Quote:
Originally posted by bhutocracy
how does this video NOT show us the atrocities of war? how many people in this thread said the video was "cool"? If you read it I think you'll find most people are rightly saddened and shocked by it. Someone saying "holy fucking shit" doesn't mean they're not empathising with the situation, they're just either shocked, unable to express it in more expressive words, or for lack of wanting to look like a "pussy" not wanting to express it in what you might think are more "acceptable" phrasings.
laughing at stoning vids is what happens when barely pubescent boys talk shit on an adult bbs and want ot come across as hardcore or against the towelheads or whatever.. I wouldn't judge the effect on most everyone else on the few 'tards from the peanut gallery.
And no.. people do not "get" that these people have families and the sadness these deaths bring.. we ARE desensitised.. how do you empathise with the deaths of 10,000 Iraqi's? We have hardly even evolved far enough to be ablet o mentally comprehend that number without BEING SHOWN an image of 10000 people.
why are images more persuasive at trials? why are images the thing that blew the lid of abu garib prison?
we understand these things on a certain level. You know someone was beheaded, you know they had a family, oh shit next story is about a panda that can't get an erection.. it gets part of the mass of human misery for the day.. it is dealt with on a level that doesn't require any real amount of empathy on the viewer's behalf.. If what you said was true and that normal people know they have families and totally empathise then half the workforce would be paralysed at home all day crying at the constant misery around us. But it doesn't work like that.
The same idiots that laugh at a stoning video don't do it because of their basic disregard for human life, they do it because of whatever indoctrination they have undergone to equate the victims to being not worthy of empathy.
Those very same idiots would be the first ones shocked and disturbed and yelling down other people for being anti-american haters if it was a nice blonde midwestern woman getting stoned by muslim men.
The fact that a part of the audience doesn't empathise doesn't mean there aren't plenty of legitimate viewers with their own valid reasons for watching and the behaviour of other people doesn't in anyway impinge on the validity.
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How does this video NOT show the atrocities of war?
Quite simply really... the exact same way a rape vid put on an extreme porn site would not show what a vile and disgusting thing rape is. Context most often is what determines meaning, and that is also the case with this particular vid.
That is something that should be clear to everyone, and especially to those in this industry. (what's a pic in the family album of one of your kids running naked through the yard? cute. what's a pic on a porn site of a naked kid? sick. - context determines meaning)
The Faces of Death videos were a huge, HUGE hit. Not because people wanted to empathise with the people getting killed/maimed/whatever in the vids, but because shock value equals good entertainment for many.
Now, if you choose to make your money by catering to such preferences, the fact that some people might use your vids to build up an understanding of the atrocities of war does not make your actions any better.
By the way, the idea that actually seeing it makes a difference for people seems a bit naive. Just think about the romans and how they watched gladiators and christians dying, or how public executions have been extremely popular throughout history with the majority of the population.
The sad truth is that most people have a basic disregard for human life, which only is different if they happen to know or identify with the human life in question.