Numbed From Reality
by Kim Luhrs
Desensitized to the Point of No Return
There I am, relaxing in the living room, casually flipping through the channels, glimpsing at parts of Dawson's Creek, just in time to see two 16 year olds confess their love for each other, displaying it in more ways than I care to view. FLIP. On another channel I see fully grown men being flung across the wrestling ring just awaiting the squash from the body of their wrestling competitor. FLIP. On Entertainment Tonight there are the usual half-naked women flaunting in front of the cameras. FLIP. Hold on, can you say that on public television? Apparently so, as an occasional cuss word on a prime time sitcom slips the tongue.
These are just your average television shows of the dinner hour. All this happening in the presence of the 5-year-old you are babysitting. Or, maybe you're simply just trying to have a little family bonding time in front of the boob tube. How embarrassing should it be simply trying to watch TV with your loved ones?
It becomes normal to see these programs day after day, hour after hour. True, times are changing, but for the better or the worse?
This trend is evident not only in television, but also in movies and even video games. Little kids playing Mortal Combat with their Sega systems to get a thrill out of seeing blood fly from the body of their enemy until they die from the blows, and then simply moving on to their next victim, is a little disturbing. In real life, however, there is no GAME OVER to allow you to start anew with a set of three lives to spare. Could there be a connection between what is seen on television and what happens in the real world? Perhaps the reality of a true life situation when someone is being hurt diminishes, since it has all been seen before through your own TV screen. We have become immune to the harshness of reality. The normality of seeing news reports of murdered people and suspects of armed robbery is almost scary, but still, it is nothing new.
We are becoming desensitized to our surroundings. I find it a little alarming when I find myself not affected by the guy who was just shot in the head on a TV program since it has been shown so many other countless times before. And how many times are we randomly shown what goes on behind the sealed door of the bedroomI Maybe the only way for us to catch and devote our attention to movies and TV programs is if we are shown the graphic details, however disturbing it may be.
No matter how many people are seen being shot in movies, and no matter how much skin is pointlessly revealed, we cannot numb our minds to the reality of life.
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