Desensitization

Desensitization is defined as a psychological process that has often been involved in explaining viewers’ emotional reactions to media violence. Research on emotional reactions to violent messages has been concerned with the possibility that continued exposure to violence in the mass media will result in desensitization, that is, that exposure to media violence will undermine feelings of concern, empathy, or sympathy that viewers might have toward victims of actual violence.

Now the question I pose is: how much blame should be put on photography and videography in the media in regards to desensitizing human beings to war?

Since 2003, there has been a lot of talk about how the Bush administration screwed up the conflict in the Middle East (Not necessarily just the war, but most endeavors that they undertook) and once the shock of 9/11 ended, the media was happy to document all the problems that arose from the invasion of Iraq.  As I have pointed out in my first blog entry, things have changed since WWII for war correspondents and what they are able to transmit back to the United States. No longer are images with dead soldiers barred from the media and the Internet has been able to show the images and videos that have been banned.

This means that photos of dead American soldiers are making the front pages of newspapers and gracing the pages of national magazines. It’s hard to walk down a city street without seeing a newspaper stand or rack with photos of blown up buses and piles of dead bodies on the front pages of publications. These images are the culprits of desensitization in American culture. These images are spurring on wars, even if they are trying to stay unbiased, by desensitizing us to the realities of war. Of course some people will argue that by showing the world the realities of war, the media is combating violence by showing people that war is an atrocious thing and this is a valid point, but in my opinion, people are just learning to accept it rather than learn from it.

Look at World War II, where and entire American nation united to help win a war. Those people back then were unaware of the way war was fought, and even misinformed about Nazi tactics and crimes against humanity. Since then there have been many conflicts that the United States has been involved in and media has evolved along with it.  With media covering wars more carefully and honestly, people have become more informed, but have also become more accepting of wars and conflict around the world as they see more and more of it.  Therefore I thing that yes, photography and videography are largely to blame for the desensitization of the American people. But also, I think that both fields should be commended for digging deep and bringing a more honest view of war to light in America.