Transcripts For FBC Stossel 20141003

John is it a mean, mean world . It seems like one when you watch us, were in a war. Terrorist threats to the us us. The ebola outbreak. I am scared. John it is i mean mean world, worse than ever. Starvation is breath taking. Massive flooding. This world is about it go through some disasters. John most people say horrible things are happening, some are, but they have always happened, they used to happen more. Look at this chart, deaths in war in middle east now is terrible. But nothing like what happened in 40s and 50s. Millions were killed in world war ii, more in korean war, and more by chairman mao in china, compare now, violent death more common today terrorism is up. A graph from university of chicago, first spike is World Trade Center attack, worldwide, terrorism deaths have sometimes been higher since then, but few americans are killed by terrorists, of 18,000 terrorism deaths last year, 16 were americans. Every death is terrible, but is the world meaner today than it used ite to be . Is america . No, despite terrorism and war, crime and disease, people live longer today, average American Life span is now 79 years. You look at statistics, you could say these are the best of times, president obama said that. If yo if had to choose aboutt to be born in human history, you choose this time. World is less violent than it hahas been. It is healthier than it has been. John he was mocked for saying that, yet that statement is true, but not what we usually hear on tv. Were in a very dangerous time right now, more so perhaps than at height of the cold war with the soviet union. John more dangerous than cold war when russians had thousands of Nuclear Missiles pointed at us, and khrushchev said well bury you . I dont think so. Give me a break, people are convinced that dream is o is e is on the rise. I believe it is worse. I got a conceal and clear license, i dont feel safe any more. Reporter has crime gotten worse. Yes. Reporter worse than you were a child. No, we didnt have to lock our doors now we do. John john studies crime, what are the people talking about . They dont know that crime is down. In the last look at last century, for from 20s through 50s, dream is steady at a low rate, crime explodes in 60s and 70s, high in 80s, then declines in 90s could then the same last decade or last 5 or 6 years declined again, that story is not getting told. John homicide down 51 , rape 35 percent, robbery 56 , assault down 45 . Good news . Great news, but, the thing that is interesting, in 90s climb declined everywhere but in last 5 or 6 years just declineed in some cities in washington, new york, dallas or san diego, Violent Crime is way down, in phillie or chicago and detroit, it is not, those stories are getting told across the country. John overall, it is down. But some people have a hard time believing this, when i tell them, most would not believe me. Is crime rising . Oh, yeah in chicago and big cities sure. John would you be surprised if i told you crime is down . Yes, i you would wong that crime is on the crime is rise. John a former police officer. Is crime down. Statisticly it is down, i did sta t euftics for Police Department in 9 94 our homicide was 942, and that was like high in that decade, now it is about half that. New york during that time was reaching 2300. Right now new york and chicago are like neckandneck for homicides. John most informed interviews so far. John his numbers were a little off but close, crime is down, murder rate from 1990 to now. Rape, robbery. Even when you tell people, they dont want to believe it, people think that crime in their neighborhood i is getting bette, but in the city they live in is getting worse, reasons is they are bombarded with messages from media about how violent the world with, and shows like gang land, that shows gang violent and 1990 but they are not told that. And so, people have wrong messages. Why is it down . We had places where we had immigrants move to central cities, we have them reduce aim of segregation that happened to create a virtual cycle of economic development. John i would also think technology, people can call police more easily, and video cameras discourageing crimes. Cell phones are great for for example how things that areathon extending length of prison sentences have helped to reduce crime rate, cell phone means instead of going to an open air drug market where there is violence on dealers and dealers and buyers, now you can call your buyer, ordeal or a cell phone they will bring it to you. John okay. As you mentioned as with all trends there are e exceptions, sometimes it goes up in a short period in a specific place, that bad news gets hyped. On the rise here, for a second year in a row. That was true. In 2012, crime was up. But trend has been down. Well, crime was up, according to a survey of americans. Crime according to what was respected to police, in 2011, and12 was down, violence was reduceed. John the bad news gets picked up because bad news is news, no one is out at the back fence, gossiping about who is being faithful to their spouse. Now, everyone time someone cheats on their space it on news. John suburbs are safer than citys. It used to be true, it is get to be less true, when we tear down highrise Public Housing and move people out of really violent places that poison the people, the crime does not follow them. John more mass killings . The more notion of serial killers is overblown it sells books and movies, it is wonderful fodder for tv shows. It is really rare in america. If you talk with serial killers, or offenders. John i warily do. And i have, and what they tell you, they cant believe they done get caught, they are not criminal masterminds. They are rare. John i wonder what would happen to crime rate if we legallized