(Stillness in the Storm Editor) The following article showcases the opinions of psychologists who seem to assert that mass shootings don’t have any meaningful connections to mental illness or video games. But this presentation in the following article is itself rather dubious, as there are many mental health professionals who recognize that mental health plays a role in mass violence.
To be clear, the article doesn’t explicitly dispute the connection between video games, mental health problems, and mass shootings. But it implies that citing these things means overlooking other factors. It seems to pull quotes from mental health professionals who were likely fed biased leading questions—but we don’t know for sure. By this I mean, if a psychologist is asked: “Do you think mass shootings take place because of video games and mental health problems?” they’ll likely answer that those aren’t the only causes. And of course, this makes sense. However, the media then takes these quotes, often out of context, and uses them to undergird their biased opinion that the true cause of mass shootings is access to firearms; therefore, “we need gun control.”
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I would argue, this is just one more example of propaganda and false syllogistic comparisons designed to make the reader believe the true cause of mass shootings is guns only, and not mental health problems or video games.
However, that’s not true either. If access to guns was the sole reason people commit mass shootings, every American would be a mass murderer because we could go buy a weapon, possess it after a waiting period, and unleash mayhem. And yet, that doesn’t’ happen.
Legend has it that video games, specifically first-person shooters, were engineered by DARPA specifically because they help persons in the military fire weapons at living targets without turning away. S.L.A. Marshall conducted a study on firing success rates in WWII, noting that most soldiers didn’t properly aim at living targets. It was concluded that there was a psychological aversion to killing that was overriding the person’s training, which has been an issue throughout history.
To add to this case, in 2018, DARPA called for more gaming in military training, which it already does extensively:
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) hopes to use gamification to improve human strategies in warfare, with a particular focus on games that can be built up to support numerous players and environments that can include a large number of different factors and outcomes.
It isn’t clear what the objective of this training is, but it’s not unreasonable to suspect that games can and do influence a person’s capacity to shoot and kill a target.
Apparently, the common trend in almost every mass shooting in recent years is not access to legal weapons, but psychotropic drugs, as cited by a 2013 article:
The overwhelming evidence points to the signal largest common factor in all of these incidents is the fact that all of the perpetrators were either actively taking powerful psychotropic drugs or had been at some point in the immediate past before they committed their crimes.
Multiple credible scientific studies going back more than a decade, as well as internal documents from certain pharmaceutical companies that suppressed the information, show that SSRI drugs ( Selective Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors ) have well known, but unreported side effects, including but not limited to suicide and other violent behavior. One need only Google relevant keywords or phrases to see for themselves. www.ssristories.com is one popular site that has documented over 4500 “ Mainstream Media “ reported cases from around the World of aberrant or violent behavior by those taking these powerful drugs.
The more recent shootings appear to also share this connection.
Consider all this as you read the following article, which we are sharing here to alert you to propaganda efforts on the part of the Deep State.
– Justin
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed below are not presented here because we agree with them. Nor are we suggesting you should believe them. It is data we consider valuable information as part of the grander effort to know ourselves, the world, so as to better take steps to make things better, for all.
by William Wan and Lindsey Bever William, August 6th, 2019
Every time a mass shooting occurs, the country talks about mental health. Many politicians are quick to point to the shooters’ disturbed minds. News reporters probe for “loner” tendencies or signs of instability.
“Mental illness and hatred pull the trigger. Not the gun,” said President Trump on Monday, after two mass shootings in less than 24 hours.
So is mental illness to blame for America’s mass shootings? Not according to research.
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Some mass shooters have a history of schizophrenia or psychosis, but many do not. Most studies of mass shooters have found that only a small fraction have mental health issues.
And researchers have noted a host of other factors that are stronger predictors of someone becoming a mass shooter: a strong sense of resentment, desire for infamy, copycat study of other shooters, past domestic violence, narcissism and access to firearms.
