Jimquisition: Desensitized to Violence

[Beryl77]

God dammit, I didn't skip well and caught a glimpse of his lifeless face. Another thing I prefer not to have watched on the internet.

Anyway, one of the few videos where I agree with pretty much everything you said. I hate it that if you asked random people on the street, most of them would know the killers name but barely anyone could even name 2 or 3 of the dead children.

 

[Callate]

I had seen the Budd Dwyer footage before, because I had sought it out in a moment of morbid curiosity. Knowing what it entailed, I skipped it this time, because I had absolutely no desire to see it again.

So, yeah, in that regard, point made.

I do sometimes wonder, though, at the need of games like Mortal Kombat and God of War to keep "upping the ante", if they aren't serving the tastes of gamers who are increasingly jaded about violence. I'm not saying such games shouldn't exist or that they promote real-world violence; I think games should have the same freedom as any other artistic medium, and I don't buy the premise that they promote long-term real-world aggression in otherwise balanced human beings. But I do sometimes wonder that there are so many games that feature the murder of simulated sentient beings, whereas games like Spec Ops: The Line that double back to examine the act are still relatively few and far between.

 

[felbot]

I wasn't actually shocked by the footage, then again i have been to a gore thread so nothing can really shock me at this point.

on topic: i do wonder when the next big media thing will come out, then we may have people stop blaming violence for everything and just blame that thing instead.

 

[Doom972]

I find the movie sad but it didn't shock or really disturb me...I'm wondering if I should be worried about that.

You're not the only one.

OT: I think that this is the first time I completely agreed with him. I always found the news' attitude towards violence much more desensitized: "Some people in some country got slaughtered by a mad gunman. Now for sports".

 

[rofltehcat]

Mearly scrolled down when I realised what was going to happen in that clip. Watched it but was quite nauseated... it is really quite different from violent video games.
Now, I don't care much about the violence in video games either way. I think the violence could be toned down on many games (and doing so and using dev time on other stuff would be much better) but I'm not offended by it either.
And I agree with you. There is quite a difference between video games and real violence. However, there are also people who seem to enjoy both, at least speaking from my experience of receiving rotten links from someone who somehow found that site hilarious and used to text me about how cool blood splashes in some game of his was...

I guess there are people who find both video game and real violence appealing but those are messed up in the head and probably would still be if there weren't any violent video games at all, considering violent some movies/comics/literature are. We don't see those used as scape goats for violence as much, do we? So why should it be "the fault" of video games that some mental people massacre children? Considering the number of "copycats" after said shooting, over-the-top news coverage really seems a much likelier candidate.

 

[Formica Archonis]

How about an oddball data point for you, Jim? I'm not a gamer (for all but the more liberal definitions) anymore. I came to this realization when I saw the "Game of the Year" stuff and realized I hadn't seen any of them anywhere but on this site, that skimming the Escapist front page was my entire involvement with mainstream gaming for the entire calendar year.

The only first person games of any sort I've played in the past five years have been Minecraft and Legend of Grimrock, which definitely aren't Call of Duty clones. (Well, I played Hard Reset for 30 minutes before I realized it was another Painkiller-esque series-of-locked-rooms load of BS and packed it in.) Other than that it's been indie/casual stuff. That's it. And even when I was a gamer, I wasn't really into FPSs. I played a lot of Doom when I was younger, some Deus Ex and Unreal Tournament when slightly less young. But it wasn't really my "thing". I was out of it before the military shooter really took root. I'm probably the closest thing to a non-gamer that you're going to see in your audience.

And honestly, the anticipation was substantially worse than the video. I've seen so many vile things on live news and in real life that an actual death... eh, some discomfort but that's it. The excessive warnings completely oversold it.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't really notable. Perhaps I did get desensitized, but if I did it happened after I stopped gaming.

 

[Atary77]

Not so fun fact: This happened on my fifth birthday since I was born on January 22nd 1982. Yeah... shocked and disturbed.

 

[Eruanno]

Huh, I didn't expect to feel anything after hearing Jim explain what he was going to show. As the clip started, I figured it didn't look so bad, and then he pulled up the gun and I was prepared for what was going to happen... and I still twitched and shouted "OH FUCK" out loud at the actual deed. Well. Guess I'm not completely desensitized either.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

I've got to the admit that I was feeling uneasy just hearing Jim describe what was about to happen and the actual footage I've found to be one most chilling things I've seen. A great point made Jim, real life violence is neither entertaining or glorified.

 

[1nfinite_Cros5]

I am sick to death of outlets blaming games for the disturbed and mentally ill people who make school shooting news. It's as if they think games, movies, comics, and music all had a hand in the death of innocent people. The NRA in particular. To quote Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade: "It's a very odd sort of patriot that would destroy the First Amendment to protect the Second."

