Rosbjerg

If we hypothetically rewind time and get them into a good center.. then yes I do, especially given how young they were.. The younger they are the easier it is to undo the damage. If it gets time to settle in, then it's harder to teach them how to operate through life. Can they be rehabilitated now, as in 17 years later - I doubt that..

Well it's now 17 years after it happened right? So if they have been rotting a cell, with a few therapy hours a week, then honestly I don't think any good will come of them - unless they (and that would be a small miracle) have actually developed a sense of morality completely on their own, which isn't simply "going to prison is bad - therefore .. don't get caught" If these kids had been taken to a professional center, from the moment they were sentenced guilty, where every single one in the staff had been trained in handling these kinds of individuals and the family had also been taken under care, then I think they would've had quite a fair chance of holding jobs and actually giving back to society today. Of course this little setup costs millions pr 'inmate' a year.. so it's a little difficult to justify when there are genuinely poor and honest working people suffering just outside the center.

As with anything human it's always on a case by case basis.. there are guidelines and theories sure (social/psychological and anthropological in given circumstances) and they help alot, but at the end of the day each individual may respond drastically different than the most celebrated expert may predict. One thing you can count on though, is that all but the most insane (or stoic self-reliant types) really deeply wants to be appreciated/respected and given attention. It also depends on what you mean with "come back" - can they become 100% normal functioning individuals? no, because as they develop a sense of right and wrong then they begin to experience a sense of deep regret for what they did, which usually causes depression and mild suicidal tendencies later in life - and they will have enormous difficulty building solid relationships with a potential partner - so that's an imbalance that causes unhappiness as well. They'll be punished for the rest of their lives no matter what route they take, if they are "pure evil" then they get locked away.. if they are rehabilitated then their own guilt when inhibit their dangerous tendencies, as they do with us, but to such a degree that they tend to isolate themselves emotionally again. But can you "bring them back" to the point that they are not a danger to society - yes, that's actually not so difficult all things considered. It just takes time and patience and during that time they will break the law a few more times, but usually minor stuff like theft, burglary and funny enough often financial crimes (trying to scam an insurance company etc).. This is because (according to the theories we worked with) because of the arrested development that usually comes in these cases, causing them to get the early "teen-rebellion" around 16-30 - directed at "the man" instead.. Since they were brought up in an institution.

All right, maybe I sounded a little superior there, sorry for that.. I'm not more versed in human suffering than most of you I wager, I simply feel like I've learned a huge personal lesson, by working in these areas and travelling. Mostly I just saw the quiet desperation we are all capable of feeling, like a certain underlying current of the local culture (which was also true for the addicts etc). As if it had been conditioned into them that they had to work three times as hard, simply because they were also fighting their own weakness.. Poor people would blame themselves for their misery and the addicts were detached from themselves, as if a part of them would not recognize themselves in this situation - and this detached self was slowly tearing them down, by questioning their motives their desires and hopes. It's that shame that got me the most - and what I had the hardest time figuring out.. people who were slightly better off would blame everyone else, but once you got to a certain point apparently all that blame would collapse in on you, crushing your hope. And it's in that situation that people try to survive in any way possible - looting their neighbours, killing for a loaf of bread to stave off death and starvation for another day. I guess hope also ties in to your "horisont". Can you see yourself getting out of this? or is it simply about doing something/anything right now.. For the addicts and neglected it was the underlying shame of being shunned and abandoned by family and friends that really tore them up.. They felt so removed from "normal" life at times that I had problems reaching them.. slowly they would build up anticipation again, when the next day was marginally better than the last - but it often took months, or even years for the worst off.. It's important to note that most drug addicts are perfectly normal people, just with an addiction - these were the kind of people who had been abused, beaten, downtrotten and shunned for most of their childhood and young lives. How does this relate to these kids? If they belong to said group - then this gruesome act could be a desperate attempt to feel something, anything.. if they've been neglected all their lives then I wager that they believe themselves incapable of loving, in a kids intangible way - preferring simply to mentally detach and follow whatever current of emotion that comes into them.. We saw that plenty of times in the rehab, when some of the kids would try to sexually abuse, molest or just hurt other kids (we caught them before anything happened 99,9% of the time) and all the time the perpetrator would be emotionally devastated when we didn't just yell at him/her, but instead sat down, supported and tried to work out what had happened. They were slowly learning what was right and wrong. We all have random thoughts of evil I think, we just have a cultural escape mechanism, much similiar to theirs, who take us away from those feelings instead of towards them.. That's my 2 cents anyway - take them with a grain of salt.

Sure.. I worked the evening-shifts at an institution for the neglected, addicts and alcoholics for almost 2 years, at the same time I worked the day-shift in a kindergarden where kids of said group attended along "normal" kids to give them a better start. I've travelled around the poor and desperate places of over 12 countries on different continents and I've been involved in volunteer work for some of the poorest people in Europe.. What's your anecdote?