drugs . In drugs were legal would there be more crime . Yes, i think so. I think that drugs is the cause of a lot of crime. If heroin and cocaine were legal would there be more her less crime. I think more. When you are taking substances like that, you dont think normally. That is what reported managing editor of fox news hell. Codo the health. Com, sayi, had is clear crime and drug use is on the rise. But its not. Absolutely. You saw those graphs. If you want to pick and choose statistics. John from the fbi. This is todays wall street journal, look at that heading Mass Shootings on the rise, a report from fbi today. Right. Looking at let me respond they cherry pick the year 2000. A low year. And your staf stat istitionse cherry picking the data. Crimes are out of control, and drug use is out of control. John it is less than it used to be, right. Yes, and i used to have more hair, but im still bald. John you are a square monger . No john you are a scaremonger. No, i am the guy at the hospital. Hospital. John john help me. You are entitleed to your own opinion not your own facts, facts are violence in america has declines. You said before in suburbia, it was a happy go hrub lucky neighborhood, i walked my neighborhood, i live in one of most wonderful in america, i walk that neighborhood, i find, herheroin packets open, burned, why . Heroin is only 8 today, in 70s a pack would cost you i dont know 100. Why do you want to keep fighting the drug war . I dont want more people addicted. John we should decriminalize there are fewer addicts. They give you a pass on a one gram of cocaine or mere heroin. Is that what you have . No this is just showandtell, when you have all of that, you go to jail just like any place else, that different standards of criminal code, not argument of legalizing drugs in the world. John one man, i interviewed revealed a logical inconsistency to ban drugs he is from malaysia. Would there be more crime. Yeah, we have if you have more than 15 crimes you are going to the hang mans noose. Noose. John no drug use in your country. There is. John the answer is tough laws but there is drug use anyway. Yeah. John its not working. No but there are a lot of other things involved. John its not working here either. I believe that criminal code needs to be analyzed more deeply, legalization of marijuana, i used to be against it. Im not so sure any more as a scientist. John but no way crack or heroin. Absolutely not. John the black market causes crime they steal to get products. Also, listen, i dont think that this government right now has paid attention in putting really screws on countries that harbor you know drug manufacturing, looking at colombia, or bolivia and border problems we have, this is why you can find heroin for 8, and pot for less than 5, and it is everywhere, call 1800 find drugs you can get did. John we need to fight a tougher drug war. We need to do our job, the job of government is to protect the people, right now this country is not being protected at any level. John you want more protection, i dont know thank you, manny and john, and joining this argument you with tweet with that hash tag mean world, or post on my facebook page. Coming up, hollywood hypocrites, they dont want you to have a gun. Newtown. How many more enough. Demand a plan. In the hall of the Mountain King [beeping on the computer] peter come take a look at this. [beeping sounds are more rapid] [beeping sounds are even faster] mr. Daniels . Mr. Daniels . Look at this. Whats this . The numbers they keep getting bigger and bigger. The clicks are off the charts. Yeah the clicks are off the charts. Yoshi, its walt. Were back. Yes sir hi. [spoken in japanese] lets go lets go lets go [spoken in japanese english] i need more trucking. More shipping more shipping i need more trees more trees . Ill get you more trees. Hey take a look at wood pulp. Whoa. Everything you got on wood pulp. Right now yeah he really loves that thing. The internet has changed how guns are sold, sites make it easy to do parking lot gun deals with no background checks, no questions asked. John easy to do, anonymous parking lot deals, it sounds s frightening, gun ownership is up, and americans with permits to carry tripleed. In last 7 years, and media screams about gun crime. Growing so rapidly there one city official said that city is under attack. People become so conditioned to the sound of gunfire in their neighborhood they dont call police 92 i. John it sounds terrible, and it is for those people, but this is such misleading sound bites. Murder, Violent Crimes have gone down in last 25 years. John talking about end tkwrap lessyapindianapolisand camden ws been bad. Nationaly and big cities, Violent Crime has been down. John you wrote a book, more guns, less crime. Which makes no sense to most people. You can deter criminal with higher arrest rates, fact that victims can defend themselves can make it risky for criminals to engage in a crime, we seen a tripleing of consigned handguns in last 7 years, and murder rates and Violent Crimes have fallen. John let me ask the audience. How many of youon a gun . You own a gun . Unusual for new york. I tried to get a permit here i gave up, they turned me down after months of trying 430. The poor people, are most beneficial to guns, those with training fees, are priced out. John former mayor bloomberg has a gun control group, saying sinew town there have since newtown there have been 74 school shoots. I have looked at these studies every one of these has huge errors, they include things somebody that used his gun defensively to stop two attackers is a newtown, someone that committed suicide by themselve at 2 00 a. M. In morning in a parking lot, this is outrageous that media repeats these. John we invited them to come on the program, they