"It must be something in the water," said one of my coworkers.

We were discussing the absolute craziness that is happening in the world today. It seems like every week there's a new shooting, car crash, fire, or bombing that occurs. It's like clockwork. The scary part are the reasons why people commit these acts. Whether they're angry at someone, want revenge, don't like abortion, been laid off, or are dealing with a deeper darker issue. Finally, the worst part is what comes after the act. Instead of looking at the individual and what they were dealing with, they find a scapegoat. Usually it's movies, music, TV shows, and video games.

The recent target of focus is the movie Joker. News outlets are saying that this movie will inspire a mass shooting and that the joker is a hero to the mentally disturbed. I've seen the movie and I can tell you that the movie is..... good, but definitely over hyped. The movie is a good movie, but I didn't see anything that will make it Oscar worthy or push someone to violence, like everyone keeps saying. What killed the movie are the parts that dragged on. I think it was just an attempt to get the audience to feel more invested, but it got annoying at times. I would still recommend this movie to people, because it still is a good movie and that's just what it is, a movie. It's not brainwashing people to go commit violent acts. I wouldn't even call it a violent movie. It doesn't glorify the violence in it or make you cheer on the Joker while he's killing people. If anything they make you scared of him, even if you do understand why he's so angry and feels like these people deserve it. I don't think it's fair to accuse this movie of glorifying violence, but nobody speaks about other action movies like John Wick (which I love). John Wick kills at least ten people in the first half hour in those movies, but everybody's okay with it. I don't know, I just don't it's fair to accuse one movie and not look at all the other forms of media we absorb in a day.

How about instead of judging someone by what posters they have hanging on their wall, or what songs they have on their phone, or what games they play, you talk to the people close to that individual. They can give you a better picture of that person and what they were dealing with. I understand music and other forms of media are outlets for everybody's identity, but it's not an outlet for their actions. At the end of the day movies, music, TV shows, and video games do not make people violent or convince them to give up their free will. Only that person can make their own decisions and if they tell you otherwise, than they are dealing with a deeper issue.