Desensitization?

They say humanity is being desensitized by violent video games, movies and such. But when u look into history you see that obviously it is far from. From the romans having criminals compeat in the coliseum, in south America before Europeans came there was a sport that involved bashing a ball between 2 teams, the lousing team was killed. most nursery rimes you will hear are violent, from the snoring man falling out of bed (dies), ring around the rosie (the black death), and so forth. So are we really being desensitized or are we just lousing sight of our past?

Of course, most people that would howl at video games corrupting our young ones (corrupting most people generally) are merely using video games as a convenient scapegoat to pass the buck for most violence still found within society. Before video games, wasn't it hippies and rock and roll that was driving people into the arms of anarchy and immoral acts? I really laugh at people like Jack Thompson who believe games are the bane of humanity, especially when many things were actually more violent in the past before any of these existed. I'm sure that it was Manhunt that encouraged Hitler to go after the Jews, really.

Still, on the topic of desensitization, that's a good topic. I don't think we're either losing sight of the past or becoming dehumanized/desensitized, rather more educated or knowledgeable of the world around us. We hear daily stories occurring from places that we never even knew existed years ago, from little girls being kidnapped in Portugal to the latest tsunami hitting some far away civilization that requests aid and donations. Such stories become more and more familiar; we’ve heard them all before and simply just aren’t as bothered any more, that is, until something happens near us specifically.

^ Excellently put. I never even thought about it that way.

Anyway, the sort of people who claim that violent games/films/god knows what else is making us violent are narrow-minded gits, to put it delicately. Every generation looks at the next and blames some arbitrarily chosen factor that wasn't present during their own upbringing to blame for the world's problems, probably a subconcious attempt at shifting the blame from themselves, the people who raised us. Every generation seems to do this, and oneday we probably will too.

Originally Posted by Asmodeus

Of course, most people that would howl at video games corrupting our young ones (corrupting most people generally) are merely using video games as a convenient scapegoat to pass the buck for most violence still found within society. Before video games, wasn't it hippies and rock and roll that was driving people into the arms of anarchy and immoral acts? I really laugh at people like Jack Thompson who believe games are the bane of humanity, especially when many things were actually more violent in the past before any of these existed. I'm sure that it was Manhunt that encouraged Hitler to go after the Jews, really.

Still, on the topic of desensitization, that's a good topic. I don't think we're either losing sight of the past or becoming dehumanized/desensitized, rather more educated or knowledgeable of the world around us. We hear daily stories occurring from places that we never even knew existed years ago, from little girls being kidnapped in Portugal to the latest tsunami hitting some far away civilization that requests aid and donations. Such stories become more and more familiar; we’ve heard them all before and simply just aren’t as bothered any more, that is, until something happens near us specifically.

But can that be a good thing?
I mean, i can't deny it. Something is feeding an insensitive standard here in america. Popular culture has to be the most annoying beast I have encountered in this life. It is standard to not give a ****, it is standard even to act coldly to hard situations such as death and suicide.
Maybe I am one in a million, but I am knocked breathless and in wonder by the things people just see outside daily. The sky, the flowers and smells. Yet, that also means I am sensitive to some of the more horrifying things as well.
I mean, am I the only one who sees it? Does nobody else feel disgusted by the absolute decay that handfuls of our society here and there seem to be wallowing in?

The thing that feed insensitivity is the apparentness of the stupidity inolved in the mirage of political correctness. Thats what drive my apparent insensitivity. Video games have nothing to do with it. They help me to visualize violent thoughts but thats all, I would never be about to replicate something I saw in a video game, I am not so stupid as to do perform such an act of lunacy.

This is a feeble atempt for bad parents to convince themselves that they aren't to blame.

Also, society is only decaying if you look at the bad side, which there is much less of.

Originally Posted by OubliantLeSang

But can that be a good thing?
I mean, i can't deny it. Something is feeding an insensitive standard here in america. Popular culture has to be the most annoying beast I have encountered in this life. It is standard to not give a ****, it is standard even to act coldly to hard situations such as death and suicide.
Maybe I am one in a million, but I am knocked breathless and in wonder by the things people just see outside daily. The sky, the flowers and smells. Yet, that also means I am sensitive to some of the more horrifying things as well.
I mean, am I the only one who sees it? Does nobody else feel disgusted by the absolute decay that handfuls of our society here and there seem to be wallowing in?