“It’s tempting to try to find one simple solution and point the finger at that,” said Jeffrey Swanson, a professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine. “The fact that somebody would go out and massacre a bunch of strangers, that’s not the act of a healthy mind, but that doesn’t mean they have a mental illness.”
As mass shootings have become more common in recent years, their connection to mental health has been increasingly scrutinized by the FBI, police departments, forensic psychiatrists, mental illness experts and epidemiologists.
In a 2018 report on 63 active shooter assailants, the FBI found that 25 percent had been diagnosed with a mental illness. Of those, three had been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder. In a 2015 study that examined 226 men who committed or tried to commit mass killings, 22 percent could be considered mentally ill.
A report from the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation estimated that a majority of mass shooters have mental illness, based in part on looser definitions and retroactive assessments.
Research has long debunked another common explanation among politicians: that violent video games are driving the mass shooting crisis. The idea was floated again by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Trump, who talked of restricting “gruesome and grisly video games.”
There is, however, no statistical link between playing violent video games and shooting people, said Jonathan Metzl, director of the Center for Medicine, Health and Society at Vanderbilt University.
A 2004 report conducted by the Secret Service and the Education Department found that 12 percent of perpetrators in more than three dozen school shootings showed an interest in violent video games. Despite a continuing lack of a link, lawmakers and public figures continue to blame the gaming industry.
“When politicians like President Trump perpetuate this narrative, to me, it is the height of irresponsibility, because it’s perpetuating a falsehood,” Metzl said.
The eagerness to blame mental health and video games means society is searching for answers in the wrong places, experts say.
At the height of the reflex to blame video games – following the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 – a Gallup poll found that 62 percent of adults nationwide believed entertainment was the major catalyst for the tragedy and that 83 percent supported restrictions on the sale of violent media to children. President Bill Clinton even called for an investigation on how the advertising industry sold violent entertainment.
Last year, a Post-ABC poll on mass shootings found that 57 percent of people believed shootings were a reflection of failures to identify and treat people with mental health problems. Meanwhile, 28 percent thought it reflected inadequate gun-control laws.
“The irony is clearly we do need more robust mental health system,” said Arthur C. Evans Jr., a psychologist who heads the American Psychological Association. “But that’s separate and apart from these shootings.”
Almost 5 percent of the US population suffers from a serious mental illness in a health-care system that most clinicians say severely under-prioritizes mental health. That has often left those in crisis begging insurers and providers for help.
More than 60 percent of counties in America don’t have a single psychiatrist. Only 43 percent of adults in the United States with a mental health condition received help in the past year.
People with serious mental disorders are 3.6 times as likely to exhibit violent behavior, according to the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. But they are far more likely to be the victims of violence – at 23 times the risk, compared with the general population.
A study published in the journal Annals of Epidemiology found that “the large majority of people with mental disorders do not engage in violence against others, and that most violent behavior is due to factors other than mental illness.”
“We like to think that anyone who kills others is somehow mentally ill,” said Phillip Resnick, who served as a forensic psychiatrist in cases including Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. In an interview last year, Resnick said, “you have to remember, people kill for all sorts of reasons. They kill for profit or love or greed.”
Mental health advocates say comments such as Trump’s labeling shooters as “mentally ill monsters” can exacerbate false stereotypes about the mentally ill.
“When you blame people with mental illness for things like mass shootings, it’s not just untrue,” said Angela Kimball, head of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
“It keeps people from seeking help even when they need it. It spreads unjustified fears about the mentally ill and worsens the stigma around it.”
The 2018 FBI study found that shooters typically experienced several stressors in the year before they attack: financial pressures, fights with classmates or co-workers, and substance abuse.
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And on average, shooters displayed four to five concerning behaviors that those around them could notice – the most frequent being behavior related to mental health, interpersonal conflicts or some sign of violent intent.
Researchers point out that other countries have similar rates of mental illness but a small fraction of America’s gun deaths. Similarly, video games are widespread in Europe and Asia, yet their rates of gun deaths are much lower than that in the United States.
Epidemiologists say that what sets the United States apart from the rest of the world is guns.
