Jimquisition: Desensitized to Violence

Zeraki

WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOOOOOR!?
Legacy
Feb 9, 2009
1,615
45
53
New Jersey
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Yeah I had to turn my head away from the actual footage there. I learned my lesson when I saw the raw footage of the little girl in China who got run over twice a few years ago. I was shaking for a good hour after that, and was in a very gloomy mood for the next two days. Even now I've got a pit in my stomach and I didn't even watch the actual suicide... I just listened.

Still from what I did watch this was a very good episode, with a very good message behind it. And I agree with you Jim. For someone like me who plays a lot of "violent" games, real violence is something I really would not like to see. My father used to be a heavily active volunteer firefighter... and some of the shit he's seen is just beyond my comprehension.
 

Gallium

Cannon Fodder
May 3, 2011
21
0
0
Too often I have wandered into a modern art exhibit (for my sins) and confronted by the work of some hack who decides that shock is the way to make his pile of corrugated cardboard and masking tape "art". This will usually be the use of unedited war footage and photographs. The result is cheapens any argument the artist is trying to make, it also cheapens the images and events that are used.

So with that, I tip my hat to both Jim and the Escapist for running this video. This is how shock should be used. Thank you.

(As a "keeps himself to himself" 29 year old raised by television and computer games my exact reaction was that horrible bit in my stomach when you experience something truly disturbing)
 

UNHchabo

New member
Dec 24, 2008
535
0
0
Remaiki said:
Eh... I don't remember Jim saying it's wrong to own a firearm. I remember him saying you should be afraid of them, and rightly so. I don't live in the US, and personally, I feel if you own a gun you are mad... ...perhaps not literally so, but it's still not something I'm comfortable with. I imagine Jim meant that you need to be 'afraid' of guns in the same sense as religious people are meant to be 'afraid' of their resident deity - that a gun or deity is powerful, and dangerous.
I took the wording another way; Jim said we should be "terrified" of guns. To me that means more fear than that brought on by simple "healthy respect", which I think is appropriate when dealing with firearms.

Most people, when they first learn to drive, are afraid of everything, and don't like going anywhere near the speed limit. Over time you become more competent, and more comfortable, with having that kind of responsibility. Nobody should ever get complacent with that responsibility, but far more people do with cars than guns.

I own firearms not because I am a violent person, but to defend myself and my family from the violent people in the world. If I ever had to defend myself, I believe that I would feel terrible about it, but I feel it's necessary in order to prevent evil people from using violence to achieve their desired goals.
 

Crazy_Dude

New member
Nov 3, 2010
1,004
0
0
Was wondering why there was an age verification at the start. Never heard of this clip before, it was quite shocking and disturbing to watch a man die.

Needless to say you make an excellent point in this Jimquisition. I am getting tired of the media blaming video games and movies for violence. And the NRA still trying to justify their gun laws after multiple tragic shooting this year. It just makes me sick.
 

barbzilla

He who speaks words from mouth!
Dec 6, 2010
1,465
0
0
Jimothy Sterling said:
Desensitized to Violence

Description: Warning -- Contains graphic content. If you don't want to see disturbing Internet things, skip the footage starting at 1:20 and ending at 1:49.
As the mainstream news media continues to revel in the Sandy Hook shootings, its pundits point at the finger at videogames for reveling in digital violence. If you believe these hypocrites, your gaming hobby makes you cold and indifferent to scenes of death and destruction. If you believe the Jimquisition - and you should, for its word is law - you'll know that's bollocks.

Watch Video
First off;
Thank you Escapist managers for allowing Jim to show this footage. Without the full impact of the footage the point would not have been made.

Secondly:
Jim Sterling, thank god for you. You have managed to show the same proof I've been using in my local community for quite some time. I have been using the hospital trauma ward to show the difference between being desensitized to media violence and real violence. I first discovered this link in my life. I have been an avid video gamer since I was 6 years old, meanwhile my first choice for profession was medical field. This was, of course, prior to any experience. Well I started working in a hospital at 18 years old (got the job because my mom was the nurse manager). I took 6 months and learned all I could about heart waves and obtained a certification in cardiac telemetry.

The hospital placed me in the telemetry station at my local trauma center. The first time I saw a patient come in with half of his head missing, I vomited. Me, the guy who plays violent and gruesome video games for 4+ hours a day. On top of all the violent action and horror movies I watch. I spilled my lunch all over the floor and had to excuse myself from work. I thought that I would get over it, but I didn't. I ended up having to resign from the hospital and move on to the IT field.