 

[UNHchabo]

That's really harsh Cynik; I disagree with him too, but that's no reason to rail on him like that.

People can be afraid of guns without being "just a child". In some cases it can be due to a traumatic personal experience, or just due to a lack of exposure. For anyone who only sees guns in the hands of criminals, it's not that irrational to see guns as tools of the criminal.

The way to fix that is to be a good example of a peaceful gun owner, not to call people names. I'm reporting you myself.

Edit: Fixed typo.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Bravo. Honestly. Bravo.

I'd forward it to my fairly alarmist mother who's somehow convinced that in order to prevent violent shit from happening, all forms of violent shit have to be excised from ALL media. Problem is, she has trouble with some levels of English and some accents. Being from rural Quebec, she's never had to hear a British guy established in the southern States speak. About two thirds of the content would fly right over her head.

Makes me wish we could have a transcription option for videos. I'd totally take some time to subtitle the entire thing if I could.

That said, this was one of the best Jimquisitions ever.

Edit: as far as guns go, I'm terrified of the things. I have a handful of American friends who consider conversation-openers to be forwarded links to this or that tank-buster or one-shot elephant killer, and who then proceed to gush about how freaking awesome it must be to fire that kind of piece.

That just chills me, honestly. My uncle owns a hunting rifle and I treat it like it's radioactive material. If I moved to the States, I'd be the weirdo who flat-out refuses to own a gun.

Closest thing to a piece I've handled is a Laser Tag pistol, so... Yeah.

 

[Feylynn]

A point very well made.

I'm not deeply disturbed by the footage but I recognize it as disturbing. I possess at minimum an inclination to not watch the footage a second time as I did not enjoy seeing it.
That is an incredible number of steps away from the video game parody of violence where I go out of my way to make sure I'm removing every limb in Dead Island and Fallout NV.
When it isn't real violence sure burning things is a grand old time, I get called a pyromaniac all the time for my excellence and enthusiasm about Fire Mages in World of Warcraft, and some other games as well.

I've seen a video of a bunch of stupid kids lighting a dog on fire.
That is not the same thing.
It is not even similar.

 

[kajinking]

I actually watched my father commit suicide when I was 16 in pretty much the same exact manner as the footage Jim played (BTW thanks for the warning).

I'm a very avid gamer who has played literally thousands of hours of various violent videogames starting at GTA 3 when I was 8 and most recently Farcry 3 and Skyrim. Even after all those games that footage was hard to watch with me zooming out and even scrolling the page up and down several times when it was playing.

According to the NRA my years and years of playing videogames should have made me desenatized to it but Jim is right by all accounts. In videogames I've killed thousands of people and only remember those who died in a special manner, when you see someone die in real life even if it's only video like this you always remember it.

There is a weight to seeing a actual human die, to truly know that someone's life is ending, that no known form of media can ever hope to replicate to the point where it doesn't affect you.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

I saw the pre-Escapist episode, so I pretty much knew what was coming, especially when I saw that age verification. It was disturbing then, and it's disturbing now. The point is valid.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

That was, quite simply, brilliant. One of the simplest, best, and most pointed demonstrations of exactly why an apparently self-evidently false argument is wrong.

Bravo Jim Sterling. Bravo.

 

[sbutler1]

I'd heard about the Budd Dwyer thing because it happened the day I was born, but never saw the footage. It's shocking even when you know what's coming.
Another very well done episode Jim.

 

[Igen]

Just my two cents some where deep in the comments.

I skipped the footage. I don't think I can bring myself to watch it. In my mind there is a sharp difference between this footage and what I experience in games. I have played several violent games, of which the mass media claims should have made me the next "Americas most violent." In a game I have no problem killing the bad guy or shooting at those that are shooting back. But to actually cause real harm... I dislike it and avoid it. My aunt once asked me to kill her pet rat, a mercy kill. The rat had a tumor half its body weight. I took the rat outside, let it enjoy a few minutes of sunlight and fresh air, then ended it with a hatchet to the neck. Quick and clean. To this day I still feel guilt and sorrow over ending its life. A rat, that most people wouldn't even think twice about ordering its death. The rat was obviously in pain because of the tumor, and the tumor was wrapped around its spine. A quick death was an act of mercy. I still am troubled by my act of mercy... I still play games like battlefield, amnesia, etc. And I will probably continue to play violent games. But to this day, real violence and harm breaks my heart.

EDIT: It was also my first time meeting the rat, I had no history with it. So to me it was just a rat.