America has nearly 400 million civilian-owned firearms, or 120.5 guns per 100 residents – meaning that the country has more guns than it has people. The second-closest country, Yemen, had 52.8 guns per 100 residents, according to the Small Arms Survey.
“Mental illness is not the real issue, because mental illness is something that happens across the globe. Mass shootings? Not so much,” Kimball said. “The sad truth is that in America, it’s easy to get a gun. It’s very difficult to get mental health care.”
Timothy Bella contributed to this report.
2019 © The Washington Post
Stillness in the Storm Editor: Why did we post this?
The Deep State agenda requires total control of your sense of reality, what I have termed reality management. This is founded on the psychological principle that the environment affects behavior more than direct force. If you want to control someone so perfectly that they don’t know it and actually do what you want thinking it was their own choice, you need to control what someone thinks. Propaganda is a tool for the mass manipulation of perception, values, and life choices. The aim of propaganda is to use subtle techniques to influence your sense of reality, and by extension, your life choices. Lawfully, when a person or people refuse to discuss ideas and work with others, subtle techniques can be used to manage their behavior. Benevolent use of propaganda works to raise the individual up so that they can engage in worldly affair management as a direct agent. Malevolent propaganda seeks to dumb down the individual so they lack the competence to participate. The Deep State uses propaganda in the latter fashion. Understanding that biggest danger to the powers that be is your own mind, your ability to think critically, investigate honestly, and bravely consider new ideas without prejudice, empowers you to be a warrior for truth and justice. Our world needs active thinkers. Learning about these truths can be difficult to accept, but once you let your resentment for the imperfection of this world die, you can embrace the adulthood desire to make things better through your influence. That is the work we are all here to do. With this knowledge in hand, specifically knowledge of how the Deep State use propaganda against the people, you can develop the self-mastery skills needed to not only transcend such efforts but use them to train your warrior spirit. And once trained, you can join the ranks of well informed and educated world healers working tirelessly to free humanity and make the world a better place.
– Justin
Not sure how to make sense of this? Want to learn how to discern like a pro? Read this essential guide to discernment, analysis of claims, and understanding the truth in a world of deception: 4 Key Steps of Discernment – Advanced Truth-Seeking Tools.
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NAILED IT, Justin! Thank you for helping get this extremely important word out!
The Church of Scientology has been hammering this issue for years and is, as a result, taking a beating in the media for years as well, for having the balls to do so. Those who own the media are the same who own or have controlling interest in the pharmaceutical industry as a an international corporate conglomerate. The Church of Scientology from the get-go made itself a target of Big Brother. (I don’t have that big of cajones…, do you? Honestly now. But I got to say, Justin, your website, Stillness in the Storm, has some mighty big ones anyway! Thanks, thanks, thanks again.)
The Church of Scientology has reported on the abuses of the psychiatric industry, being accomplices, in the criminality and deaths caused by psychiatric medications pushed by drug companies through criminal means; purchasing favorable laboratory results, suppressing other lab results, buying off the FDA, etc., etc The Church has been going up against the most powerful on this planet – those who not only have all the money, they print the money! Check out articles on the Churches’ CCHR (Citizens Commission on Human Rights) website (https://www.cchr.org/), as well as its Freedom Magazine website (https://www.freedommag.org/).
The non-secular psychiatry oriented organization called MAD (MadinAmerica), run by the few in the psych industry who are trying to salvage the industry from the drug companies, reports in duplicate everything the Church does through its distribution outlets. The Church probably gets a lot of its material on the criminality of the psychiatric and pharmaceutical industries from the same sources. But, MAD founder, Robert Whitaker, vehemently denies being, or in any way associated, with Scientology. He has stated Scientology is a problem for his him, and not a an ally. – Perhaps the reason being that Scientology is more effective than all of the psychiatric industry and his MAD organization together in putting ethics into the mental health field. CCHR (Citizens Commission for Human Rights), reports it is responsible for contributing to the 5.8 billion yearly loss average by the pharmaceutical drug pushers. CCHR over the years has shut down dozens of perverted and criminal psychiatric practices and hospitals which were held accountable for criminal misbehavior and loss of human life. What does Jason Whitaker’s MAD do? Well from its website it publishes a lot of articles by a lot of good well-meaning people…
MAD website devotes itself to good articles by good people on the evil of the psychiatric drug industry take over of psychiatry. (Hats off to Peter Breggin and others like him broadly published!) Where is the meat? What is MAD doing to make a real difference which is so necessary right now, RIGHT NOW?! – a lot of people are psychologically maimed or dying every day! Is MAD’s Robert W. afraid to stick his head out of the fox hole after he sees how much heat the Church of Scientology takes for standing up tall? Come on Robert! Rally your people!
