Do you feel uncomfortable watching real people die on video?

[Zeraki]

I still can't watch the Budd Dwyer suicide footage, back when it first came to my attention thanks to Jim Sterling a few years back I had to scroll down because I didn't want to see it. Like Jim said, there's a difference between cartoon violence and real violence, and the latter makes me incredibly uncomfortable.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Extremely. I am completely fine with any amount of gore in fictional things, but having seen one real person die in a video (they didn't actually die I guess, but you see them sustain a horrifying injury that they later die from off camera)), I can say that it's easily the most disturbing thing I've ever seen. By a lot.

I have a very easy time empathizing and connecting with a real person after I've actually seen them. When I read or hear about someone dying in the news, it doesn't bother me. If I am shown a picture of them by the newscaster, it definitely saddens me. Seeing a real person actually die is just really fucked up for me and I hope I never have to see it again (though, I do want to be at a family member's side when they die).

 

[happyninja42]

Yes it bothers me. I don't like watching real death or seeing dead bodies. Never have. I'm to empathetic apparently, as I just don't like to witness the pain/suffering/death of pretty much anything. Human or animal. I think it sucks, and it makes me feel terrible to witness it. It's partly why I'm such a pacifist IRL. I'll defend myself/loved ones if needed, but otherwise, I'll do just about anything to avoid confrontation.

Fake stuff is totally different though, video games or movies is fine, as I know they're fake.

 

[username sucks]

I usually have to stop watching when I see something like that. Even seeing people get injured is too much for me most of the time. I've seen death in real life too, and it's not something I can just get used to.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Of course.

I was accidentally exposed to a gif of someone shooting themselves once and it still kind of haunts me.

It's a big nope to watching people die for me.

Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.

Nope.

I don't know how people can watch that stuff. Is empathy not a thing for these people?

 

[Recusant]

I make a point of avoiding situation where I might have to see something like that. It's not the dying itself, it the hideous indignity heaped on the dead. Growing up as the child of an emergency physician, you very quickly realize just how desensitized that job forces you to make yourself. I understand why it happens, and that's it's completely necessary, but the idea of losing, even temporarily, that kind of empathy absolutely terrifies me.

 

[freaper]

Hell yea it freaks me out. Even "realistic" depictions of violence in works of fiction bother me, I'm looking at you, Game of Thrones.

 

[Phlap]

It's pretty morbid, but after years and years of watching people die in action movies and video games, I'm kinda desensitised to a degree.

I still wouldn't describe watching real people die as pleasant though.

 

[Kerethos]

In my honest opinion there's something disturbing about you if you think the death or suffering of other living beings, human or animal, is fun. You should think about why you delight in the suffering of others. What made you like that? What killed your empathy? Why are you drawn to real misery and death?

I'm fine with horrible things happening to fictional characters though, because I know it's not real. It can still be disturbing, but I know it's not real. However seeing the real thing horrifies me.

Sure, you can get used to seeing people die - especially in some professions - but when you start intentionally seeking it out to watch as entertainment you've crossed the line for me.

I can't even stand videos of people just hurting themselves because they're doing dumb things. I'm far too worried about how hurt the morons get to laugh at their stupidity.

 

[thehorror2]

I didn't realize it did until I saw that Jimquisition episode about video games and sensitivity to violence, but yeah. I do react. Oh boy, do I react.

 

[NihilSinLulz]

I love me some violent video games and movies, but there's a world of difference between fantasy death and real thing. I've seen two people die violently in front of me in my life. One committed suicide by placing his head on some train tracks, the other person was gunned down in a mall. Both left me very uncomfortable in a way that fantasy death rarely does.

I think it's because of how unglamourous it is. The person just has something go missing suddenly, then they fall over, twitch for a bit, then stop moving. A cold reminder of what limited, impermanent beings we all are.