I'm not really sure, it's up to the person in question to consider it either a good thing or a bad thing, especially as it's usually individualistic in question. I'm not from America, but it seems to be a standard in most places where we hear about news from all over the world on an everyday basis. The media, popular culture, socities standards, it all seems to play a part, and perhaps something is feeding this 'insensitivity' we're seeing. I don't see decay within society, rather a sad sense of... complacency, if anything else. It's surreal, a horrific sense of curious fascination where most people are complacent about even the most horrific of situations, where they believe something like that would never happen to them.

For instance, there was a case in the UK back in May 2007, where a little girl named Madeline McCann was kidnapped in Portugal. Now a little girl going missing is something that when it happens, usually kicks up a media storm. The theme's even got a particular name, and usually serves well for positive attention in the media: Missing white woman syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It's not an uncommon scenario, and one that most people, especially parents would dread. Add the fact that it was a wee blue-eyed blonde that would most likely be the perfect target for a sick ****, and you have yourself a story.

Most people would be sympathetic, but the trouble was went the story just went on and on for months without much actually happening at all, with daily 'discoveries' being made where the parents were regarded as valiant heroes searching endlessly for their precious child, and the next day they were shrouded in the sinister light of 'possibly' bumping off their own flesh and blood with stories of her blood being found in their car or a trained sniffer dog 'acting strangely' in their holiday apartment. Eventually this dragged on for months, with fingers being pointed in all direction and everyone involved seeming to lose sight with where the little girl was and nobody knowing what the hell happened to her. In the end, most people just... switched off. It was obvious in the end that the media was just pumping out the stories like an overused cash cow for profit rather than concern for the girl who was, and is still missing.

Perhaps it is cold, perhaps even insensitive, but in the long run, people seem to lose sight that these things are actually happening, that this suffering is real. But it's not happening to them, so it just doesn't... matter so much.

Looking at society, and the history of the world, I think that despite all that's said about everything, we are not being "desensitized" to violence and such.

Just the opposite, actually. It seems to me that society in general is becoming overly sensitive about violence and the like. I mean, sure, they mention in the news frequently "x amount of people died in Baghdad today..." and no one really bats an eye. But, I ask you this: Have people ever? I mean, seriously, think about it. Groups of people die thousands of miles away that the listeners never met. Have people ever been moved by it much? I have my doubts.

America used to be isolationist, recall. That means completely ignoring violence and such overseas (read: World Wars).

For whatever reason, the social order has been moving to try and make everything all "happy lovey dovey" or some such garbage, where school is non-competitive, anything that's even a whisper of anything remotely violent is hushed or shunned or what-not.

Society is not being desensitized.

One thing I notice is that the ratings for movies change. Back in the day, certain things that were rated R, seem almost like PG movies now. Movies are getting more violent, adding more sex, more gore, language, or whatever. People are slowly getting used to these things and so the ratings are changing. I personally don't like that because that means peoples standards are lowering. I don't usually watch R rated movies and if I do, its clean flixed, because I don't need all that other crap to enjoy a movie. I fear for future movies; its only going to get worse. Not sure if this fits the topic, but the fact that we are getting more tolerant to what used to be very serious things, tells me that we are being desensitized.

All societies.

All societies, have glorified violence. Post-christianity western societies, that is. Eastern culture has had a tendency towards sex. It's just a natural thing. The single most powerful emotion in the human 'arsenal' is Lust. Lust for sex or for blood. We crave it, we're happier with lots of it.

Like Akira said, society (particularly Western) has become ultra-sensitive in its modern period.

Rather than some abroad cases, think of local tragedies. I find that all local tragedies, particularly school shootings, are screamed from all mountaintops; when three teenagers died in a car accident at my high school, it seemed like the whole school was in mourning. The principal offered a period of silence in the morning announcements. Now, two years later, there is still a wall filled with cards and such that is dedicated to their memory.

