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141 Comments
- eco57, on 11/18/2008, -7/+91What violence in media is the author talking about, exactly? Suicide bombings just merit a paragraph or two on an inside page in the paper now. Hell, we haven't seen ENOUGH violence. Show us a few pictures of shot up marines or the dismembered corpses of Iraqi or Pakistani women and children and we'll be out of there in 6 months, tops.
- inactive, on 11/18/2008, -13/+59When history continues to validate the belief that our
fiery goo crawls out of it's petri dish shaking it's defiant
fist at GOD, men becomes a little apathetic !
When,
Doctors destroy health,
Lawyers destroy justice
Universities destroy Knowledge,
Governments destroy freedom,
Major media destroy Information,
and
Religion destroys spirituality.
People become a little apathetic ! - zheisey, on 11/18/2008, -2/+34^ What he said
- Albionshores, on 11/19/2008, -0/+25Nice Michael Ellner quote.
Like it.
"Just look at us. Everything is backwards. Everything is upside-down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroy information, and religion destroys spirituality."---Michael Ellner
http://www.riprense.com/quotatious.htm - PoizonFrog, on 11/19/2008, -1/+26Turn off the TV...seriously. Tap out of the consumer mindset and reclaim your life.
- RobotBuddha, on 11/19/2008, -0/+23Pft, humans have 'never' cared about people outside their direct experience. If you cared, I mean actually cared about a stranger dying you'd be insane within minutes of realizing the sheer amount of suffering that goes on every second of every minute that humanity has been on the planet. We're a tribal species that evolved to only care about the people around us, and the rest of the species only on an abstract level.
- AdeleMor, on 11/18/2008, -3/+22while this isn't necessarily a new concept, it's important to regularly renew this conversation in order to stir the empathy we've all guiltily failed to muster for distant troubles
- lennybird, on 11/19/2008, -0/+18I am so pissed our government is restricting photos/videos of our soldier's coffins, or even live footage. That's not reporting or journalism. You asked for war, now take the consequences instead of covering it up.
I wasn't alive during Vietnam, but from what I understand, they showed live footage of firefights, etc. That stuff hits hard. It may not be pleasing to watch, but it's a wake-up call for many Americans. I guess I'm paraphrasing what Eco57 said, but it just pisses me off... - inactive, on 11/18/2008, -1/+19I am ambivalent about the "over saturation" of violence, specifically in association with his premise.
We see ZERO violence from Iraq or Afghanistan. A number in a 20 second news report does not reflect the actual violence. The author talks about being numb to the killing, but he doesn't ever SEE any of the aftermath. We have been very purposely shielded from the horror of war, making it easy for the uninitiated to become "numb" or uncaring. - MalarkeyPN, on 11/18/2008, -1/+17This is the most pathetic article I've ever read. The author is either a) complaining about having to hear about all the bad stuff in the world or b) trying to make his readers feel guilty for not feeling bad enough about all the bad stuff. Well ***** that. What a whiner.
Here's the real deal people. When you listen to the news and hear about a terrible tragedy, you are not morally obligated to feel bad. You are not even obligated to listen. You don't have to keep a running tally and light a candle for every Iraqi that gets blown up in Baghdad. You don't even have to feel the slightest tug at your heartstrings. In fact you don't have to feel anything that you don't honestly, genuinely feel. You have a choice: either do something about it or don't. But if you're just going to complain about the fact that you have to hear it, you'd be better off changing the channel. - inactive, on 11/19/2008, -0/+15FDR was a mean wheel chair hunter, he off-roaded in that bitch.
- Hetman, on 11/19/2008, -0/+15My monkey brain can only really care about like 5 people. And their are like 6 billion in the world. Yea I can see why we would have technical difficulties when it comes to getting along.
- mikbunn, on 11/18/2008, -0/+15I believe you're thinking of Teddy.
- S7aind, on 11/19/2008, -2/+16...your first one was better.
- ColBuendia71, on 11/19/2008, -0/+13"One death is a tragedy. One million is a statistic."