Death videos are a little easier to stomach as the camera does act like a sort of shield, but not by much.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I have only ever seen two real-life people die in videos. One was a documentary on that LA bank robbery shoot out years ago. All the footage I have ever seen on that event (or any event, actually) always cuts out just before you actually seen the dead body. Not this one. It showed the whole thing. Guy put the pistol under his head, pulled the trigger, there was a puff of air that came out from the top of his head, and he went limp. No flying backward, not blood spray everywhere, none of the Hollywood stuff. He just collapsed.
The other was the famous Vietnam execution, where a soldier shoots the tied up Vietcong in the head. That was was much more bloody, as I remember that blood flowed out of the man's head like it had sprung a leak, even when he fell to the ground. It kept gushing for a few moments, then slowly trickled down.

Both were fascinating to be honest, because they were so real. I still remember every detail of each one because they shocked me so much.

But yeah, death makes me uncomfortable in videos. I get upset when fictional minor characters die in TV shows (like the two soldiers Ward and his not-girlfriend killed last week in SHIELD), so I stay far away from real life video deaths.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

As an empathic person generally someone actually dying on video, or in front of me is really disturbing. I used to work in a hotel casino and one night I saw someone jump from a 6 or 7 story tall parking structure one night. That was both really shook me up, and made me really sad for that person, having had their life come to that.

But context is everything. For example: Seeing someone brutally murdered, or commit suicide shakes me on a very deep level. Seeing someone attempt to attack someone else and get killed by the person they're attacking doesn't bother me nearly as much. To the extent that I live in a no bar to carry state, with open carry laws, so I cherish self defence, even if it costs a criminal their lives. This might sound callous, but if you're going to threaten someones life, I won't feel sorry for you if that someone takes your life to defend theirs. I might feel sympathy for the family of the criminal, but I also understand that the right of a law abiding citizen to defend them selves. To that thought if you're gonna cause serious injury, or death to someone in a criminal act, you're forfeiting your life by wilfully endangering someone else.

As per-context, if someone loses their life doing terrible things like the ISIS jerks do, then I'm a lot less affected by it. These people are monsters and they should die. Maiming women, murdering people left and right, forcing children to fight as soldiers, raping, pillaging and more. Each ISIS fighter who dies is doing the world a favour.

If someone dies doing something incredibly stupid and I see it I'll be affected to an extent, but still realize it was their own damn fault. If I didn't see it I'll probably think it was funny, Darwin Award territory you know.

 

[maninahat]

Yes, and I avoid them if I can. I watch a lot of "fail" vids in which people get into painful scrapes - that sort of schadenfreude is bad enough, and though I feel bad for being entertained by this stuff I still keep watching it. Snuff is a whole other ball game.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

There's...an extremely pronounced (duh) difference between fake violence and real violence.

I have some problems with the extremes of the former, but the latter- I don't want anything to do with 90% of it.

Seeing someone die, even if they 'deserve it' like in the case of the ISIS targets that those conservative facebook things keep posting (I have relatives >.> and yeah), is just horrific. I think it speaks volumes about a person if they can watch and take pleasure in the death of another.

I mean, I can watch it. I can see it happen. But it's disturbing as all fuck.

Basic empathy kinda doesn't allow me to not feel revulsion.

 

[sageoftruth]

Can't say for sure. I still haven't witnessed the death of a real person. I get most of my news from the Economist and almost never watch TV news (or TV for that matter), so the odds of me witnessing a real death are pretty slim.

 

[verdant monkai]

For some reason I was watching military videos, and I came across this video where an ISIS fighter blows himself up with a rocket launcher. At first I thought that it would be funny as hell. Then I thought a bit more and realized that this was the death of an actual person, someone with a family and friends. I haven't been affected by death too much, my grandfather died before I was born and no one else, not even distant relations, has died in my family. I ended up not watching it, because watching a man's death to pass the time seemed like a pretty callous thing to do.

What about you? Do you watch these kind of videos for da lulz, or would it make you uneasy like me?

If it was merely the explosive suicide of one Islamic psychopath I probably would find it funny. If it was the any other kind of death I don't think I could laugh.