Can reality shock you anymore?

[BuchVecny]

Guyz im wondering, anytime im watching the news.... all sorts of people get killed blacks whites poor rich... and i find myself just not caring. It is just strange. Im writing this because i just came from Persepolis, cartoon movie about iran and iran war etc... That shocked me. I actually dropped a tear. A tear at hand drawn tanks.

[Dunecat]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apathy

[BuchVecny]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apathy

I dont think im apathy infected person. I actually do help unknown persons on street. Just the death messages on TV doesnt make me do anything.

[paokmam]

Guyz im wondering, anytime im watching the news.... all sorts of people get killed blacks whites poor rich... and i find myself just not caring. It is just strange. Im writing this because i just came from Persepolis, cartoon movie about iran and iran war etc... That shocked me. I actually dropped a tear. A tear at hand drawn tanks.

You are right...That is what happens to all of us...We should try and realise what is happening in the world....

[Spurius]

Sounds flippant, but maybe stop watching depressing news. It does not add anything.

Same as I could visit a hospital and go for the neonatal department or the cancer ward.

Choice is yours. Without trying to diminish the amount of misery in the world, focusing on it (by watching news repeating it over and over + they focus on the bad stuff *for you*, good news is no news) doesn't change a thing.

It will only depress the bejeses out of anyone after enough time.

[Bovril]

I find it hard to get worked up about things I can't change (didn't used to). But I do try to live my life in a socially conscious way, and I keep my fingers crossed that other people will do the same.

[Chaigidel]

Im sure something could still shock you.

[Bovril]

I think the news is presented in quite a sanitised and ultimately unshocking way. If you want to be shocked watch Al Jazeera's reporting of the Iraq war. Its never possible to watch a small child being burned by phosphorus and not be shocked.
The things that shock me on a day to day basis are the stories my mum brings home from work. She's a crown prosecutor, and deals with quite a lot of child abuse cases. I can never really get over how people can prey on children in the way they do.

[The Good]

I'm shocked most of the time when I see what terrible things happen on the news channels. I mean, things like, "Ten U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq due to their vehicle's explosion. Now, to you John, for our Weather Report," get me mad, because the news reporters show little sympathy, they also seem expressionless most of the time, unless it is for the funeral of a President or the Pope.

Society as a whole is getting very desensitized by the news, fifty years ago, if you were to tell an audience on telivision that some soldiers have died, or police in a small town died, the viewers would probably be more emotional or shocked about it. I'm not completely sure, but I think thats what happened back when the news was focused mostly on non-voilent news.

[The Prophet]

I'm shocked most of the time when I see what terrible things happen on the news channels. I mean, things like, "Ten U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq due to their vehicle's explosion. Now, to you John, for our Weather Report," get me mad, because the news reporters show little sympathy, they also seem expressionless most of the time, unless it is for the funeral of a President or the Pope.

Well its called "doing a job".

Perhaps you are young.

[The Good]

Well its called "doing a job".

Perhaps you are young.

True, they have a job to do, but one should be sympathetic, and acknowledge the true meaning of a situation. I'm not suggesting that someone should cry when talking about the President or Pope's funeral, but should have a slight frown, and a lower tone of voice. That would be ideal.

[The Prophet]

They have to report almost everyday about some lives being lost in Iraq or Afghanistan... its only natural to become desensitized.

[Lord Condormanius]

I know it sounds trite, but people have become much more desensitized to violence. And many of you may not agree, but I find ignorance and apathy* to be quite common among people from all walks.

And yes, LJ, if someone started crying while reading the news on TV, that someone would very likely be working somewhere else the next day. But not just that...by the time you see them reading the story, it is probably the 20th time or so that they have read it. I imagine that the shock value wears off. Especially when they are reading those kinds of stories night after night.

* ...and what is the difference between ignorance and apathy? I don't know and I don't care.

[Irishman]

I don't get shocked anymore, yet I am routinely disgusted by what I see and the level of general hate which is expressed in everyday life.

[Richard]

'Dozens of people dead in Algerian bomb attacks; Richard finds himself not being upset.'

Of course, if I were actually there, I would be upset. Hell I get upset when I see a dead cat on the road.

[CyberFist]

Sure I can be shocked still. And I used to be an Ogrish and gore fan.

The other day I saw this crowd (on vid) tie a man by the arms between 2 4WDs and then celebrate as a car revved up and ripped his arm out at the socket. The pain on the guy's face was....just....indescribable......then they all cheered etc as the jeep which had the majority of the body attached to it sped off, dragging the poor fellow behind along the concrete.

I was shocked and enraged. I imagined myself being there with an M-16 and letting a bit of steam off into the crowd. And not many things do that to me these days quite frankly.

Not to mention the Russian Nazis beheading some poor bloke in a forest.....which was so graphic and gory, and the sound effects so repulsive, that it left the muslim extremist terrorist beheadings looking like a Barbie pageant.

Also some of the things in Chechnya.....

Conclusion: Sure I can be shocked still. I am no psycho/sociopath.

[Sidmen]

The first time in a long time that I was shocked was when my cousin started spouting the N word left and right (in the most racist way possible)... I kindly pointed out that he was a piece of white trash that hasn't paid his child support in years and left...

[Kiki52]

I think too much exposure to media and news does make you desensitized. It desensitizes me, like when I hear some US soldiers blow up in Iraq I don't feel sad because I hear it too often. I think our brain naturally tries to desensitize you so that you won't feel so bad all the time. Otherwise we'd become psychotic. However, I do not think that just because you are desensitized to violence or bad things doesn't mean that you don't care for human life anymore. I never seen a real person die in real life before my very eyes (thank God) and hope I would never have to. Like if I saw a small girl being mauled by a bear I would be shook up for quite a long time.

[CyberFist]

I don't think being desensitized to media will ever desensitize a person to real life, unless of course it was programming from birth. A car crashed outside my house about a decade ago and there was a dead woman in the car. I hardly remember looking at her because there was another woman alive and making noises and it freaked me the **** out. Thankfully a man experienced in trauma came along and took control of the situation, as I was basically useless. I also saw a pregnant woman being given CPR at a school swimming carnival. The entire school watched. She died. As desensitizing as media may be, it never prepares a person for the reality of death in their own personal experience.

I have cried when a person I have not seen for a long time has died. And yet I can look at death on the news pretty much unaffected.

[Sidmen]

Seeing people die sucks, and no amount of desensitization would prepare you for how absolutely awful it is. Even if it isn't violent its just absolutely horrid. Its more to do with how when you hear about someone dieing in Iraq, they never existed in any way to you, but when you see the person, he exists and there is nothing you can do to get his death out of your mind... (from a kid who watched his dad have a heart attack and die)