How do we reduce the amount of aggression in America?

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Robert_Sock

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As for violent aggression, gun control comes to mind, but please, let’s not sidetrack this thread by debating gun control!

The large amount of aggression on the screen is another theory. My mentor in psychology once wrote a journal article theorizing that the aggression in the mass media acted as a catharsis, thus lowering aggression in our society. Did he ever get blasted by other research psychologists, and that was that. Why is there so much aggression in the mass media? How many people really want to see that stuff? I would say that lowering the on screen aggression would be a more important issue in the Church than porn, but that’s my own opinion. An interesting note is that the area of the brain that regulates aggression is right next to the area in the brain that causes sexual arousal, and many research psychologists contend that they are intertwined.

Reducing poverty by introducing a wide-range living wage would also help reduce violent aggression in our society.

Capitalism itself breads all sorts of aggression, especially with the large amount of materialism that gets promoted in the mass media. Materialism (I want that!) promotes the vices of need for power, prestige and greed. For those who strongly want material things but cannot afford most of them, they turn aggressive by the frustration and irritation, often violently.
 
I’m sorry, Robert, I find this post nothing more than anti-Americanism/anti-capitalism.

Should the USA really become so much more like allegedly civilized Europe, which seems so placid and craven as to be handing their keys to violent Islamic radicals without a whimper? And why should we condemn capitalism as some sort of cause for violence, as if taking the wealth from those who have earned it, and handing it to others, will somehow end violence? Are you suggesting that, say, communism is the answer? I’d point out that communism has led to economic disaster and horrific violence essentially everywhere it’s ever been tried, but it’d be pearls before swine to the anti-USA, anti-capitalists who populate this board.
 
Look, If we really want a less aggressive society, the answer isn’t “gun control” or “share the wealth.” That’s been tried in Europe and Europe is being taken over by Islamic radicals. The answer is to turn to God (via Christianity).
 
PolarGuy said:
I’m sorry, Robert, I find this post nothing more than anti-Americanism/anti-capitalism.

Should the USA really become so much more like allegedly civilized Europe, which seems so placid and craven as to be handing their keys to violent Islamic radicals without a whimper? And why should we condemn capitalism as some sort of cause for violence, as if taking the wealth from those who have earned it, and handing it to others, will somehow end violence? Are you suggesting that, say, communism is the answer? I’d point out that communism has led to economic disaster and horrific violence essentially everywhere it’s ever been tried, but it’d be pearls before swine to the anti-USA, anti-capitalists who populate this board.
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I did not post this to be anti-capitalistic!!! I did it because I’m sick of all the violence in our society and I wanted to promote some humanitarianism. I actually have high hopes for capitalism, but not as it is today. More specifically, I predict that multinational corporations will continue to grow at a rapid rate. Once this happens, I envision these corporations to educate and feed those in poverty, greatly enlarging the workforce worldwide. I even have good reason to believe that government will downsize, using corporations to police, deal with criminal correction and take over the military. That is consistent with free capitalism, isn’t it? This will not happen overnight, of course. I also see them as eventually running the world with justice and humanitarianism. There’s enough in this world to house, feed and educate everyone, and it has got to happen if my prayers are answered.
 
Why do you think we have excessive aggression in America?

I thought it had been decreasing, at lease excluding the irrational liberal agitators at Trump campaign events
 
Actually violent crime is near the lowest point in years.

The mass media is only a reflection of what people are buying. What they are buying is a reflection of their souls.

Capitalism is an economic, not moral system. Socialist/Communist systems (being humanistic) are known for their abject violence against their own citizens. Being Godless, they have no hope of long term moral treatment of their citizens (as demonstrated by history).

The solution is for the Church to act like the Church. A recent thread showed a well known pollster saying 70% of Americans identify as Christian, yet we don’t teach Christian principles in our schools? Come on…

This is a spiritual problem with a spiritual solution.

