In Praise of Desensitization

By now, one of the traditional arguments against the press of modern media is that it inevitably desensitizes us to violence or suffering. This is a pretty common argument to a whole range of arguably distasteful material. Porn, for example, is argued to make us desensitized to the act of sex, leading to disrespect of significant others in a sexual relationship.

However, this connection is unclear, since it essentially makes the assertion that being desensitized to these things is somehow an inherently negative force. Though that's basically speculative, if you think about it, because there's no real reason why that should be the case.

In fact, you might even say that being desensitized to these violence and sex are actually great things. Only by removing the emotional and visceral impact from these experiences can we strip the illusion away that they are "special" or "unique" to our condition. This places them in perspective, prevents us from idealizing our lives in a way that causes us to make unwise decisions. Furthermore, we can deal with these the issues and ideas surrounding these phenomenon is a infititely more reserved and objective way.

Moreover, not only does desensitization allow us to remove the things that usually make us generate incorrect or unwise decisions, but you could argue that it actually helps us make better ones. Only through continual exposure do we learn to appreciate the finer details and subtleties of the subject that we're examining. Seeing violence in the media all the time gives us the unique luxury of reflecting on the nature of violence without the cost of placing ourselves at danger. As a result, we can learn to more effectively experience those moments, like we would train ourselves to critique art. As a result, we are not suprised when we are confronted and can competently deal with them with confidence.

Just struck me as an interesting point.