would not respond, any time a gun goes off at a school, students and parents are concerned. Looking at numbers of deathing in scooting from guns they have fallen over last couple decades, number of School Shootings have gone down, a case where media created this hysteria, we have a lot of good things happening there. John and stkpaoebging o speakif media his teria, dr. Manning pulling out news pain are saying that Mass Shootings are up, you see that trend line is down. They are starting in 2000 that is happened to below years in terms of attacks, about a third of their cases dont involve people getting hurt by gunfire. There is maybe a shot someplace in a public area, that count that as a mass shooting. John why is it mass . You ask the fbi people who put it together. John lets continue the pwhraol berbloomberg argument. Open the door. Get away from him. Put him down. Get out of here. Im taking him. But commercial is odd because the violent exhusband could be an argument for gun ownership, had the woman owned a gun she could have defended herself. Herself. Here is the points, but the man is much stronger than the woman is. The presence of a gun represents a bigger change in her ability to defend herself. Than for a man to do the attack, he is already stronger. You know, if anything, you find is that women benefit more than men from having a gun. John with you threw that at Bloomberg Group saying we should focus on keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abuseers, it makes it 5 times more likely that the woman will get killed. The bloomberg people just cant get them right, if you read the study, if you read the study, it says opposite, women who are separated with guns have a lower prob bill that prob bim happening to them. John just break it down there are a lot of People Killed by guns in in, more than 30,000. Majority of cases suicide. John 19 now. Murder 11,000. A lot of that is gang warfare. Right. John accidental death 591. And for kids, under 15, 74. Still terrible. Better if it was zero but the any is how do we stop them . Surely more police is important but you talk to police they tell you, they cant be there all of the time, the question is, what should victims do when they confront a criminal by themselves, having a gun is the safest course of action to take at that time. John thank you john lot, next, the way some idiots School Administrators react to us idiots in media after we exaggerate crimes. Are you a. John we should have a contest sometime. How stupid are some administrators . In maryland a seventh grader was suspended. He picked up a pop tart, made shooting noises and pointed it at children. John a pop tart. Is it really a threat . What is the school thinking . They said it wasnt a first offense and its unfortunate that his lawyer turned it into a spectacle. But someone should make a spectacle of overreaction like that because it keeps happening. Kids get punished for playing with toy guns even on School Property. The Virginia Beach School System suspended these two students because they were firing this air soft gun near private property. Including my son, hes private property to me. Hes my property and not the schools property and hes on their school bus. John even on School Property i wouldnt think that that would be such a big deal. Patrice tries to keep track of these cases. It is a mean world and we have to make sure that kids get the message. What we are seeing is the culture of alarmism here. We are seeing an overreaction by School Administrators to establish what could be harmful actions on the part of young kid and they have unintended consequences of really harming their students that they are meant to help. John what are these people thinking . A pop tart . They are thinking that that can be construed in the wrong way and another student can feel her by it or fearful of it and then it could cause a Chain Reaction and lead to some sort of losses down the line. John dont they get embarrassed . I rarely hear them that we went through a lot. They dont want to admit that they have come up with a bad policy. They are against communities and individuals and families who should really be the ones deciding what rest for the kid. John even in the Child Welfare bureaucracies, this fox affiliate reporter Bill Anderson reported on a boy who got in trouble. You may have heard the story of 13yearold ethan chaplain who was suspended from school for twirling a pencil. Another student said that the pencil appeared threatening and was symbolic of a gun and ultimately told the teachers. He was suspended in order to go under and psychological valuation. John than the geniuses of the new Jersey Department of children and family stepped in and his father explains what happened then. First they stripped him and they put him in a bed, took everything away from him including his own. And then an hour later they took urine and then five minutes later they to love in which he passed out. And they released him. The school investigated and cleared the young man of any charges and we thought about the end of the case. But then the state steps in and says to the father that we think because he didnt send her child to counseling that there is some sort of harm being done. Now this father is in danger of potentially losing a son. The sad part is there are so many children in new jersey that are in abusive situations and in far worse situations than the terrible loving father like this man. We try to get them to talk to us about this and they said Confidentiality Laws prevent us from commenting. Simply twirling a pencil is not a basis to initiate child protective services. They imply theres other sinister stuff going on. Thats what happens when you stand up against misguided policies. John another one was a sixyearold suspended for