Violence and media
Is there anything we can do about violence?
On Sunday afternoon I went with a couple friends to see the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature, GrindHouse. Although it isn’t Tarantino’s best work it did not disappoint. By that I mean that it was phenomenally edgy and violent.
During one particularly gruesome scene, with guns blazing and blood splattering, I suddenly became conscious of how excited I was and how much I enjoyed that feeling.
I’m not proud of it, but I like watching violent movies. Not for the sake of violence itself. A movie with nothing but violence would be terribly dull. But violence combined with compelling dialogue, violence that I can believe, now that’s entertainment. The popularity of filmmakers like Tarantino and Rodriguez proves I’m not alone.
The events at Virginia Tech made it shockingly clear that we live in a violent society. The Roman games may no longer exist, but the human craving for violence, action, adrenaline, whatever you want to call it, continues to rage.
Do I think that violent movies or music or video games are to blame for these events?
No, absolutely not.Hundreds of millions of people see the same violent entertainment and don’t exhibit psychopathic behavior. I’m more inclined to think that a love of violence is a species wide trait that was key to survival for many thousands of years.
So why does it seem like these tragedies always happen in America?
The reason that occurs to me is that this young man had nothing to live for. A person with nothing to live for is capable of anything. Are there more Americans with nothing to live for relative to other cultures? Are we more isolated from each other? More cruel? More competitive?
I don’t know. These events make me realize that I don’t know much of anything. This tragedy has left me very confused and very sad.
I didn’t have much reason to respond to the tragic death of the students and faculty at Virginia Tech. The media hoopla has been offensive. I didn’t know if I could contribute much to the discussion.
And then… I read this post. The author is having a philosophical delimna. How can I enjoy watching violent media and not exhibit the behaviour of the shooter? I can sympathize. I too often enjoy movie violence. I wrote about this very issue not so long ago here: Can Violence be Essential to a Narrative?
He has two conflicting ideas at play. First, violent media and its relationship to tragedy. Second, the shooter and his personal connection to the tragedy. In reaction to the first, violent media doesn’t necessarily inform behavior. I don’t much care what the psychiatric community says about this. Violence is a part of fallen humanity. Our struggle is whether to engage in it senslessly or even for a purpose. The Biblical witness testifies that man is a violent creature. It also testifies that God returns the violent distortions of all creation towards his own end in defiance of Satan’s use. We can’t say the good that will come of the VT shooting. Pacificism doesn’t come by avoiding violence and violent media. Witness the horrible tragedy of the death of Jesus on the cross. Its ugly business. Violence used to give peace. Philosophy would like to suggest this is not possible. Scripture says otherwise.
The other conflict at hand is the relationship of the shooter and his actions. We are rightly held accountable for our actions under the law. The world wants to point the finger at something, anything. Maybe its a broken family, violent media, too lenient gun control laws, or too harsh a grading system at the university. Whatever it is, the purpose is to absolve the shooter of his own actions. The intent is to abdicate the man from his sinful condition. May this never be! He just like you and I are enslaved in the house of mistress sin. Its not through a purified environment that this young man was going to stop being violent. We don’t prevent tragedy like this by our own doing. Tragedy is a consequence of sin. Safety, comfort comes only by God’s grace and as he wills it. Often we suffer, even sometimes even fatally. In the moment of death, do we curse God or do we thank him for the life that he gave us?
This tension between faith and unbelief, joy and suffering, life and death is not one God has chosen to resolve now. We remain in a limbo of sorts until the resurrection of the dead. For what purpose? So that in our suffering we can share with others of Christ’s suffering on our behalf. Martyrdom is a foreign concept for us in our comfortable, prosperous life. Suffering in light of the cross is difficult to understand. May God grant us the wisdom to not seek comfort in the artificial safety of our own protection but find true safety in the shadow of His wings.
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