PAX
 
Theo520 said:
Why do you think we have excessive aggression in America?

I thought it had been decreasing, at lease excluding the irrational liberal agitators at Trump campaign events
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Just look at our favorite past times, like football and hockey which are very aggressive. And then there’s boxing, which is downright violent. We have hard laws against things like dog fights, but when it comes to humans, we call it “entertainment” instead of disgusting violence.

If you drive the freeways in a large cities like Los Angeles, not only do you see a lot of aggressive drivers, but if one of them don’t like the way you’re driving, they might well shoot you. The aggression is everywhere. How many murders do you think will occur in Chicago this weekend? Why?!?

Competition breeds anger and aggression, like aggressive salespeople, but hey, they get paid for it, so it’s perfectly OK, right?

I do not have the statistics in front of me, but which country do you think has one of the highest murder rate in the world?
 
ChurchSoldier said:
Actually violent crime is near the lowest point in years.

The mass media is only a reflection of what people are buying. What they are buying is a reflection of their souls.

Capitalism is an economic, not moral system. Socialist/Communist systems (being humanistic) are known for their abject violence against their own citizens. Being Godless, they have no hope of long term moral treatment of their citizens (as demonstrated by history).

The solution is for the Church to act like the Church. A recent thread showed a well known pollster saying 70% of Americans identify as Christian, yet we don’t teach Christian principles in our schools? Come on…

**This is a spiritual problem with a spiritual solution.
**
PAX
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Yes, I agree with that, but relatively few Christians go to church. How do we reach them?
 
Robert_Sock said:
Just look at our favorite past times, like football and hockey which are very aggressive. And then there’s boxing, which is downright violent. We have hard laws against things like dog fights, but when it comes to humans, we call it “entertainment” instead of disgusting violence.

If you drive the freeways in a large cities like Los Angeles, not only do you see a lot of aggressive drivers, but if one of them don’t like the way you’re driving, they might well shoot you. The aggression is everywhere. How many murders do you think will occur in Chicago this weekend? Why?!?

Competition breeds anger and aggression, like aggressive salespeople, but hey, they get paid for it, so it’s perfectly OK, right?

I do not have the statistics in front of me, but which country do you think has one of the highest murder rate in the world?
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Everything you mention is in decline. Fewer kids play football, or box. Even playground fights are reduced drastically compared to my youth. The murder rate is down significantly over past decades, even in Chicago.
 
Theo520 said:
Everything you mention is in decline. Fewer kids play football, or box. Even playground fights are reduced drastically compared to my youth. The murder rate is down significantly over past decades, even in Chicago.
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I have not had a TV for 20+ years, and I gave up on the news and following football on the internet for about 2 years, so I hope that progress is being made.
 
Robert_Sock said:
I have not had a TV for 20+ years, and I gave up on the news and following football on the internet for about 2 years, so I hope that progress is being made.
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I would agree TV has increased the level of violence and sex. I don’t think it directly translates to real world aggression though.
 
My husband asked me what I thought was the biggest threat to national security. I jokingly replied, “Reality TV”. Now, I classify many genres into reality tv. This ranges from new shows (evening news, sixty minutes, face the nation, ect) through reality drama shows, and finally stretching to suffocate politics.

How do we reduce aggression? We start by changing the language we use with one another. We replace negative words with positive words. We allow one person to finish their thoughts before jumping into a conversation. We keep dialogue open, and not shut out people with different views.

My little girls are of the age where they naturally experiment with name calling, excluding people, and other negative childish behaviors. I urge them to get every one up to heaven and avoid pushing people down to the devil. Recently, the oldest wants to ditch her baby sister and does so by using the same tactics as on reality tv. This prompted a speech about how we protect our family, and when we fail to protect our family by purposefully talking bad about them we hurt ourselves. As a family, we need to stick up for each other and promote each other. When our country can get back to supporting each other is when the aggression will diminish.
 
ChurchSoldier said:
Actually violent crime is near the lowest point in years.

