Death on T.V.?

[tino1498]

i was reading that post earlier today about the gunship like in COD 4. i clicked on the link but i couldn't watch it. Videogames are one thing, but watching real people die is entirely different. Like that show,"Destroyed in seconds", who would watch that? people die! Did you know that a man committed suicide online, and nobody bothered to call the cops. Where's the empathy? Don't people care when they see someone die? It's horrible!
what do you think?

 

[tino1498]

yeah but i'm shocked. aren't you?

 

[Jak The Great]

I think to an extent the combination of television, internet and games desensitises us to the point where the brain doesn't see death as shocking anymore.

I don't think that it desensitizes per se, I think that since it's on a monitor we don't recognize it as real. I would bet that if we were there and someone right next to us had his head blown off that there would most certainly be a reaction.

 

[Dudemeister]

Yeah but there's a difference between being shocked and not caring about a person's death

 

[santaandy]

Read 7 Days to Fame (comic book). It's about a suicide game show. It's really disturbing to think that such a thing could happen in real life.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

i was reading that post earlier today about the gunship like in COD 4. i clicked on the link but i couldn't watch it. Videogames are one thing, but watching real people die is entirely different.

Really? I mean the footage is pretty abstracted. It's thermal imagery with a bunch of little dots being blown up... I know, the little dots are people. Well not really, they are just thermal representations of people.

Death and violence are real aspects of life that we are sheltered from due to the facade of civilized society. I actually view the over sensitivity of death as an artificial state. I am not saying that you should be apathetic (I'm not) but being shocked really isn't a sustainable perspective if civility were to fall apart (see New Orleans).

 

[BuddyWeb]

Read 7 Days to Fame (comic book). It's about a suicide game show. It's really disturbing to think that such a thing could happen in real life.

Hi, thanks for mentioning my comic book series "7 Days to Fame." The story I wrote was about a Reality TV show where people go on live TV and webcasts to commit suicide. It got a lot of great reviews when it came out, now it's sort of being viewed as speculative fiction that's coming true.

I'm not going to go all self-promotion here, but I will provide a link:
http://ahpcomics.com/comics/7Days/index.htm

I'd be interested in hearing what people think of the concept.

Buddy
http://www.buddyscalera.com

 

[ThePoodonkis]

<URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_genovese>I think this is less empathetic than seeing someone on TV or YouTube

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

I've been severely desensitized by video games and the Internet. Shows like Destroyed in Seconds don't so much as phase me. Yes, those people did die, but it's not like not watching it happen is going to bring them back.

 

[Mikav]

Everybody on "Destroyed in seconds" Lives. I've seen every episode.

 

[Nurb]

People are wired differently. I was made MORE sensitve to violence since I accidently came across an unedited version of those Iraq beheadings, now I can't watch any torture porn flicks like hostel or saw without getting all nasty feeling. ><

 

[Cheesus333]

I would bet that if we were there and someone right next to us had his head blown off that there would most certainly be a reaction.

I.e: becoming very suddenly saturated with blood and goo.

I wouldn't say it desensitizes us, it's just that it doesn't quite strike you when you can't see or feel it. When you see blood on a screen, it's red pixels and noises through your speaker. When the red mist sets into your eyes and your brain goes "JESUS CHRIST! THERE'S BITS OF THIS GUY ON ME: SOMETHING LOUD AND RIDICULOUS MUST BE DONE!" then you're going to feel the sorrow and the shock.

 

[not a zaar]

The only "desensitization" is to fake violence. Stuff like movies and games. That's why they're always pushing the boundry and taking it farther and farther, because we're just not shocked as much by imaginary violence anymore. REAL violence, however, is completely different. I've spent countless hours playing violent games and watching violent shows/movies, but real violence still affects me deeply. Have you ever seen a news report about the aftermath of a suicide bombing? If not, watch one and then come back and tell me you didn't feel anything.