Dogs kill dogs and cats kill the offspring of other cats - most animals have absolutely no problem with killing their own kind - but their own "social" group, now that's a different story. Humans are much the same, luckily for us our layer of 'civilization' or 'culture' or whatever you might want to call it, marks everyone else (as long as they pose no immediate threat) as part of our group. Add just the right amount of apathy or desperation and you see just how thin that layer really is.

How does it compare with 'Bowling'? IMO it was better, quite funny to know big business/corporations consider us 'peasants'. If you enjoy MM docs, you will like A love story. Scary as hell - if even half the stuff he proposes is true.. *brrrr* I think I need to rattle some sabres here in my own country..

Same with some people who buy purely organic, I actually had someone tell me I was evil because I didn't buy organic milk.. It's not like that for the majority though, like in everything else it's simply the dimwits who are the loudest.

It's just your body adjusting to something it's not use to, I get like that if I eat too much meat..

It's difficult to grasp how anyone can be this cruel. I can't really form an opinion without more information, where the kids abused by their parents? did they have a history of violence? etc etc etc.. If this was just some out-of-the-blue demonic insanity, rather than the culmination of years of cruelty, then I would argue that they could perhaps be "saved" - at least it would be worth looking to see what caused it rather than just throw them in with the trash.

I have a feeling that Berlusconi would really love to do a R

They don't make demos anymore. Every wonder why. Also, you apparently have douces for friends, what does that say about you. Or maybe you were just making sure you ended up on the right side of the fence. Mmm huh... I can see why that looked a bit fishy, but I do have douches for friends when it comes to pirating. I remember the birth of pirate games back on the Commodore and Amiga - and how, when the PC came, the first "companies" of hackers started releasing their "products" on cds - Pirating became a sort of romantic profession, fighting the system - a digital Robin Hood.. That's the image most of my generation had when we were kids and that's a little difficult to fight, I'm proud that most of my friends have stopped pirating and started buying games instead, but I also understand why some haven't.. I don't know what todays youth thinks about pirating, if it is to them simply another means of getting a game, no moral strings attached.. but I imagine that fighting the misconceptions each generation has, would be a very good start.

Also I've noticed that me and my friends tend to buy the same games, usually the douche of the group pirates it and tells everyone how utterly amazing it is and the rest of us go out and buy it as the word spreads.. That's why I personally have this theory that if you actually used pirates as a PR resource of sorts, you might actually see an increase in sales, unless your game stinks of course.

Gotta agree with both Enoch and GD. Nationalism was on the rise all over Europe from the middle of the 19th century and culminating during the 1930's and the financial crisis, surely it had an effect, but mostly the German people were frustrated with the completely devastating Versailles treaty. The crisis was the final straw that broke the peoples confidence in the Weimar republic. Which would've happened eventually as Germany couldn't pay the war reparations anyway. But it's true that financial troubles usually bring about some new social order, even if its something as simple as Democrats versus Republicans..

I'm still hoping for that one company who figures out how to deal with pirates in a simple and meaningful way.. I doubt the PC market will crash and burn in the foreseeable future, but if it is this difficult to make a tiny profit I don't blame companies for leaving the market. While I would be a little sad to see the big productions dissapear, it would leave room for the indie developers who know that in order to sell something you need to make it good and not just exposed.

Trust me, that'll be the best investment you'll make in 2011!

If you don't care for the message, or the poster, voice your skepticism in a constructive manner or simply steer clear of the thread. ---- Some of the southern states have elected local socialist/marxist leaders recently - especially Kerala had several mayors from socialist parties...

I'm very happy that you can't - your laws do not universally fit every country. I simply wish the majority of companies would shift their production to India instead (it's as cheap in many cases), we need to support an Asian democracy instead.

Jesus Christ. Tell me about it.. I seriously cannot imagine the amount of money our government rakes in with 25% added to every single purchase.. it scares me at times.

? Probably Gamasutra misquoting him - he most likely said '88 and the reporter got it wrong.. who would say "belive it or not" if he was referring to 1998?

But you are forgetting one important thing.. you're covered in bees! Although, yes I do suppose it's possible, but don't you think most people would freak out if they had thousands of tiny insects crawling around on their skin?

Bought 3 books this week, but 2 of them Danish.. The last one however, was Max Brooks' "World War Z", a really interesting book. There's not plot per say, it's simply filled with dozens of personal records of what happened to the survivors of a Zombie Apocalypse.

I bought it on sale and it's actually very boring - I wouldn't recommend it. No class, only 1 weapon (with some different grenades). Not that I don't admire people keeping it simple, but the game lacks the dynamics of other shooters. It usually makes everyone solo and that's just boring in the long run.

I heard from a Pakistani family that most Scandinavians smell horribly like sour milk.. Which I found quite amusing, as some people complain that Indians and Pakistanis smell like curry, given the choice I think I'd prefer the latter.