The effectiveness of your organization seems like a government bureaucracy, publishing a lot of papers. I can’t help but wonder if your organization might just be a shill? Are you just paid by the pharmaceutical industry to look like your organization is doing something? An organization so that people will sit back complacently thinking that something is being done, when it isn’t really? What are you doing besides printing articles on your website? I know that independents who work as writers for your your website also have their own websites and are public speakers for the cause. But what is your organization effectively do on its own in making a difference? – The evidence abounds! Scientology has and still continues to clear a broad path.
See what David W. Oaks writes on your website here supporting CCHR and working together to solve this abhorrent criminally and deadly issue in America. (https://www.madinamerica.com/2014/08/top-11-ways-reunite-mental-health-revolution/ )
David is listed as a contributing blogger for your site.
https://www.madinamerica.com/writers-page/ “David W. Oaks, Psychiatric Survivor Activist, Tells Mad Movement Stories for Mental Health Justice: After the mental health system abused David with forced psychiatric drugs and labels of schizophrenia and bipolar, David worked as a psychiatric survivor activist for decades. He blogs here and at http://www.davidwoaks.com.”
[Below listed excerpts from David’s blog on MadinAmerica website] –
“It may be time for our social change movement to be a bit more open and interactive with CCHR. Yes, we need to be independent. But if we refuse to even talk to someone from CCHR (not all of whom are Scientologists), why is it that people in our movement talk to shock doctors, drug company representatives, government officials who run the mental health system, etc.? If we are willing to talk with psychiatrists, why can’t we talk with everyone else, including Scientologists?
Let me tell you the day I vowed to speak out against bigotry involving CCHR: When Tipper Gore was in the White House as the wife of the then-Vice President, she sponsored a big public rally to promote the mental health system. I helped organize a counter-protest, and a few dozen of us psychiatric survivors and allies showed up with our signs and big prop hypodermic needles to say “no” to Tipper’s push for more involuntary psychiatric drugs. I will always remember that at the end of our little ragtag protest, we looked up the street, and separately from us there must have been thousands of people from CCHR with matching t-shirts all marching the width of the street, singing, “Go tell it on the mountain, psychiatry kills!” Obviously all psychiatrists do not kill, but as a long-time activist I can tell you that the organizations representing all of psychiatry, on the national and international levels, have been almost totally closed to dialogue about abuse within their ranks, despite many years of sincere outreach by many of us. Yes, psychiatry does kill, thank you CCHR for singing the truth!
As I watched thousands of CCHR members march and sing, I vowed that I would not buy into prejudice about their members, many of whom, but not all, are Scientologists. Do not get me wrong, I will not join that religion, I read one of the main books analyzing Scientology (Inside Scientology, by professional journalist Janet Reitman, 464 pages), and it’s not my cup of tea. As I say elsewhere, I am a Unitarian Universalist. But I was moved to tears by thousands of CCHR members singing for our brothers and sisters who have been killed by the mental health system. That day, at Liberty Plaza in Washington DC, I wondered to myself, “Where are the other religions on our issue?”
We psychiatric survivors and our organizations are often shunned and ignored by mental health groups. Search the web for this phrase: Free chapter by David W Oaks about the moral imperative of dialogue with psychiatric survivor organizations. If we complain about being shunned, then why would we shun others?”