 

[Gelp]

Oh you people..
Turning into grandma's and such.
I bet you have long conversations with your own grannies about this stuff and I bet they agree with you fully.
Why don't you stop pointing fingers all the time and pull your head out of your vagina.
"Desensitized" is a very common word in the finger pointing industry to violence and stuff.

Look, I've some sort of obsession with death and seeing it, I look at many car accident photos, murder, slaughter, video's of people getting shot in the face.. I have a fascination. It's to the point that whenever I hear about an accident I unwillingly imagine the splattered head on the windshield, or the corpse twisted and knotted up in the wheels of an 18-wheeler. I have dreams of car accidents and people falling off towers, their head splitting realistically on the ground with their brains leaking out.

Actually seeing something happen though, I can say it would shake me up real bad.
Specially if there are other people around screaming.
The only thing that wouldn't hit me so bad would be the gore, but there's nothing bad about that.

I think you people just don't understand enough about life and death to know what feelings are ok and what can be considered mental illness like, and where these feelings come from..
If you can beat and torture an animal, then I suggest you be checked out.
Actually no, I want to beat your head in with a bat.

 

[Lt. Dragunov]

Well people are violent deep down so I would'nt be surprised if people get joy out of seeing other people die. I have a friend who laughs at people dieing like it the funnyist thing, I realy don't understand it but hey thats him not me.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I think to an extent the combination of television, internet and games desensitises us to the point where the brain doesn't see death as shocking anymore.

Possibly, but the only people I've ever seen die live on TV were Roland Ratzenburger and Ayrton Senna, both killed at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix on consecutive days. They've stuck in my head pretty permanently.

I think most people who find death amusing do so because they can't empathise with what is actually happening or the people it will affect.

 

[Gelp]

Well people are violent deep down so I would'nt be surprised if people get joy out of seeing other people die. I have a friend who laughs at people dieing like it the funnyist thing, I realy don't understand it but hey thats him not me.

Hey, if someone gets his head smashed in while taking a shit, or shits himself while getting smashed in the head.. that's hilarious..
You can find humor in anything like death, when you're not seeing it in person.

 

[fedpayne]

Well people are violent deep down so I would'nt be surprised if people get joy out of seeing other people die. I have a friend who laughs at people dieing like it the funnyist thing, I realy don't understand it but hey thats him not me.

Hey, if someone gets his head smashed in while taking a shit, or shits himself while getting smashed in the head.. that's hilarious..
You can find humor in anything like death, when you're not seeing it in person.

No... no it's not hilarious. Japanese people getting scared on youtube, that's hilarious. Little kids riding their little bikes too fast into bushes, that's hilarious. Tina Fey? Hilarious. Nothing about your post is hilarious.

 

[PirateKing]

Violence in games and movies don't really bother me. I did recently cringe at a scene in Pan's Labyrinth where a guys face is beaten in with a glass bottle. I can't handle seeing real world violence though. I saw the footage of Kennedy getting shot about two years ago and I couldn't handle it. Real violence is more gruesome than anything I've seen in a game or movie.

 

[Gelp]

No... no it's not hilarious. Japanese people getting scared on youtube, that's hilarious. Little kids riding their little bikes too fast into bushes, that's hilarious. Tina Fey? Hilarious. Nothing about your post is hilarious.

You just look at it too seriously, yes, it's tragic, but it is what it is, it's a guy who died taking a dump. If say, it were an intentional, undeserved and violent act with 10 guys wielding baseball bats, then I'd say you're right. But an extremely cruel twist of fate?
But yeah, looking over what I said I'll admit it sounded rather harsh. I tend to assume everyone understands what I say the way I see it.
And by hilarious I also mean something along the lines of "awwwhawhaww man that sucks"

It depends on what you're seeing, don't automatically assume that something I find funny which revolves around death, suddenly means it involves the obvious suffering or torture of someone. Head smashed in doesn't have to mean it was intentional.

But hey, I see death just like I see life, it happens, sometimes it's funny.