MIM President Bob Peters Reviews Evidence that Popular Culture Plays Role in Mass Murder and Suggests What Must be Done About it
Contact: Robert Peters, President, Morality in Media, 212-870-3210
NEW YORK, Dec. 21 /Christian Newswire/ -- The following statement is from Morality in Media President Robert Peters:
Mass murder by individuals who aren't terrorists is not a new phenomenon. What is new in the United States is the regularity with which it now takes place. Why do mass killings by individuals, like those that occurred this year at Virginia Tech and Omaha, Nebraska, happen? What must be done about it?
In a 3,000-word article, Morality in Media President Robert Peters looks at research and reports others have done, describes his own view of changes that have occurred in American culture since he was a boy, and suggests, "Ideally, the solution to this problem would come through corporate and individual responsibility. . . . Failing that, Congress and the states should act. . . "
The article, "Mass Murder by Individuals and the Role of Guns, Religion, and Popular Culture" is an effort to understand what's gone wrong so that we can begin to find answers that are not limited to calls for more regulation of guns. The article is available at www.moralityinmedia.org on both the "Current Issues" and "Miscellaneous Issues" pages. Research and reports cited in the article:
"Mass Murder: America's Growing Menace," Jack Levin and James Alan Fox, Plenum Press, 1985
"Offense, Offender & Victim Characteristics of Public Mass Murder Incidents in the United States, 1975-1999," Thomas Petee and Kathy Padget (Homicide Research Working Group, 1999 Annual Meeting Proceedings)
"Eight Years After Columbine," N.Y. Times, Apr. 17, 2007
"We Must Tighten Lax Gun Laws," N.Y. Daily News, Apr. 17, 2007
"Assault Weapons in America: Military Guns in Civilian Hands," at www.bradycampaign.org
Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2007, ("Cho's madness")
"A New Generation Expresses its Skepticism and Frustration with Christ," Barna Group, 9/24/07
"A New Generation of Adults Bends Moral Rules to Their Liking," Barna Group, Oct. 31, 2006
Clayton Cramer, "Ethical Problems of Mass Murder Coverage in the Mass Media," Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 9:1, Winter 1993-94
