Are we developing a taste for death, destruction and mutilation?

I think this is symptomatic of modern living. I'm not sure if it is as much to do with world events in the post-911 era as with a general immunity by the masses to loss of human life and real suffering. We live in a more violent society because we have been fed a diet of more violence as part of our daily lives. Including real events as well as from the entertainment sector. The graphic, fictional stuff that we are more exposed to is also through much wider choice - TV, Film, Internet, Gaming etc.

The result is that the human mind is getting more acclimatised to more extreme acts of violence. And people in general are simply too lazy (or not bothered) to always make a distinction (in their mind's eye) to what's real and what's not. I do notmean that at a conscious level. I mean that at a sub conscious level. As less people complain (let's face it, someone like Mary Whitehouse would now be looked upon as an irritant rather than performing a useful social service). The first priority for media has been, and will always remain, to make a profit and remain competitive. Regulators are increasingly managed at arm's length from the state (and also run as private organizations).

Democratic societies have to embrace modernity and progress. How to do so and still ward off some of the ills will always remain mankind's bigger challenges. Possibly this kind of medium, bringing people from different walks of life, diverse mindsets and alternative views, could be the answer for society to develop more robust solutions without downsides. Collaboartive discovery etc etc.

Great article Eddie. I suggest adding your own first comment to an article. It is a way of your post enetring other people's conversation trackers. And get read wider.

I doubt whether we've become numb to or whether we've developed a desire for mayhem. On the other hand, the killers delight in their deeds.

On PBS's "The War," the program revealed that Americans went 21 months before they saw photos of dead soldiers, in Life magazine. I think from that point, there was a steady stream.

Well, we could say that we started to lose the value of life in any number of wars. The U.S. Civil War had its own images of thoughtless brutality. What's missing from this war is many of the images of its true brutality. We see very little combat footage, there's a higher degree of censorship than even in World War II. Generally all we see is the same general footage of burning car wrecks and pools of blood left over from corpses. So in one sense I wonder if Americans have seen ENOUGH of the violence.

It appears now, that we (in the west) are also becoming accustomed to pictures of mutilation and death, as more and more graphic detail of the aftermath of suicide bombings and insurgent attacks are being broadcast and posted on 'mainstream' web portals.

I do think we are being desensitized but have to disagree that coverage of the war has anything to do with it. Check out the shows that air on the networks and its blood and gore, perversions and ghastliness that is far more brutal and desensitizing than any news of the war horrors.

On the contrary our war coverage is largely burned out cars and the victims largely hidden from view.

Well they don't string people up at the village green any more so that's a plus. traffic still crawls round carnage gawking so nothing's changed too much in the death doom and distruction constant that is a part of human nature.
Politically though, attrocity has been used to wonderful effect. Trauma management is the preferred state of Govt it would seem. .