Violence in the media in NO WAY invalidates the impact of real world violence. We are desensitized to issues that we do not deal with personally, but when they do affect us on a normal level - yes we still feel these things we have seen over and over and over again.

How many movies have you seen where someone gets raped, or beaten, or stabbed, or some form of violence is commited against them. How many times have we seen sex in movies, and expected is as the norm. Now how many times have you had sex, and how many of those times have you said yo yourself "Yea - this totally is boring. TV has dulled my appreciation for it."

I can tell you it hasn't happened to me.

There is a case made that the level of violence in games like UNREAL TOURNAMENT, and the sex in pop culture is so cartoonish that it deadens the impact it has on our culture. Rubbish.

Funny thing - Theres a movie called Bowling For Columbine. It makes the humorous assumption that BOWLING (the activity that the shooters enjoyed and took part in before the shooting) was the cause of the violence. Ridiculous right? It makes a point though. Violence and Media is SO EASY to latch onto, because its presented in such a prepackaged way, its so accesible that it MUST be the cause of the problems. It also pulls the spotlight AWAY from the IMMEDIATE source that a trained professional would think to look - the homelife. These were kids from affluent areas, and 10-1 says there was MINIMAL parental involvement in these kids lives. They were left to their OWN devices, and we see where this went. Not to mention the school environment they were in, that either ignored or treated lightly the bullying situation, and the growing "trenchcoat" subset.

In the end, I'll never say that violence in media CAUSES these outbursts. It can be a final push for certain individuals, but to insist that it is the be all and end all - bullshit.