using their finger as a gun after playing cops and robbers. And at deaf boy was forced to change its name because his name in sign language resembled a gun. And a georgette child was charged with a felony because he had fishing knives in his car. And another got in trouble for sharing his food . He said why dont you have my much or my burrito, and they said theres a no tolerance policy against sharing food whatsoever. What we are seeing is a reaction because there is a fear that you can pass on terms and infectious disease. Again, overreaction is meant to stimulate us and our children are not at risk. We should be protecting them and not turning them over to the schools. Thank you, patrice. Coming up next, hollywood hypocrites. Columbine, virginia tech. For the children of sandy hey, heart, whats this . Thats my resignation letter. Youre resigning . Why . Because youre constantly ignoring me, youre half as active as you used to be and you eat stuff like this youve been putting me under a lot of pressure, lately. Thats why im ready to quit i forgot ill do better. Please dont quit on me ok, but remember, its not what you say, its what you do. [narrator] listen to your heart. Dont let it quit on you. Lets go for a walk [narrator] uncontrolled high Blood Pressure could lead to a stroke, heart attack or death. T yours to a healthy range before its too late. John i wish that i were cool just because i am on tv. That is why some of us use their celebrity to promote positive messages and in this case, the gun control. Fort hood, oak creek, newtown. For the children of sandy hook. Demand a plan. John okay, they are entitled to their opinion. But many of them are hypocrites. This film critic is here to explain why. Some of the actors in that particular clip had been in other movies where they engaged in a lot of violent activities and they are showing themselves in a glamorous way to look at fighting the bad guys in saving the day and shortly after the lebanese commercial aired, another commercial aired of many actors in this film. Call amount of trans [inaudible] backlit that clip does what the Mainstream Press often doesnt do. It sort of hold them to a higher standard and says that you need to look at what youre doing. They make violent movies because people really want to see violent movies. Does this have an effect . Is there do you think theres too much violence in movies . Does it upset you . I dont know that it really affects people, but lets name a famous hypocrite. Sylvester stallone said we need to be more accountable and realize that this is an escalating problem. Then he went on to make the expendables. And grudge match. They fought only twice, but the tiebreaking blood match never happened. Was just put it this way. I am a people person. [laughter] five years ago matt damon said i dont want to be gratuitous, i do believe that it has an effect in the turndown movies because of that. [inaudible] im a texas ranger. And green zone. And moviemakers are smart. This year Harvey Weinstein says he would be a hypocrite if he made a more violent movie. We have to choose movies that arent violent or as violent as they used to be. I cant make one movie and say this is what i want them and go out and be a hypocrite. He is not a director that we know or quiet intimate chamber pieces but he makes probably the most violent movies in our culture than the movie poster has a trail of love and that is just a hint of it to come. But we see is not and he defends islands says that its an argument to blame entertainers for real violence. This has gone all the way down to shakespeares day,. Release hes not ever critical. He does what he does and you also look back at elvis presley. Now, miley cyrus between songs, she starts her own revolution in the way. Theres a point when we do look at the culture and we compare with the artists are doing, but i also think that as an artist i should think about what my product does and what impact it has. John they are not dumb, they do a because it works. Absolutely, if you compare this to 30 or 40 years ago, its a much different story. And its very violent. I enjoyed it, i can process it, but other kids cant. Pg13 movies have a longrange of a little bit of violence and a lot of violence. On the other hand, much more violence and entertainment and crime is down. John coming up, the studio audience its a quiz our guests and then i will make the case that it is not a mean world but that it is not a mean world but a better world. Yo, bro, you on woowoo . That it is not a mean world but a better world. Are you kidding me . Everybodys on woowoo [elevator bell rings] woowoo . Lock and load, people were going all in on woowoo ok . Mark comp us up a profile page copy susie write us some posts ready grace upload some videos uploading i want sponsored woos. I want targeted woos. We want to be all up in your woowoo feeds gordon register our woowoo handle janice . we need an ethnically ambiguous woowoo mascot. Were cashing in the q4 budget, people, and were buyin some followers hahaha yeah [applause] woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo o yeah [laughing] dude. Are you still on woowoo . Naaaahh, man, my moms on woowoo. Jericho. [applause] john its not such a mean world. That is what my reporting has taught me. But now it is your turn. Here to take your questions includes john from the Crime Prevention research center, patrice and film critic christian toto. First a question from facebook. I guess this is for you, john. Nick says a common counter lopped argument, what is your response . And shows the opposite of what he thinks it shows. There was a big gun buyback and people have gone out about what was before. And what they would predict was an increase in firearms and if anything it has done the opposite. John to the