are exposed too and I take a great interest in the games my children play and the movies they watch and try my damnedest to balance that with appropriate diet, physical activity and parental guidance. But guess what, in the end, I as a parent will not control who they are or what they will become if there is a predisposition to sociopathic or psychopathic tendencies.
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No offense but this statement is not a true one. We are not the most educated society by far and America actually ranks fairly low in the world when it comes to intelligence and schooling.
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Joe, the truth of the matter is that we are ranked low in "SCHOOLING" but I doubt you would find any data to prove "INTELLIGENCE" was low in the US of A. We have a society that includes all peoples and our melting pot might not hit high on the metrics that the Europeans use to determine schooling rankings, but the US is in the forefront of virtually all scientific research and that is not due to our schooling but our country values intelligence unlike many others.

I am not trying to say that "RAH RAH USA" we are the best at these matters, but we get a bad name because the people giving the rankings choose how to rank...
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One of Shawn's points needs to be explored a little more...
Yes. Many of us, as children, played violent role playing (dramatic play) with our friends and siblings, such as cowboys and Indians, or war play. This gave us opportunities to hurt others and be hurt with limitations. That’s what play is for... it allows grown up behavior in a safe environment. I don't see children playing like this anymore. Parents are afraid to let their children play in the neighborhood, so the children play video games and watch TV and movies. They have very little positive social interaction.

When you were playing with your friends and things began to get a little rough, you let them know it and they let up. I obtained plenty of bumps and bruises from my best friends and they received a few in turn. That's how we learned restraint. You don't learn restraint from TV or video games, on the contrary; you learn to destroy without restraint!:-)
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I wasn't trying to be anti-American I was simply stating a fact. Typically the data most people go by on this subject is UNICEF. They really don't have any reason to be biased.

We basically agree though. America ranks very low when it comes to schooling. I will agree that America leads the world in almost all areas in the medical field, and quite a few other fields. That has more to do with our capitalistic society and the fact that there is more money to be made here than anywhere else with said innovations.
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I call BULLSHIT on their lack of bias.
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