The solution is for the Church to act like the Church. A recent thread showed a well known pollster saying 70% of Americans identify as Christian, yet we don’t teach Christian principles in our schools? Come on…

This is a spiritual problem with a spiritual solution.

PAX
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Jesus told us, “we wrestle not with flesh and blood problems”, you are right, the enemy at work is why we live in the type of world we do today, and Im suspect of the studies that show violence is down compared to past times…like you said, 70% or americans identify as christian, yet look at our nation and some of its laws? Clearly not christian, and only heading further in the wrong direction

So if this is the case, how can violence be going down? I think those ‘studies’ may be nothing more than telling people what they want to hear, or trying to make it seem like our nation is going in the right direction, when it is obviously not.

When a nation goes against (just like when a person does the same thing) God, things will NEVER get better…Satan has just been extremely successful at tricking people into believing this.
 
Far and away the greatest source of violence is gang related with much of it centered on drug trafficking and human trafficking for prostitution.

The best indicator of whether a person will be involved actively in violence and gang activity is being the product of a single parent home---- rebuilding the family would be the best place to start.

That would require removing the incentives for promiscuity and for raising children outside of a family. Which would mean revamping the welfare system to encourage families to stay together vice incentivizing broken homes, with the resulting ~70% out of wedlock birthrate in some segments of the population.

It would also require a societal change which would cease an almost praising/worshipping attitude towards single motherhood; instead encouraging intact families.

I highly recommend George Gilder’s “Men and Marriage” as an interesting read on the issue.
 
mikekle said:
…

So if this is the case, how can violence be going down? I think those ‘studies’ may be nothing more than telling people what they want to hear, or trying to make it seem like our nation is going in the right direction, when it is obviously not.

.
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The violent crime rate has been going down for the past couple of decades based on actual crime data as tracked and reported nationwide by LEOs, DAs and collected and reported by the FBI.

Interestingly, the drop coincided with states beginning to adopt more liberal concealed carry and self-defense laws; shifting from no issue/discretionary issue to shall issue; improved ‘castle doctrine’ laws etc. However, correlation is not causation and there is certainly much debate on the issue. An improved economy during that time has also been cited, but crime rates didn’t increase as the economy declined and folks cite crime rates staying stable during the depression as a counter to economic causes for the decline.

So, while there are studies trying to determine the causes for the decline, the data is that the violent crime rate has dropped significantly over the past 20 years.
 
styrgwillidar said:
The violent crime rate has been going down for the past couple of decades based on actual crime data as tracked and reported nationwide by LEOs, DAs and collected and reported by the FBI.

Interestingly, the drop coincided with states beginning to adopt more liberal concealed carry and self-defense laws; shifting from no issue/discretionary issue to shall issue; improved ‘castle doctrine’ laws etc. However, correlation is not causation and there is certainly much debate on the issue. An improved economy during that time has also been cited, but crime rates didn’t increase as the economy declined and folks cite crime rates staying stable during the depression as a counter to economic causes for the decline.

So, while there are studies trying to determine the causes for the decline, the data is that the violent crime rate has dropped significantly over the past 20 years.
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How can this be accurate when we live in the times we do though…Satan has been running the show for awhile down here now, and the way society is heading, its in a direction contrary to Gods desires…how could a fallen world like ours be getting better when we continually are getting spiritually worse?
 
Well the solution is not higher taxes and more govt regulation.
 
mikekle said:
How can this be accurate when we live in the times we do though…Satan has been running the show for awhile down here now, and the way society is heading, its in a direction contrary to Gods desires…how could a fallen world like ours be getting better when we continually are getting spiritually worse?
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I don’t know, but that is what the data shows. We are much more aware of the violence that does occur due to the changes in connectivity, media technology, and the 24 hour news channels. ‘If it bleeds, it leads’… local stories on violence quickly become national news filler in between more significant events.

But the actual trend has been downward.
 
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