You guys are bonkers!!! Seriously. What are you talking about.
A nutcase reads a book, which I've read and enjoyed, and kills someone...and it is the books fault. GMAFB!!!! The guy is a whack job.
The written word is the only thing that can influence people, at least that is what I take away from John and Peter's post. Again, GMAFB!!! I thought Judas Priest and their backwards messages in songs was the media element that led people to evil. Or wait, maybe that was Ozzy. And George mentioned some other great ones..."movie mentality", "math mentality". Oh yeah, we could have religous mentality, cult mentality, etc, etc, etc.
The world is full of crazy people, who get lost, and do stupid things. What got them to that place certainly isn't the reading of one book, or hearing one song, or wathcing one movie. They are NUTS!!! Plain and simple.
Like George touched on with his watch your back statement, I've read Catcher in the Rye, listened to Ozzy and Judas Priest, I've watched a Clockwork Orange, and I've even done some math problems. But I haven't killed anyone who didn't deserve it!!
Heck, John even survived a golf trip with me and is still alive to talk about it.
How about talking some golf?
Let's all chip in, build a course, blow it up, and then play it as it lies after the destruction. I can use the skills I learned in the Marine Corps demoltions training to try to sculpt the land in certain ways with the charges and we can experiment with the types of hazards that C4 and dynamite make. It will be cool...and instead of minamilism, we can call it destructionism. BABY...THIS IS GONNA BE HUGE!!!!