Hi Carlyn, a gentle correction. Chlorine is the greenish, heavy, gas. My father was caught in the first gas attack in France (WW1). Luckily (as a good public school educated man who loved chemistry, he recognised it for what it was) - and the group were able to climb up a castle they were next to and cover their faces with wet cloths. He still suffered from the effects of inhalation. Ah but we have the various varieties of Fentanyl now....
The fact that violence, real and imagined, is a common aspect of mass media communications, also contributes to this distortion. People who rarely or never leave their homebase thus receive a Cliff's Notes version of how other people in other cities and nations behave that is far from the actual truth.
An excellent essay. I'd point out the same is true of wars, too.
For example, the Israel-Gaza war has been going on for nearly a year now, and has claimed the lives of some 50,000 people altogether. But there were some 30,000 dead merely on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
In the Donbass War, going for 2 years and 7 months now, both sides conceal their casualties. But the US estimates that there are something like 250-300,000 deaths between them. But in the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII, over 6 months there were 1.1 million to 3 million deaths.
Even in warfare, we are, quite simply, living in more civilised times. This is of course no comfort to those maimed, or the families of the dead, or people picking through the rubble of their homes. But things are getting better.
I would be curious to see a comparison of assaults and crimes that did not lead to death. A lot of the data seemed to rely purely on death as the outcome to support the decrease in violence.
The effects of social media's copy cat infection rates has to have an effect. In 2008 social media, e.g, was not as well formed nor used, and now? Well we know the madness.
This goes into the same realm of rape and porn on the internet. Early 2000s, Naomi Wolfe and other hypothesized that males would rape more and be more violent with porn. Now we know the inverse has happened, but what they didn't realize that the net-net effects on birth rates and the mating/data culture would be impacted the most.
The Law of Unintended Consequences always applies with humanity (IMO).
Take guns and the UK. The country removed Guns and the murder rate went wickedly higher and the only way it went down was a huge increase in police presence and hiring to drive it back down. Then it stayed the same sans guns.
Perceived violence now always appears to be far worse because just like a horror movie, the human mind will always makes things worse then the reality, based on fear and maybe latent memories of the brutality of life.
As for WWII, one wonders if America didn't drop the nuclear bomb during it, the probability of a WWIII with weapons probably would have already happened if not by the 1960s with the Cuban missile crisis. IF it didn't could you imagine now a days with social media?
Hi Carlyn, a gentle correction. Chlorine is the greenish, heavy, gas. My father was caught in the first gas attack in France (WW1). Luckily (as a good public school educated man who loved chemistry, he recognised it for what it was) - and the group were able to climb up a castle they were next to and cover their faces with wet cloths. He still suffered from the effects of inhalation. Ah but we have the various varieties of Fentanyl now....
Oh I adore my unpaid editors. ;) I will fix. Thank you!
The fact that violence, real and imagined, is a common aspect of mass media communications, also contributes to this distortion. People who rarely or never leave their homebase thus receive a Cliff's Notes version of how other people in other cities and nations behave that is far from the actual truth.
An excellent essay. I'd point out the same is true of wars, too.
For example, the Israel-Gaza war has been going on for nearly a year now, and has claimed the lives of some 50,000 people altogether. But there were some 30,000 dead merely on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
In the Donbass War, going for 2 years and 7 months now, both sides conceal their casualties. But the US estimates that there are something like 250-300,000 deaths between them. But in the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII, over 6 months there were 1.1 million to 3 million deaths.
Even in warfare, we are, quite simply, living in more civilised times. This is of course no comfort to those maimed, or the families of the dead, or people picking through the rubble of their homes. But things are getting better.
I would be curious to see a comparison of assaults and crimes that did not lead to death. A lot of the data seemed to rely purely on death as the outcome to support the decrease in violence.
And, as always, I love your articles.
The effects of social media's copy cat infection rates has to have an effect. In 2008 social media, e.g, was not as well formed nor used, and now? Well we know the madness.
This goes into the same realm of rape and porn on the internet. Early 2000s, Naomi Wolfe and other hypothesized that males would rape more and be more violent with porn. Now we know the inverse has happened, but what they didn't realize that the net-net effects on birth rates and the mating/data culture would be impacted the most.
The Law of Unintended Consequences always applies with humanity (IMO).
Take guns and the UK. The country removed Guns and the murder rate went wickedly higher and the only way it went down was a huge increase in police presence and hiring to drive it back down. Then it stayed the same sans guns.
Perceived violence now always appears to be far worse because just like a horror movie, the human mind will always makes things worse then the reality, based on fear and maybe latent memories of the brutality of life.
As for WWII, one wonders if America didn't drop the nuclear bomb during it, the probability of a WWIII with weapons probably would have already happened if not by the 1960s with the Cuban missile crisis. IF it didn't could you imagine now a days with social media?