Mark Follman

Yeah, I mean, this question has been around for decades and sort of hand in hand with the even broader version of the question is like, what is it about American culture that's so violent that causes us to do this? I get it. I mean, it's a question that I think is interesting.

It's hard to nail down, but specifically with violent content, video games or movies or music, lyrics, there's actually this kind of comical version of it in some early FBI research that I talk about in the book where they're trying to pin it on satanic rock music. That's a canard, right?

It's hard to nail down, but specifically with violent content, video games or movies or music, lyrics, there's actually this kind of comical version of it in some early FBI research that I talk about in the book where they're trying to pin it on satanic rock music. That's a canard, right?

It's hard to nail down, but specifically with violent content, video games or movies or music, lyrics, there's actually this kind of comical version of it in some early FBI research that I talk about in the book where they're trying to pin it on satanic rock music. That's a canard, right?

There's no scientific evidence to support the idea that any of that material causes someone to go commit violence like this. That said, there are some ways that it can become relevant in a case. It's more about what I was describing earlier with the fixation behavior on graphic content.

There's no scientific evidence to support the idea that any of that material causes someone to go commit violence like this. That said, there are some ways that it can become relevant in a case. It's more about what I was describing earlier with the fixation behavior on graphic content.

There's no scientific evidence to support the idea that any of that material causes someone to go commit violence like this. That said, there are some ways that it can become relevant in a case. It's more about what I was describing earlier with the fixation behavior on graphic content.

If you've got someone who's in crisis, who's on this planning pathway and other kinds of bad things are going on and suddenly they've lost their job or kicked out of school and all these things going on and they're spending all their time playing violent video games, you might ask why. But ultimately, there are a number of cases that I looked at very deeply where

If you've got someone who's in crisis, who's on this planning pathway and other kinds of bad things are going on and suddenly they've lost their job or kicked out of school and all these things going on and they're spending all their time playing violent video games, you might ask why. But ultimately, there are a number of cases that I looked at very deeply where

If you've got someone who's in crisis, who's on this planning pathway and other kinds of bad things are going on and suddenly they've lost their job or kicked out of school and all these things going on and they're spending all their time playing violent video games, you might ask why. But ultimately, there are a number of cases that I looked at very deeply where

The playing of violent video games, really what's important about that is the social isolation. It's not the game itself. It's the fact that they're not leaving their apartment anymore and they're depressed and angry and they've got this idea that this is what they think they need to do.

The playing of violent video games, really what's important about that is the social isolation. It's not the game itself. It's the fact that they're not leaving their apartment anymore and they're depressed and angry and they've got this idea that this is what they think they need to do.

The playing of violent video games, really what's important about that is the social isolation. It's not the game itself. It's the fact that they're not leaving their apartment anymore and they're depressed and angry and they've got this idea that this is what they think they need to do.

And there is some theorizing or some thought that I came across among experts in threat assessment in cases like that. There may be some psychological rehearsal going on, like playing a first-person shooter is a way to get psyched up. That's not a practical way to train yourself to go use a real firearm and shoot people.

And there is some theorizing or some thought that I came across among experts in threat assessment in cases like that. There may be some psychological rehearsal going on, like playing a first-person shooter is a way to get psyched up. That's not a practical way to train yourself to go use a real firearm and shoot people.

And there is some theorizing or some thought that I came across among experts in threat assessment in cases like that. There may be some psychological rehearsal going on, like playing a first-person shooter is a way to get psyched up. That's not a practical way to train yourself to go use a real firearm and shoot people.

But there's certainly no evidence I've seen in all my research that it's causal. We want to blame that stuff culturally. And I think the cultural concerns are legitimate about violent content. I mean, you and I both know this as parents, right? There are things you don't want your young kids to see, right? And it's much more vivid and graphic now than it was when we were kids.

But there's certainly no evidence I've seen in all my research that it's causal. We want to blame that stuff culturally. And I think the cultural concerns are legitimate about violent content. I mean, you and I both know this as parents, right? There are things you don't want your young kids to see, right? And it's much more vivid and graphic now than it was when we were kids.

But there's certainly no evidence I've seen in all my research that it's causal. We want to blame that stuff culturally. And I think the cultural concerns are legitimate about violent content. I mean, you and I both know this as parents, right? There are things you don't want your young kids to see, right? And it's much more vivid and graphic now than it was when we were kids.

That's real and that matters. But I don't think that's causing anyone to go commit a school massacre.