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So I'm sitting here, filing invoices for mi padre, when I turn around to see my sister and her boyfriend watching NCIS--a tv show about professionals who visit crime scenes and do forensics stuff to figure out who the murderer is. Five seconds ago, a man just comitted suicide; they showed it visibly on camera; he took his knife and slit his throat. I turned at the wrong time, and I asked them how they could watch that, and my sis' boyfriend says "its television, we have been desensitized by it."

Do you think that culture today is too desensitized?

No, I don't see anything wrong with watching a show with someone slitting his throat and committing suicide if it is part of the show.

I think you're desensitized when you laugh at war and unironic violence. Take two people watching The Simpsons. One is smart, one is kinda dumb. The smart person sees Homer laughing at some guy who got a Football to the nuts, and he laughs because it's making fun of the average schmuck and how dumb he is. The guy who's kind of dumb laughs "with" Homer at the guy who got hit in the nuts with a Football.

That to me is a good example of awarness.

I laughed since it's true. It happens all the time on T.V, you kinda get used to it.

Laughed at which? My example, the satire, or the guy who got a Football to the nuts?

The last one. That's good television.

I hope you're kidding (quite likely). It seems people today just don't understand satire. You have no idea how dull the people I go to school with are.

I watch television since I want entertainment, if I wanted to learn about morales, I would read a book.

I liked one of the new Family Guy's with the Passion of the Christ 2, I think that would be a satire right? Err well it didn't really have a serious point. Nevermind.

Crucify THIS!

Jesus: You know how to use one of these (Gun)
Chris Tucker: You know how to use one of THESE? (smokes)

That did not make much sense to me. At all.

I read books for my entertainment and T.V. for my education(documentaries, etc)...
Ya, I'm weird like that.
Well, excepting computer of course.
But as for the topic:
People are becoming "desensitized", yes, but it doesn't really matter to me. If people can stomach watching something, then why should I care? The only reason I care is because people at my school are just becoming stupid. They fantasize about ghettos and gangs and crap.
I'm not saying those two are anymore than slightly related, though.

I have no idea what you guys are talking about.
But TV is for laughing.
For one instance, for some reason that some stupid dude died
i would laugh at him for no reason
I like to laugh when unrelated idiotic mofos get hurt.
GOT IT?!

I was just saying, people today seem to have no appreciation for the wit of The Simpsons. They just don't get any of the jokes, "it's like watching a bunch of retards trying to hump a doorknob" -Patches (a line from Dodge Ball). This conviently leads me to my second example... My friend and his English class have been watching the movie Dodge Ball, and he said almost nobody was getting the actual jokes. Refrences to sexuality, ironic events and history don't even strike a chuckle in them, but as soon as the guy gets hit in the face with a wrench they all laugh. Then get confused by the joke after (or before) and don't laugh at all. So you'll see 4 guys laughing throughout almost the whole movie (cause it's chock full of hilarity) and then the rest of the class only gets giggle when someone gets hurt. Fact of the matter is, you're not being entertained to the potential it was meant to be, because you're too thick to get the jokes.

I guess it is good for TV Shows to appeal to all kinds of people. They include many types of jokes everyone will get, some might not get the ones that make you think but others get the stupid ones.

God this reminds me of Jack Thompson. He's an anti-violence (even to an extent Mario Sunshine) in videogames activist. He assumes that just because I play Doom 1 (the ancient 1994 game) that I will go off an pull a Columbine. He's so nuts-o about that, he won't let his 16 year old son play freaking Starcraft because of the Terran and Zerg deaths. He assumes that something like Soldier of Fortune will desensitize kids to violence and encourage them to go kill shit for no reason. I honestly e-mailed him and told him to play Halo 2 for a day then go to rotten.com and look at the gorey pictures there. I told him he would still get greatly disturbed. I also told him to go play Counterstrike Source and then see if you can pull a gun on someone. He said "I'd rather not try to get this close to Satan." The er's probably just saying that because he nows I've got a point. ing jeek. (not a typo)

Oh, and if you must know, he's Christian. Die hard Christian.

So, in conclusion, no it's not desensitizing, it's entertainment. It's not even close to how it really is in real life. Seriously, go play Halo 2 for a while and try it. It's alot harder to stomach what you're going to do in real life than in a videogame. That's why things like Doom where created.

Halo 2 isn't a very violent game =/

I think people who normally watch movies and tv shows like that are. Which is why I try to watch less and less of that stuff. I hope I can someday heal what has been lost through societies influences on me.

Me? The chuckle at televison and movies. I laugh when I read. Especially in books by John Ringo. I don't know, I find literature more amusing than a lot of movies and shows. Though I do watch the Simpsons and laugh as well. I do occasionally get the wit in it, though I know a lot of humour goes past my head. Heck, I can rewatch a few episodes and find new jokes hidden away. Well, okay, they're pretty damn obvious, but I miss them regardless.

actually i truely agree with you. the common man is getting dumber and dumber, and i know what you mean about most people at school being complete morons. Fortunately i live in a big enough city that at school there are enough intellegent people to make a good conversation but the average joe really is a moron. What usuallu makes that worse though is when they dont even realize it.

also, knowledge always seems to open up so many doors. after i took an Ap Euro course this year, it's amazing how much more I understand in a lot of humor. theres so much more satire, and histrical humor today in the media then one might suspect.

as to being desensitized, i would have to defenitly say that yes we are. but this is only a bad thing if you arent responsible enough or intellegent enough to understand the true impact of your real world actions.

Well see, with the election of Bush (you know he had a C average), I've noticed people starting to slack off because they assume that just because you can get to presidency with a C average means they can succeed anywhere with a C average.

So yeah you do have a point, we are getting dumber and dumber. We are also becoming more parasitical

We're not getting dumber, you're just getting smarter, and noticing how dumb we really are.

good point Alpha(MC). as i read thu this topic, i noteced SOMEONE said that halo 2 is not very violent? what the hell was that guy looking at when he played? i mean, its the bloodyest game i have seen to date!! were you looking at the box when your freind was playing? lets see you have mass amount of gun and shit and you call it not violent. YOU ARE THE MOST DESECITIZED PERSEN I HAVE EVER MET! i should find you and bitch slap you........GOD!

I've seen more violent crap than Halo 2. I don't see anything wrong with violence as long as people don't confuse it with reality, and if they do they are retarded.

Are you on crack? Just because it doesn't have blood and gore, doesn't mean it isn't violent. A game can be as violent as the flames of hell, and still have a Teen rating by the ESRB people (Whatevery they are)

But, once a game starts having blood & gore, is when you get into the Mature rating.

This goes with movies too. You can have a movie that has tons and tons of violence, and even swear words (as long as it's not f*ck) and it will be a PG-13 movie. But once it has the f-bomb, gore, and blood, it automatically gets a rated R rating. (Indiana Jone's and the Temple of Doom has a rating of PG-13 and it wasn't even bloody, and had very little violence. That proves as a sociaty, we are getting more and more "bad" as you would say)

Halo 2 compared to Doom 3? Yeah..... Look at the difference.......... Fool...............

Blood and gore just add to the realism. I mean it would be stupid in a game like Doom if you had a shotgun and killed a zombie without any gore. In shooting games blood and gore is to be expected.