- Joseph Stalin
I think I read something in a class on this once; it's hard to have any concept of people's pain outside your immediate circle. I agree that we need to step outside our immediate community and care, but let's not act like it's a modern problem or that it's really even a natural thing to do. - thepoliticalcat, on 11/18/2008, -1/+14The problem is that the web of life is precisely that -- a web. If enough of the links in the web are gone, the whole web falls apart. We are a part of the web. Our lives will not be miraculously saved if the rest of the fragile web crumbles. This is what is meant by the concept of "ecosystem."
- asgardshill, on 11/19/2008, -2/+14Even some newsworthy photos like the endless stream of body bags with American troops in them coming back from the Middle East would help. But no, with Bush still in power, you are censored from seeing those.
- thecatcantalk, on 11/19/2008, -2/+14Who cares?
- NinaOdell, on 11/18/2008, -2/+12Wow, that was deep for so early in my morning...
- S7aind, on 11/19/2008, -3/+13Yeah right. Even if they showed that, and the public got angry, it wouldn't make much of a difference.
- RogueGenius, on 11/19/2008, -0/+9I have to agree with the masses here. We aren't seeing any violence from Iraq or Afghanistan. The media and the administration have conspired to give us a sanitized view of what it happening there. We see lots of guys with guns, some pretty airail photos of bombings, but not bodies, no wounds, and no flag draped coffins. The subconscious message is clear: nothing to see here move along and let us handle it.
- inactive, on 11/18/2008, -3/+11The pit never stops digging,
that's why its so deep !
ha ha ha.....
Some times I even impress myself !
Life without a since of humor is slow suicide ! - uncleosbert, on 11/19/2008, -1/+9it's not the tv. cracked has a much better theory:
http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysp ...
take some pride in being a human. it's always been this hard. - Bodhinature, on 11/19/2008, -0/+7You have to know how it is before you can tell how it is...
- mikbunn, on 11/19/2008, -0/+7Introducing the 2009 Rascal Rover 4x4! Extreme mobility with optional Rhino Rack and motor snorkel!
- wunksta, on 11/19/2008, -0/+7the primate brain dictates the amount of people within the "circle" that the individual cares about, its not many
http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysp ... - deadapostle, on 11/19/2008, -3/+10Digg's oversaturation of ***** articles left me caring less about reading this one.
- Arghblarg, on 11/19/2008, -0/+7The US government and military will NEVER allow the real horror to be presented on TV again, ala Vietnam. They know darn well how it affected public opinion. Hence the ban on filming caskets coming home, etc.
- aenima987, on 11/19/2008, -0/+7"You asked for war, now take the consequences instead of covering it up."
You're asking them like they're normal non-*****. - SpacePoet, on 11/19/2008, -0/+6I was watching BBC America this morning and they were showing parts of a British show that follows soldiers in Afganistan. These people are fighting one minute and bawling their eyes out the next when they see some of the horrible things happening to their men and civilians. It is an absolute travisty that our government hides us from the atrocities being carried out in our name every day in the Mid East. As an American i am ashamed at my fellow men who seem like pussies of the highest order, pretending everything in the world is just fine. Here's American Gladiators...your government is in complete control...
- TheR3dMenace, on 11/19/2008, -0/+6The internet is probably the wrong medium for an article about empathy
- sodade, on 11/19/2008, -0/+6"Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception." ---Mark Twain.
- uncleosbert, on 11/19/2008, -0/+6it's one of my favorites too. i think the point was not that we can't make the world a better place, but that we have to also take time to appreciate it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SAE_NaLRKQ
or, like e.b. white said, "I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day." - Kosh, on 11/19/2008, -0/+6"It is the one great weakness of journalism as a picture of our modern existence, that it must be a picture made up entirely of exceptions. We announce on flaring posters that a man has fallen off a scaffolding. We do not announce on flaring posters that a man has not fallen off a scaffolding. Yet this latter fact is fundamentally more exciting, as indicating that that moving tower of terror and mystery, a man, is still abroad upon the earth. That the man has not fallen off a scaffolding is really more sensational; and it is also some thousand times more common. But journalism cannot reasonably be expected thus to insist upon the permanent miracles. Busy editors cannot be expected to put on their posters, "Mr. Wilkinson Still Safe," or "Mr. Jones, of Worthing, Not Dead Yet." They cannot announce the happiness of mankind at all. They cannot describe all the forks that are not stolen, or all the marriages that are not judiciously dissolved. Hence the complex picture they give of life is of necessity fallacious; they can only represent what is unusual. "
~G K Chesterton - roddack, on 11/19/2008, -0/+6If you want Empathy go talk to Sylar
- deadapostle, on 11/19/2008, -1/+7I can empathize with a female rape victim and I am a male.
