I can’t speak for the world, but I can speak for Americans—We are so desensitized. Our actions, morals, and values are grossly disappearing. Some say it is evolution; some say it is progress; some say we are going to hell in a hand basket. When do we step outside of the box, take a peek through the looking glass, and ask—Do we really need to see this? Or, have we really gotten to the point where we don’t give a shit? Or, is there even a line between victim and predator anymore? Or better yet—Do we even exist? A level of existence should represent and contain actual experiences that give us life, but our reaction to situations seem as if the very life we are fighting for is being sucked out of us.
“Here is a typical broadcast: ‘Watch as this man eats the face of this homeless man. Look here. You can see the police officers fire shots until he is dead. There is blood running off the side of the road. This video is extremely disturbing and heart wrenching. I just—I can barely watch this. This is so horrid. For those of you just joining us, let’s show it again.’”
Sandusky’s victims are assumed money hungry; people want to see the Canadian killer’s video of torture; massacres are being televised on CNN; we have heard the screams for help on various 911 calls; and, a naked man is recorded as he is gunned down in the midst of eating another man’s face off.
Then—After a family gathering around the dinner table during the evening news, we wonder why yet another person buckles under pressure. We are psychotic. Why are we obsessed with death and destruction? Because, it is incorporated into our daily lives. Do you ever sit back and laugh at the news anchors? Here is a typical broadcast: “Watch as this man eats the face of this homeless man. Look here. You can see the police officers fire shots until he is dead. There is blood running off the side of the road. This video is extremely disturbing and heart wrenching. I just—I can barely watch this. This is so horrid. For those of you just joining us, let’s show it again.” Wait. What?
The way we react is not normal. You may think you are normal because you are being pushed through the mainstream current. When we automatically think rape victims are lying, or there is no longer a need for horror films because we can see it for free on our evening news, we have to tune out.
“If we spent more time worrying about humanity and less time pointing the finger and blaming, our compassion for one another would slowly start to return.”
I stopped watching the news, and at one point I hadn’t watched the news in 3 years. I didn’t even know an earthquake happened in Haiti until a week after the fact. Prior to my refusal to watch the news, I turned it on one night, and there was a story on about a 4-year old child that fatally shot himself with his dad’s gun. The dad was carrying his dead son down the street. His clothes were soaked in blood, and he was emotionless. I cannot even begin to put myself in that man’s shoes. I am sure he was in the highest level of shock; shock beyond tears or reaction. As this man was walking down the street, soaked in his child’s blood, the news crew had a camera in his face asking him how he felt about the situation. Those breaking stories are making us less human.
The news is good for keeping us at odds with one another. Why do you think they have a section for comments now? They aren’t interested in our feedback. If we spent more time worrying about humanity and less time pointing the finger and blaming, our compassion for one another would slowly start to return.
Written by Buffy Smith.↓
Buffy Smith (n.): resident parental advisor, opinionated know-it-all.
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