My mother on the otherhand is completely desensitized to the real gore, while she can't handle fake gore. My mother had to walk out of braveheart because of the graphic nature of the film. So the reverse is also true, same deal with violence. People who live violent life styles will become desensitized to it, but not those living peacefully.

Anyway, the point is thank god for you Jim Sterling.
 

MB202

New member
Sep 14, 2008
1,157
0
0
I remember an old Jimquisition episode that dealt with the same thing, back before he joined The Escapist. In fact, he used the exact same footage of the politician shooting himself (although it appears to be much more blurry this time around), and I'll admit, I was very, VERY disturbed when I first saw that... It's nice to fall back on this argument since the issue's become relevant again.

Not to mention, this is the second time I had to verify my age to watch a Jimquisition episode... Not to mention, the age verification system was specifically made for Jim's one episode. He's just causing all sorts of trouble! :p

Edit: HOLY FREAKING CRAP, my YouTube comment is in this video! I'm Rubberman202!
 

flarty

New member
Apr 26, 2012
632
0
0
Jimothy Sterling said:
It at least affected you on a negative level. I'm willing to bet those that don't find it disturbing have already been desensitized by some *other* form of vile real-life content. The Internet's pretty full of that stuff!
I wasn't really shocked, but after reading the wiki on the mans life i felt an over whelming sense of sadness, especially for the wife and children he left behind.

Whilst you raise some very good points, i think you could of easily argued against the desensitization of gamers by providing your favorite game of the past year as an example. The walking dead was the hit it was because it made gamers feel a whole lot of emotions for fictional characters, and people should be able to acknowledge that there is a difference in being desensitized and being incapable of being empathetic.

I suppose the point i was trying to make is the majority of violence in video games give you nothing to emphasize with. Making the violent encounters nothing but mindless fun. We all know this is the exact opposite in reality.
 

cynik

New member
Nov 6, 2009
34
0
0
UNHchabo said:
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.
Bear in mind that I did not get harsh because of the fear, I got harsh because I was described as "mad". I am able to get into a resonable discussion on this matter but not when someone goes all piers morgan on me.
 

Knusper

New member
Sep 10, 2010
1,235
0
0
Bleh, I thought I was insensitive to most violence but I didn't have the heart to watch that after the people started screaming at him. Yay for not being a psychopath, I guess :/
 

WanderingFool

New member
Apr 9, 2009
3,991
0
0
The footage didnt shock me all that much, but its most likely because I was expecting it. Had I not been, I would most likely have spit-taked the glass of water I was drinking right onto my laptop.
 

actar411

New member
Apr 14, 2010
53
0
0
I'm not going to lie, I wasn't that shocked from the death because I'm fucked up and think death is interesting, I don't enjoy it however. I do think that suicide is the wrong way out, and that it was very fucked up of him to do that in front of other people. Part of what makes those decisions where you have to kill a fleshed out character so hard for me, such as the Kaidan/Ashley decision in Mass Effect, is that I think of them as my friends (Mind you I don't like Kaidan that much, but still was my friend). What makes killing the enemies in video games so easy is the fact they have no humanity. They have no personality, there is a limited number of skins they have. Too much diversity, and you can start thinking of them as real people and that gets dangerous for the mind. The level I have had the most trouble with is the airport level in modern warfare. It was too much for me. I understand why some people didn't mind killing the civilians, because they weren't actually people, but they were non-hostile and it didn't see right to me. Anyway, death shouldn't be something we are afraid of, but it also shouldn't be something we are comfortable with.
 

Sheo_Dagana

New member
Aug 12, 2009
966
0
0
This reminds me of when some Facebook group a while back proposed a national 'Cease Fire' day for online shooters and such in light of what happened at Sandy Hook, something that I did not participate in because me playing Halo and what happened in Sandy Hook are two completely different things. I don't flinch at violence in video games, but that video that Jim put in made me feel sick to my stomach.

I have been gaming for 22 years now and I play a heck of a lot more video games than the average person, so if the media was right about video games desensitizing me to violence, why am I not a sociopath by now? And it's not like I was an aggressive child back in the day either - I was always bigger than other kids, but was such a pacifist that it made me an ample target for bullying.

