Now I’ve never been one to preach that violent films desensitize our youth, but watching CNN last night I was struck by my own inability to truly empathize with the man on screen being interviewed about his desperate search to find his missing brother after a bomb blast in Baghdad.
Has the war been going on for so long that it has become a mere faded backdrop upon which I continue to live my life on the other end of the world? Or have I seen all to often Hollywood’s protagonist searching against insurmountable odds only to find him at the last second wounded but still able to disarm a secret nuclear bomb with only 2.3 seconds to go?
At what point did the reality and suffering of others become a mere plot point in the next blockbuster we want to see. Is this our way of coping with the unspeakable that we know happens every day – our way of rationalizing and romanticizing these atrocities so that we can sleep at night?
Because as I type on my Mac Book from my comfortable bed with the sound of the ocean and the knowledge that I can speak my mind and live my life as I see fit, I can’t help but think of the innocent people who’s lives are filled with mortar bombs and indoctrination, fear and persecution. Maybe we shouldn’t go to bed tonight ready to sleep easy, maybe we should all feel a little more for our fellow man – especially those who are furthest from ourselves in beliefs and traditions. After all, we would all search for our missing brother or mother or child with the same pain and hope in our hearts.
Maybe if we all thought a little more along those lines, the next bombs would not be dropped as easily…
Good blog post. Here's the thing. Have we become desensitized to images such as this? Definitely. We're so used to stories of crime and violence and I think unless we're directly affected (touch wood) we have become somewhat numb to it. So what do we do to overcome that and regain the emotion we arguably once had? Dialogue. The more we talk, the more the cause gains momentum. Word spreads quickly, often in a negative light. Perhaps we need to put a positive spin on it and in that way become more influential? Haters might argue differently, but seriously we can at least try make a difference... not so?
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