audience. Who is first . What does happen when guns are banned by entire countries. That is a good question. Every single time all handguns have been banned, murder rates go up. Its because the good citizens are the ones that obey the law and turn in their guns and not the criminals. Just as they can bring in illegal drugs, they can bring in the guns that they use to fight those battles. This question is for patrice. Others want to know if theres any substantiative action to correct policies. Is another case where a young woman was banned from her school for overthecounter medicine. And what she did is collect 30,000 signatures and is turning them in to say actually this does not make any sense and for me, i deserve to be rejected just as much. Its just as much about the individuals and parents standing up and when we stand up and reunite together, that causes a lot of change. You have talked about movies but what about video games . They are continually demonized in the media and yet any usage is conflicted at best. Video games are more intensive because youre taking on the ideno games are more intensive because youre taking on the identity of the sh video games are more intensive because youre taking on the identity of the shooter and its not just you watching james bond saving the day, if you shooting. Violent video games is way up when crime is down. Research study says that it is a factor and its one of many factors. There are so many Different Things that come in to play and sometimes you see cases where someone was a mass murderer. But theres a whole bunch of violent video games. That is how complicated this is. Correlation is not causation. My question is i have three small children and i have already bought them rifles and i will teach them to fire these rivals to defend themselves no matter what anyone says. So why are there not more of promotions for the child participates . What i found when i was writing this that eight and nine and 10yearolds who have used guns to save the lives of relatives, the media wouldnt cover those very much. So i called the crime reporters and i said you have one story of a taxi cab driver and this other story of a 9yearold who saved his grandmothers life, a small story in the back of your newspaper. The thought others were worried that if they put g newspaper. The thought others were worried that if they put guns in a positive light with regards to kids, that would make it so that more kids would have access to guns and then they were afraid about this occurring that they would be responsible. John thank you all. Coming up next, why it is a better better world now than ever before. When folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a coincidence. Its one more part of our commitment to america. We live longer now and fewer people die of poverty. There are fewer wars. And despite all of the scary things that we report on right now. And i dont mean to minimize those risks, they are real and these need to be addressed. But for most people and places, the world is blessed mean. Theres something called the belgian syndrome as in this woody allen movie. Nuclear weapons, and drug cartels. Nostalgia is a mile. And it was once considered a disease in this article reports a russian general toward told the troops of the first one to come down with a nostalgic virus will be buried alive and he made good on his threats. Nostalgia the pastnostalgia makes us forgt the past, people died young. Most people my age 50 years ago, people my age were already dead. Suffering and violence were much more prevalent in the air and water were filthy and today the air and water are cleaner and crime is down over the past 25 years, murder dropped by 50 and robberies by 50 , rate by 25 . We complain about todays politicians destroying our freedom and our future and they do with their suffocating rolls and overspending. But in spite of all that the free market has managed to make more of our lives less mean. Most of us have more choice with comfortable lives. Also, if you are black or gay or a woman, america is much less mean than it was. And lets not forget how bad things were for minority groups just a few decades ago. Fifty years ago, few americans worried about terrorism, we worried about Different Things. The population explosion is unstoppable and pesticides will give everyone cancer, the globe is cooling and a new ice age may come. More recently, do you remember the scare of 1999 . Two is it possible that we are in for an International Disaster . Because the worlds computers will be confused . Everyone knows the failure of uncle sams computers will be chaos. When the year 2000 head, all of the airplanes were going to crash because computers cant handle the flow from the dear 1999 and yet you probably dont even remember it. I remember only because i get paid to remember and i report on this stuff and evolution has trained our brains to focus on this today. We forget the problems of the past and get scared with the media hype now. Many say they feel they live in a gloomy world and this fear leads to bad politics. Fearful people are more easily manipulated and controlled and they may accept welcome perception. Today americans accept and even welcome repressive policies that go along with the politicians that try to protect us and we need protection, most of that is government jobs. But the world has not got meaner. And so lets enjoy that and try not to mess it up. That is our show and thank you for watching. The following is a paid advertisement from starvista entertainment and time life. Somewhere beyond the sea bobby darin, frank sinatra, dean martin. Volare whoaoh. Tony bennett, nat king cole, johnny mathis. Its not for me to say you love. Bing crosby, patsy cline, elvis presley. But i cant help falling in love with you