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"The Matrix Defence - Views?"

I am watching a documentary television show on Channel 4 right now called The Matrix Defence. It is about how some individuals in America have taken it upon themselves to murder others. Later however it has been claimed that they comitted these murders due to being strong influence from the movie The Matrix.

I do believe that they have been influenced by The Matrix. I am not saying that The Matrix is to blame for the murders, I am not saying any of the cast or WB is responsible and so on however the people who have taken it upon themselves to murder others do have mental problems making them highly influencial so it is no surprise that when watching such a film they get murderous ideas in their heads.

Yes it is entirely their own fault but I do not think that their argument is entirely without merit. They have been influenced by this movie and therefore it is not entirely their own fault although I fully agree that it is their mental problems that are the root of the problem and not the movies.

Anyway that is my view on the subject, how about you?

You are all being far too general. You are acting as if it is normal people who are making these claims. People like you and me who are just looking for a capegoat. We all know that we don't get influenced by these things however you fail to acknowledge the fact that there are people out there with mental problems such as paranoia, skitzophrenia(sp?) and so on which make them at risk of being influenced by all sorts of media in the world around them. Through psych evaluations it is obvious that these people have A) got mental problems and are B) easilly influenced to do these violent acts making the violent media around them which has influenced them indirectly responsible.

They can only blame the matrix if they can truly hold a sppoon in their hand, and, whilt connected to a lie detector say: There is no spoon,

Or, if they ran up walls and shiznit whilst killing them, then they can blameit.

I agree wholeheartedly with what notorious says.

people take no damn responsibility for their actions.

"Jim fell over a piece of wood, he got £8000"

congratulations Jim, you're a cretin. here's some money.

You can't mollycoddle people. You can't worry permanently about "influencing" people to do bad things.

Tom and Jerry for example. That has extreme violence and cruelty to animals in it. It is an influence.

The Beano. Most of the comic strips in it encourage cheekiness and disrespect if you're looking for scapegoats.

Nigella Lawson. Looks all a bit sensual to me. Kids could see it.

You can blame anything for anything else if you try hard enough. The problem today is that 1) People take too little responsibility for themselves, but they sure as hell know their rights. 2) Social inclusion etc is having a bad effect. Troublemakers and the literally mentally ill are kept in a normal environment and don't get any of the help that they need. It's burying their heads in the sand.

I refuse to see entertainment blamed for everything. I've managed to watch the Matrix without killing random people, why can't they?

What a crap useless C4 show once again.

As I have said it is not being directly been blamed for this. As for your point that anything with violence should set them off that is simply not the case. I don't claim to be all knowledgable about murderers with mental conditions but i do know that they have a very complex mind that no one truly understands. The only reason The Matrix got used as an example is because as I have said everyone knows about it so they would get more ratings than if they called it "The Vice City Defence". As well as that it has influenced people to do some seriously evil things. The film is not directly responsible of course. It isn't controlling them or making them do it but it has influenced them to do it which was made possible because of their mental states.

If people are than impressionable, then any film or game or cartoon with violence in would make them go kill someone.
Matrix is hardly the most violent film is it? So why's it getting blamed for this?

Because The Matrix Defence has come up in the courts a lot recently and the crimes it is involved in are extreme. Not to mention the fact that everyone knows about The Matrix however fewer people know about certain music, games etc so it's easier to use that film for the documentary. However, at no point in the film does it point the finger directly at The Matrix. It simply states that the people who commit these crimes have mental problems, are easily influenced and have been influenced making The Matrix indirectly responsible in these cases. However you could insert Pulp Fiction, Postal 2 or whatever and the argument would be the same. There are people out there who are easilly influenced and who do get influenced in to doing violent acts because of these forms of media.

So why have a programme pointing the finger squarely at the Matrix?

I am saying that about every film though...The film is inconsequential it is the people who watch it that make the difference. If they had liked Pulp Fiction for example more than The Matrix then they could have been influenced by that. The film, game etc doesn't matter the fact remains they can be influenced IF they have mental problems and many of them do. I'm sure one of them was diagnosed with Paranoid Schitzophrenia(sp?). Is it that hard to believe that a man like that can be influenced by a film, game etc when they are influenced by what their imaginery friends say? The answer is no.