The parents and media that ***** about violent video games need to understand the one thing I have always said on the matter; there is a rating system in place for a reason. Don't want your kid to have an M rated game? Well guess what - almost every retailer out there will not sell an M rated game to anyone under the age of 17 with parental PERMISSION. They even say WHY a game is rated M on the back of the case, and if you go to the ESRB's website and look up the game in question, it will give you even more details. For fuck's sake, you can even just pull out your phone and look up a YouTube video of the game!
 

TheMan2203

New member
Sep 14, 2010
63
0
0
Bugger me.
Easily one of the most profound, stark and relevant takes on the subject of videogame violence desensitisationn that I've ever seen and easily the best jimquisition to date.
I've watched all of them on the escapist so far and none of them have made me think like this one.
I think i need to check out your pre-escapist stuff.
Fucking outstanding, carry on Jim.
 

synobal

New member
Jun 8, 2011
2,189
0
0
Ya I skipped, the footage, I can't really deal with that stuff. I can butcher a deer, but humans? No ways. It freaks me out too much I can't even handle some of the scenes in shows like House.
 

InvisibleMan

New member
Mar 26, 2009
93
0
0
Jim is so right on this one. I had seen this footage a long time ago, and it actually runs a bit longer than what Jim showed. One thing Jim did not mention, and what really disturbs me the most about it every time I see this, is the reaction of the people around the scene. First the screams of "don't do it" and then the screams of horror and the crying. That's the kind of thing you don't see in video game violence: the full consequence after the tragedy. And that is why video game violence is so far from real violence... in real life there is no reset button, there is no way to ignore the fact that a real person is now dead or injured, and you rarely see real reactions from the AI or online players around the scene. Every person of any age, gamer or not, is fully conscious about what just happened (unless you are a psychopath, but that's a whole other conversation).
 

Drop_D-Bombshell

Doing Nothing Productive...
Apr 17, 2010
501
0
0
I remember watching that particular clip on the Jimquisition episode before he came to Escapist Magazine. Even now it is still disturbing to me that i did skip the clip as soon as i could. I play a lot of games that have been accused of turning people into killers, and they don't disturb me. That did.

Now i'm gonna say something that you guys might not like. We need to use this clip in testing. Have people who play games enjoy a two hour gaming session, then show the clip. Record the actions. There's our proof.
 
Aug 1, 2010
2,768
0
0
Superb episode, Jim.

I've always felt tha what you said is true, but you managed to put the whole thing into words.

Personally, I wasn't shocked by the footage. But that's because the internet took care of my sensitivity to "real" violence long ago.

However, what little violence I have seen in real life HAS been fairly shocking so there's even another level of knowing what's real and whats on a screen.

One final bitchy note: I resent your statement about how we should be terrified of guns. Enjoying guns is no different than enjoying any other hobby or sport.
 

chozo_hybrid

What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets.
Jul 15, 2009
3,479
14
43
I went hunting once with my uncle, I ended up shooting and killing a rabbit. I was 17, never went out again, I didn't like what I did. I can tell the difference between reality and fantasy violence, like some boys growing up, I got into my share of scraps. I had never seen this footage before, I watched it, and I had a horrible feeling in my stomach as it happened.

This has to be one of Jims best videos, and I just want to thank him for pushing to get the footage shown as it helps prove a point.

synobal said:
Ya I skipped, the footage, I can't really deal with that stuff. I can butcher a deer, but humans? No ways. It freaks me out too much I can't even handle some of the scenes in shows like House.
I had enough nerve to watch the footage, but only because I had never seen anything like it before and I don't think I will again if I can avoid it. As for animals, I can't handle that either.
 

qeinar

New member
Jul 14, 2009
562
0
0
Jimothy Sterling said:
Moth_Monk said:
:( Jim, I was hoping you'd do the gag with the brown paper bag at the end again.
That was a condition of me being allowed to show the footage, although in fairness, I wasn't interested in doing that bit again. I felt it more helpful to just stay on point this time.
Yeah, wouldn't have found you reusing the same gag thagt funny eighter. ^^
Also love it when you put in references to podtoid. xD
 

J Tyran

New member
Dec 15, 2011
2,407
0
0
connall said:
When I saw the age gate I was getting ready for something over the top funny.

I got this. :/
Same here, I saw an age gated Jimquisition and thought "weee this is gonna be a good one" but it was some poor dude driven to suicide on camera. The footage was awful but what really struck me wasn't the actual death it was the camera mans response to quickly zoom in his face, its like he wasn't shocked and was eager to catch every gory detail.