And school shootings can be heard from across states. The fact that I even know what "Columbine" means is testament to this: it happened in Colorado. I live in Pennsylvania. Some serial killers become known nation wide, and many others are broad-casted on TV being put away. Particularly in America, though the rest of the world may be decieved, there is a severe distaste for war of any kind. We mourn for the loss of 4,000 American lives when hundreds of thousands were killed in previous wars.

I mean, there is so much violence in our history, that to say we are currently desensitized to violence, when much of the world is in its most non-violent period of all time...cannot be correct.

I'd have to say that it is true that the media, along with the government and parents seem to believe that Video games are the ultimate reason for school shootings and violence. thing is it's not exactly the movie, game, or book that causes the violence, it's the persons decision to act in violence and the fact that everyone is encouraging it. At this period of time school is one of the most dangerous places to be in. Kids get tormented everyday by the school bully and parents and teachers won't even do anything about it because they don't think it's possible for that to happen when in fact it's the main cause of school shootings and the public doesn’t even know. Why is it that the government will crack down on the video game industry for making a violent game when we have alcohol and cigarettes that will actually kill people? When it all comes down to it, it feels like politicians are being moronic fools in blaming one particular thing in causing violence in society. Violence will always happen and freaking out about it won't solve anything. What the government and parents don't seem to understand is that there is no clear definition of violence to get upset about. When someone hits another person that's violence, even if it is playful it's still violence, but do we make a big deal about it? No not at all.
I was exposed to violence at an early age, such as watching Power Rangers which is violent for kids to watch, only I'm not a violent person, in fact I'm a pacifist and I've never purposely hurt anyone or want to. Needless to say that doesn’t mean I won't defend myself or the ones I love. I see violence everyday and it doesn’t effect me, I play Halo 3 all the time, but does that mean I want to go through the school and shoot my fellow classmates? Not at all. It's not always the media that encourages violence, but it can also be our parents and friends. Sure my school district has been pushing non violence in school but does that stop it? no.

Originally Posted by Holic

Every generation looks at the next and blames some arbitrarily chosen factor that wasn't present during their own upbringing to blame for the world's problems, probably a subconcious attempt at shifting the blame from themselves, the people who raised us. Every generation seems to do this, and oneday we probably will too.

That is a very true point. A lot of people including myself blame people in the past for what they’ve done to other people or the Earth, thing is they didn't know any better, but it doesn’t mean I can't do everything in my power to make the world a better place for my future children, and to do that I can't go along blaming other people for their mistakes.
The people who are complaining about how video games are so violent aren't even looking at the big picture. It’s not the video game in question, it's our minds. If you asked a gamer what his or her favorite game is they're probably not going to say "little Billy goes to muffin town" they're probably going to say Halo 3, Gears of War, Mass Effect, ect... because who can think a game with out a tiny bit of violence is fun? Not very many people can be entertained by games that are completely puzzles they want a fix to a somewhat primal instinct of carnage and the possibility to be close to death but in the same way not. Any video game, book or, movie can teach you life lessons, not every enemy on the battlefield is going to let you live and you can’t just walk up to the enemy and go “hey guys let’s talk this out” because more often then not their going to probably kill you in mid sentence, and it’s the same in first person shooters, you’re not able to sit down with your enemy and convince them that fighting is wrong. They’re computer codes that are programmed to fight against you and there’s no way that they are going to spare your character from dieing, so you can either stand there and let your character die over and over again, quit playing video games, or fight back.
It also doesn’t help the fact that citizens are able to posse’s firearms. Guns are the ultimate form of power and what do humans want? Power, so naturally little Jimmy who’s been torment by the school bully and can’t take it anymore will want a source of power and he remembered that his father puts his revolver in the bed room dresser so now Jimmy can steal it and use it to stop the bully and anyone else that is going to hurt him (anyone who he sees as going to hurt him), See now that Jimmy is now in blind rage and despair he has 2 options, either end his own life or end someone else’s. School shootings aren’t caused by video games it’s caused by people, by ourselves.