Can you still be shocked ??

Do any of you feel like me?

Do you ever think that you have read, seen and heard so much misery, mayhem and savagery dealt by the hand of mankind that you feel totally unshockable now ? I feel a little desensitised and that is what worries me.

Would you like to share your thoughts ? I know that others must be feeling as I do and that I am not a freak.


In Peace Always
resi


MODS: Not sure where this thread needed to go. Please move if necessary

Jaded, thats what the world has conditioned us to be, just jaded at it all. its sad realy, But I still get shocked by all the bad things that go on in the world sometimes. I just step back and wonder why it is this way and what I could possibly do about it.

It would take something incredibly horrific to shock me now. The amount of death and destruction that I have seen over the last few years is enough to desensitize me to everything that goes on.

So no, not much can shock me any more.

Sadly, I find myself with the very same opinion.

I may be jaded, but nothing seems to really surprise me much anymore.
Disgust, sicken, annoy....ok, but surprise...not for a long time now.

Ok, if something on a national/world level happened that was very good/positive...that would shock me out of my pants.

Just because you see "shocking" stuff on television or any type of media doesn't make you automatically immune to shock. I have seen death, wars destruction chaos, public executions 1st hand and I guratee you that anyone would be shocked no matter how much violence you think you have seen on tv. In North America people live in this perfect bubble that make us believe that if we are exposed to violent or shocking things in the comfort of our home, we know exactly what is liek to live through it and even claim to not being shocked by violent events.

Don't believe that just because you think you're desentized nothing will shock you. Because I can gurantee you that if you live it 1st hand you will. and those images hunt you.

What's more, children seem to be de-sensitized, not suprising with regards to the content of video games having likeness to a rated R-movie. And speaking of movies and television, things have progresively gotten worse. I remember as a kid when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. We watched it from our classroom and firsthand I can tell you the shock and confusion I felt. Having talked with a couple of younger grade schoolers on the block following 9/11, I recall the immediate reference to video games, or how it lresembled an action movie.

I do think we have been desensitized as a culture, an era. Just short of a nuclear bomb going off on our doorsteps, there probably is not too much "we haven't seen", but hen again I'll hold that thought in hopes I don't prove myself wrong.

There is very little that happens anymore that shocks or surprises me. Kind of sad considering that I am only twenty-nine years old. However,if it's something bad,I have come to expect it and it really doesn't surprise me when it does.

Originally posted by resistancia
Do you ever think that you have read, seen and heard so much misery, mayhem and savagery dealt by the hand of mankind that you feel totally unshockable now ?

Unshockable? Yes.

But you really should read some history (the real and gory stuff; not the quick overviews you get in the history books) or old books (like the older Morte d' Arthur.) The violence we see today would be considered astonishngly peaceful and Eden-like compared to the older times when popular entertainment consisted of turning dogs loose on bears or bulls to see how many could be killed or "drawing and quartering" or various forms of torture and punishment... and then the atrocities committed in the wars, etc, etc.

Yes, things could be a LOT better. But our times should be considered in terms of the whole history of humans as well as in terms of modern sensibilities.

Indellkoffer,

As a graduate with majors in Classical Studies (Ancient Greek & Roman Civilisation - all aspects) and Modern History, I am familiar with the blood and gore through the ages as I had access to a lot of primary source material.

I am shocked by what I have studied but more so because I feel that we have failed to evolve. We (mankind) are still like the Greeks, Romans, Spanish Inquisitors, Crusaders and those men and women in modern times who perpetrated cruelty for whatever reasons.

When I see, hear and discover more written material, I am appalled and sickened to think that human beings can do and have done, these things to each other.

I feel the world is a hopeless place but I like the majority, just get on with the task of living day to day and making the most of what life confronts me with.

I just shake my head in disgust and that sets me thinking and it is the thinking that does my head in !

Thanks for your thoughts.


In Peace Always
resi

Just wanted to add...

When I say I am desensitised I think I mean that I expect all this blood gore and cruelty and am not surprised considering the world stage at present.


I thought more about all this and know I CAN still be shocked.

Surprise and shock - very different feelings


In Peace Always
resi

No, human depravity can rarely shock me any more. I don't even bother watching the news because its so depressing. When I found out that a woman microwaved her baby to death, I wasn't even surprised that it have been done previously.

I think the depravity and violence has always existed but the news media and internet is desperate to bring it to us because it gets viewers.

Originally posted by resistancia
Do any of you feel like me?

Do you ever think that you have read, seen and heard so much misery, mayhem and savagery dealt by the hand of mankind that you feel totally unshockable now ? I feel a little desensitised and that is what worries me.

Would you like to share your thoughts ? I know that others must be feeling as I do and that I am not a freak.


In Peace Always
resi

MODS: Not sure where this thread needed to go. Please move if necessary

actually yes... I find that I can no longer be shocked about how morbid and twisted and evil the human being can be..

But I am entirely floored and shocked to see how amazingly nice and helpful and healing some people are... and am continued to be floored seeing amazing people..

every time I stick my finger in the light socket I get a nasty suprise.

Originally posted by Lysergic
every time I stick my finger in the light socket I get a nasty suprise.

once again..... I'm not shocked... (no pun intended)

There is a similar thread on here about Star Children.

Basically my point on that and this thread is that mankind is better off today than at any other point in History.

We are rich,living longer,curing illnesses etc etc etc.OK we know the world isn`t perfect.Man is a creature on this planet.We still posses features from our anecesters.We are all tribal.Having said that evidence of our past compared to now we are more civilised.Life expectancy is higher than in the past.Africa still low compared to the developed world but they higher than the past

Bush hasn`t yet killed 5,962,129 (total Jews killed).800,000 still high but not compared to the total loses including servicemen in ww2.The total rises to 62 million or 2.5 per cent of the world population when you include the civilians casualties.Have you heard of the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman Empire 1914.1.5 million Armenian population were killed.Turkish govt (peace loving Muslims) still deny the overwhelming evidence that the camps excisted and the loses were due to population in the war of the War.Total casualties for the ww1 total 15,598,516 killed including civilians.Napololeonic war total including civillians 3,500,000.

Thats just war.If you stop feeling sorry for yourselves and start research the net properly rather than reading all the hype in the media you`ll realise your ancestery had a far tougher life.Go and speak to your grandparents (If possible) they are better qualified to ridicule your views.