The Media Desensitizing Us to the Pain of Others?

While visiting my local Tri-State Fair event, I had the opportunity to watch a group of newscasters filming the live evening news. I stopped to get a closer look at those familiar faces that I usually see only on the television screen. They began filming and presenting a variety of news stories while also commenting on the adventure of doing the news at the ongoing Fair. The camera panned to show the rides and games and I could see the action on a monitor to the side of the stage. Just as the camera focused on her, I saw a teen-age girl turn her head to look at some interesting sight and she ran smack into another fairgoer. Both fell hard and like most people, I was mildly amused at the incident but the humor quickly faded when I realized that the young girl was genuinely injured as well as embarrassed. Even then, she didn't realize she was on film. She tried to get to her feet only to fall again when she put weight on the injured leg. A couple of bystanders went to her aid while others just watched and passed by. Some laughed. I felt for the girl but could see a medic in a golf cart approaching and I turned away, feeling bad about her obvious humiliation. I was surprised to see that the newscasters (back on camera) were now attempting to continue with the news, but kept breaking into giggles. The producer apparently thought this made better television than news, so they quickly replayed the image of the girl falling twice while the newscasters completely succumbed to laughter.

Now, I'm the first to say that I've seen a number of newscasts on television and the internet that ended up becoming hilarious for good reason. Once I saw a picture of an orangutan displayed behind the anchorman while he was giving a serious report about an employee strike at a local factory which happened to be called Apeman Industries. I don't know if it was an accident or deliberate but the newsman didn't see the picture until he heard the audience laughing and when he turned to see it, he tried to finish the report while obviously trying to restrain laughter and wiping tears from his eyes. I love the bloopers at the end of DVD movies and I adore most 'candid-camera' style shows so don't get me wrong and think I don't like a good laugh at some good-natured joking or mistakes. What concerns me is that I notice more and more media events where the laughter isn't just due to a comical accident but is often due to practical jokes, falls and malfunctions where someone really gets hurt, humiliated or both.

I always enjoy popular video sites, but only recently a featured video on www.glumbert.com was of a group of newscasters who couldn't stop gleefully snickering at a fallen model. In a Youtube video (www.youtube.com) there was a more alarming display of ill-humor as the news crew snorted with laughter over a terrible fall when singer Juan Gabriel toppled badly and ended up with a concussion and other serious injuries. Even as the injury-specifics are reported the newscasters are still laughing.

Again, I understand well that sometimes laughter is due to nerves or an attempt to deal with watching something painful. I have a friend who is often annoyed with her own reactions when she can't stop laughing after seeing someone trip or stumble in public. This is a sometimes natural psychological reaction and newscasters are only human. What concerns me is not the laughter itself, but the gradual change in perception in current society. News producers choose to reply a fall or accident over and over while others laugh instead of responsibly cutting away until everyone is together. I also notice more and more blooper/candid-style shows that deliberately put people on camera in situations that will truly frighten them. Mind you- I'm not talking about shows where the cast members know what they are getting into. Those who sign-on for shows like Fear Factor or the like - they sign all sorts of legal documents and they know they are going to be messed with and distressed quite on purpose. They choose it and I have no problem with it. I also have no issue with hidden-camera shows that can be greatly entertaining without hurting anyone. Accidents do happen even on those shows, but years-ago the producers generally edited out parts where someone was hurt and showed concern for the participants. In current shows, it isn't at all uncommon for the entire intent of the show to be to give an unwitting participant a terrible scare. I saw a commercial the other day where an elderly lady (being filmed on hidden-camera) watched as a man plunged a knife straight into his own hand. It wasn't like a magic-act where the woman would expect to see this done as an illusion, it was intended to make her believe this was an accident and to cause a response of revulsion. What were they hoping for, that she'd have a heart-attack on live camera for our amusement?

Now let me qualify a couple of things before you jump to conclusions about what I'm trying to say here. Yes, these kinds of things do bring ratings and the shows are there to make money. People will watch them. I have watched them or I wouldn't know to write about them! I think of it as the 'car-wreck' scenario. You're driving down the street and pass the scene of a terrible accident and you can see that everything is being taken care of and your help is not needed. You know not to look since you might see some horrifying things. Still, you look. You can't help it. This is also a natural psychological reaction and it isn't entirely unhealthy. It is a way of helping us cope with things that could happen to us, a way of desensitizing ourselves and even facing our own mortalities. Even watching this sort of thing on television can do this for us. I think that what concerns me about it is that there was a time in American culture when it just wasn't the right thing to do - displaying other individuals in pain for our own amusement. In some cultures, it still wouldn't be done. In yet other cultures, the public display of pain goes to even greater extremes from bloody cartoon animations to ninja-style reality shows where pain is a given. Still, if we go back to the coping and desensitizing scenario, we don't actually need to see this sort of thing done to real people on purpose to achieve the effect. If you have a serious fear and you want to learn to cope, a good therapist can suggest ways to desensitize. In real-life, you are going to come across the occasional accident and be exposed to the real thing. And, most of all, you can find many ways to immerse yourself in horrors through books, television, and movies where the events are imaginary but just as useful for learning to cope. Do we really need to put real people through painful situations on purpose, or to replay accidental painful incidents while newscasters or other observers laugh?

I don't delude myself into thinking that my opinions would change the desires of the masses or the intentions of business people. I don't write about this with the intent to judge any specific type of person. I write it only to ask the questions and bring these ideas to the forefront of the minds of thining and feeling people. As we make chioces, only remember that compassion is needed in this world and if we lose it, the end-result could make society a very unpleasant place for our grandchildren and beyond. Maybe it is inevitable. Perhap not. What do you think?