Blog #31 - Caring About Death

     I decided to do my paper about desensitization to death. By desensitization to death, I am referring to the ability with which we are able to watch and hear about people dying with absolutely no emotional repercussions. In a real life setting, the media constantly reports the deaths of people in a very calm setting. A newscaster can talk about how many thousands of people died without changing tone from discussing the latest football games. Even when discussing specific deaths, the news tends to focus on the implications of the death, as opposed to expressing any sorrow for the loss.

      The fictional setting may be an even greater culprit. Movies nowadays show people realistically getting killed by the hundreds. Unless it's a main character, people simply don't care about the deaths onscreen. In War of the Worlds, we watch several people get turned into ash as the main character tries to escape. I may be different, but I found myself not caring and only rooting for the main character to escape the death ray. Video games are also a potential cause for desensitization. As shooting games try to reach the highest level of verisimilitude, we are actually able to feel the gun in our hands, and kill people onscreen over and over.

      Although this may seem like a terrible situation, would it be better if it wasn't true? To express guilt and sadness over each death may be a huge burden in today's world. In older times, it was more acceptable due to the close-knit communities, where you relied on the other people and were able to feel a greater loss. Nowadays, where we are in contact with all 6 billion other people, it would be emotionally devastating to feel for all of them. But despite that, is it really okay to look at death with such uncaring eyes?