Painful Entertainment

Andrew Mell
Western Herald

Since the beginning of the human race we’ve contained a primitive desire to see our fellow man face danger head on, no matter the cost. There’s just something about seeing another person in some sort of physically or mentally compromising situation that makes us want to watch; to be glad that it’s them and not us.

Perhaps the most famous historical documentation of this desire of ours is the epic battles that used to take place in Roman stadiums between the mighty gladiators. Stadiums would be packed with citizens who had come to watch these warriors fight to the death.

At some point it was publically determined that certain things were ethically, morally, and politically incorrect. Pairing two people against one another in a fight to the death was not something that should be a revered sporting event, nor should the execution of a criminal be a town event.

So for the most part people backed away from the violence that was. Citizens began attending plays and musicals, and technology brought us radio and television most of which was wholesome and non-violent, none of which contained  live murder.

But despite our political correctness our desire to see another person’s disaster will probably never disappear. In fact, just because it has been tamed and contained doesn’t mean that it isn’t as strong as ever.

Have you ever wondered why traffic backs up on the highway for an accident, an accident that has been completely pushed off of the road and isn’t blocking a single lane? It’s because everyone’s got to gawk.

Why are certain sports entertaining to some people? Some of us watch football only for the bone crushing hits. Some of s watch auto racing only for the possibility that a driver might error in one of the corners and never come out of it.

Scariest of all is the content that’s starting to make its way onto our television screens. With the steady rise of reality television we’re slowly edging back to a time where we’re able to watch unfiltered human turmoil.

Obviously we live in the most developed society on earth and we’re not going to see death fights any time soon, but the current trends are definitely moving in that direction.
If people 100 years ago were able to see the things that routinely entertain us presently, many of these entertainments would be seen as appalling. So then, 100 years from now what would we find appalling?

Based on what we watch now it’d take a lot to shock us, but to imagine that something might, is absolutely scary.

Andrew Mell, a Western Herald opinion columnist, is a senior majoring in aviation, and can be reached via e-mail at melltimejr@hotmail.com.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=6463

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Jun 29 2009. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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