Videos: harmless entertainment or just plain violent?
I'll be honest, I love America's Funniest Home Videos. My children used to enjoy watching it with me until one day one of them mentioned how most of the videos were of people getting hurt. "And that's not really funny," he summarized.
Since then, I've been a little more aware of the video clips available to the public.
I believe the public-humiliation-for-entertainment wave started with America's Funniest Home Videos and escalated with extreme video shows like Max X. And goodness knows what all you can find on YouTube now.
But it's not just entertainment anymore. Here are the video news headlines I read on MSN.com this morning:
Gator attacks triathlete during training
Girl, 7, killed by police during raid
Police use Taser on New Mexico man
What disturbs me is not that these kinds of things are so easily available, or that people post them, (or that you are, at this moment, upset that I did not include a link to those videos) as much as that there is such a large audience for these videos. You can find as many violent videos as LOLcats because there are so many people out there clicking for them.
I am concerned where this will end. Watching another person's pain (physical, mental, emotional) for entertainment borders far too closely to the types of "entertainment" one found in Rome's Coliseum.
When Animals Attack, anyone?
In your opinion, how far is too far? Where you you draw the line? Has that line already been crossed?
Jun 3, 2010 at 8:14 p.m.
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Nobody needs sheltering. You can see the effects of sheltering by nudity in America compared to Europe. Here nudity is seen as provocative and sex. Where as in Europe it is seen as art and beauty. There really is no point or analogy to what you are talking about other than both consist of curiosity. If nudity was more prevalent the curiousity wouldn't be there and neither would be the desire to think sexually when someone sees someone nude. The same goes for what is deemed disgusting news showing the violence. It will soon fade away being shown so often because the veiwers will grow tired of seeing it which will make it non news worthy.
BTW, I find that others stupidity can be funny. You may find it sick or demented thinking on my behalf. But look at it this way, some of the stupid stuff that is done with injury, may stop one person from doing the same thing that might otherwise do that stupid thing if they didn't see how much the person got raked doing the act.
As for the three underlined things you included that all goes to the power of the press having to much power and digging too deep for news. The press is all over anything that can make them a few extra bucks by gaining viewers with video even if it is a young child covered with a blanket and pool of blood. Media thinks they need to have it headlined. The power of seeing such thing can actually piss someone off and may turn an otherwise calm person into a psycho vigilante.
I love ranting :D
May 25, 2010 at 8:26 a.m.
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You are correct about these things being easily available to all. We see much more than we need to. Reality TV can share the blame for a lot of this. The one that really bothers me is when you have two guys in a cage doing this ultimate fighting thing until one of them cannot continue - crazy! (Just wondering what you were smiling about in your picture as you read a Harry Potter book.) :-)
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