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Society
Pop culture's exploitation of criminal acts breeds more of them.
Terrorist attacks, as well as random acts of violence by criminals and mentally unstable individuals, produce psychological effects more far-reaching and potentially more destructive to society than the physical damage they cause. Though the acts themselves may be impossible to prevent, there may be ways to limit their wider impacts.
In his book The Copycat Effect, social critic Loren Coleman presents abundant evidence that news reports and fictional depictions of violent acts-particularly suicide and murder-directly influence others to commit such acts themselves.
The problem, as Coleman sees it, is similar to the spread of a contagious disease. Just as infectious germs are passed along through contact with a sick person or an object he or she has touched, witnessing or reading about a violent crime or suicide can...