When I was re-reading Amusing Ourselves to Death a quote struck me and brought forth memories of the movie Hotel Rwanda.
On page 68 of the book, "What steps do you plan to take to reduce the conflict in the Middle East?...What are your plans for preserving the environment or reducing the risk of nuclear war?...You plan to do nothing about them...The news elicits from you a variety of opinions about which you can do nothing except to offer them as more news, about which you can do nothing."
This reminds me of a famous Dialogue between Paul and Jack in the movie Hotel Rwanda. (courtesy of wikiquote)
Paul: How can they not do anything? Don't they care?
Jack: I think that when people turn on their TVs and see this footage, they'll say, "Oh my God, that's horrible," and then they'll go back to eating their dinners.
I am not saying that it is impossible to make a difference in the world and we are incapable of doing anything. I am also not saying that we are all awful people that shrug off the misfortune of others. I am just saying that out of all the "major" stories on the news the majority of individuals concern themselves with only a few stories and do anything of a noticeable affect for even fewer events.
The media desensitizes us by spitting out never ending chains of violence and hardships, so we become used to these horrors. The media lowers the gravity of these stories by playing calming music in the background of horrible stories. After a dramatic pause to let the information sink in a catchy tune shifts the broadcast to some story about a sports figure. People don't like watching stories about death and destruction. People use the media to make them feel better about themselves and make them feel happy, so the first choice of most people would to have nice "fluff" stories that fill up the allotted time limit.
The attitude of the media toward traumatic stories makes the populous confused about what action to take and eventually leads to induced inaction.
For all the people that have seen Hotel Rwanda, do you remember the quote stated above in the movie and did you think about it when you were reading this section of the book?
Have you ever shrugged off a major event because you felt helpless and incapable of making a difference? Or have you seen a major disaster and said "What a shame"
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1 comment:
Stalin said, "A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic." I think we become numb in the face of enormity; we feel helpless; we can't wrap our heads around tragedy. You are right: we become desensitized, but how could we function if we actually internalized the pain and loss of the world?
Your post reminds me of the Vietnam War, which was the first war that was televised -- it came on during the evening news, and people watched as they ate their dinners.
Why don't we see the war now? Why is the media prevented from showing us our dead? We don't see our body bags coming home for burial, or our flag draped caskets. Showing the human costs of this war is verbotten!
Another thing that your post makes me think of: I was APPALLED and SHOCKED when we entered into this war with Iraq. The very day it began, there was a graphic for the news, a name for the war, and a soundtrack -- all packaged neatly for your television-watching comfort.
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