- iticu, on 11/19/2008, -0/+5Ender, did you just rant that people should get off their asses and do nothing?
I'm confused now. - Caligustyle, on 11/19/2008, -0/+5This is just wrong. Not only is society as a whole not getting less emphatic, its actually getting more emphatic. Say what you want but even the worst examples of apathy today are a drop in the bucket when you look at it historically. 60 years ago very few people cared about segregation. During WWII, nobody complained about the racist portrayals of Germans and Japanese in US propaganda, but today even Bush, who's not exactly known for being especially compassionate, went out of his way after 9/11 to say that Islam is a nation of peace. Even if he only did it out of political correctness, it still goes to show that are values are becoming more liberal; war is now justified on humanitarian grounds as a matter of course, even Iraq. More than anything else though this is flawed because it gives no evidence that humanity was ever any better (where's the 18th century relief missions? the outcry towards 17th century human rights abuses?). Maybe we aren't good, but we certainly aren't any worse so quit badmouthing society, punk.
- Smokeydabear, on 11/19/2008, -0/+5Humans have been not giving a ***** about atrocities that have occurred in different parts of the world for thousands of years. Nothing ***** new here folks.
- roctimo, on 11/19/2008, -1/+6Something kind of sad about
the way that things have come to be
Desensitized to everything
What became of subtlety? - LeviTheSmith, on 11/19/2008, -0/+5You seem like an intelligent person.
- jameszhao00, on 11/19/2008, -1/+6I think the "oversaturation of violence" the author talks about is when people portray violence in a fun and amusing way. (i.e. youtube videos where people laugh at other people's sufferings)
- MindTrigger, on 11/19/2008, -0/+5I couldn't agree more. Our government and the media have been hiding the violence of this war from the get go. The closest thing we had to the truth was at the beginning of the war when journalists were embedded. Even that was questionable because it was more like war porn with all the blood and guts censored out. We aren't even allowed to see coffins being brought home and moved from military air transports.
- sodade, on 11/19/2008, -0/+5"You don't have to keep a running tally and light a candle for every Iraqi that gets blown up in Baghdad."
Americans who can ignore the innocent blood all over our hands are evil. Period. - SpacePoet, on 11/19/2008, -0/+5That reminds me of the opening coverage of both Iraq wars and the parrots cheering like it's a football game every time another 2000 lb bomb dropped on Baghdad. The same people would scream bloody murder if it was their city or if one person was killed.
- bigtoes, on 11/19/2008, -0/+5We are oversaturated on hearing about violence & undersaturated on actually seeing it.If we saw graphic images of decapitation & blood no one would be feeling empathy.I was watching a Frontline on tribal leaders in the area between Afghanistan & Pakistan being tortured by the Taliban . It was pretty graphic & not really like anything I had seen on the news . Anyone who would have viewed that would not be empathetic . Words don't do violence justice .
- MalarkeyPN, on 11/19/2008, -0/+4Americans who call the people they disagree with "evil" are no better than fundamentalists. Period.
I acknowledge the innocent blood on my metaphorical hands. So what do I do next? Feel bad about it? Is that your only solution? ***** off and let me live my life!
Either take action or don't, but don't tell other people how they should feel. - SpacePoet, on 11/19/2008, -0/+4We're not powerless, we just let ourselves become powerless.
- inactive, on 11/19/2008, -1/+5To the writer of this article. I have only one thing to say. There is a very old saying: "NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS". Perhaps he would like to read cozy feel good stuff every day. That would be nice, if that were reality. Fact, is it's not!
- quentinp, on 11/19/2008, -0/+4I don't think we're truly capable of empathy on a large scale. Show me a story of a baby that was killed or something and I will definitely feel something, show me a story that mentions 1,000,000 killed and sure i'll agree it's terrible, but I'm not really feeling it the same way...it's not something that I can fathom.
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