The Culture of Sadism
Are we a sadistic culture or what? Check out Yahoo's Most Viewed Photo and Most Emailed Photo from yesterday:
Now that's gotta hurt. As Jen said at The Heretik's last night: "It's got everything, hot girl getting hurt. Our society laps that up." Here's more in the series. Bring on the blood!
I think we, as a society in general, secretly enjoy watching others get hurt. Think of America's Funniest Home Videos. The most hilarious clips are the ones in which some dumb-ass falls off a ladder or a kid walks into screen door. Then there are countless reality shows like Fear Factor which force people into dangerous challenges and stunts.
Poor girl. What's worse is that so many people got off watching her bleed.
USA's Chelsea Davis hits her head on the board during a preliminary round in the women's three-meter springboard diving competition at the World Aquatics Championships Friday, July 22, 2005 in Montreal. Davis required stitches after hitting her head. (AP Photo/Ryan Remiorz)
Greg Louganis did this same thing many years ago, during the Olympics, if I recall correctly, and I would swear that I must have seen that thing replayed nine gazillion times.
Posted by: Shakespeare's Sister | July 23, 2005 at 10:45 AM
People like to see others hurt. I'm not convinced that this is a bad thing per see. One might even make an argument to the effect that it is a remnant of our primitive brain - an animal which observes it's fellows being injured might learn how to aviod injury better, giving a survival advantage and therefore ourt speciese has an inbuilt desire to see such things.
I do not say this is the case, merely note it as a possibility. Certainly I cannot deny my own fascination with such photographs, they are compelling.
Posted by: The Alchemist | July 23, 2005 at 11:25 AM
Welcome back to the chemist.
Posted by: The Heretik | July 23, 2005 at 11:55 AM
Greg Louganis actually went to the same university I did. I remember the 1988 Olympics when he hit his head. But that didn't stop him from getting the gold.
Posted by: Agitprop | July 23, 2005 at 05:26 PM
I think that people's enjoyment of her getting hurt is just an extension of their enjoyment of any achieving person's getting a comeuppance. Injured athletes, failed Hollywood marriages, damaged careers--people love that stuff.
I also think there are two kinds of people: those who look at an accident, and those who can't stop looking.
Posted by: Diane | July 23, 2005 at 08:24 PM
"People like to see others hurt."
If this is the case, then why don't we see more graphic images of the war in Iraq in America's newspapers?
Posted by: Matt | July 23, 2005 at 09:19 PM
Matt, Right on! You got to the heart of the matter. The voyuers (sp?) are really only interested in what they think they could have or wanted to have been. So far detached from reality of the true pain that real people experience in their everyday lives, and so much of that pain inflicted by the hands of us, the USA.
I bet all of those google hits of her pain was by people who really think the war in Iraq is great.
Posted by: karena | July 23, 2005 at 09:36 PM
Matt, I think the main difference depends on who is inflicting the pain. When the pain is self-inflicted/accidental as in the case of the diver, people will lap it up. It's pure voyeurism. The same goes with entertainment shows like Real TV which flaunt dangerous car crashes like eye candy for its viewers. When the culprit is a suicide bomber or a regime that launches pre-emptive war, I guess it’s a different story.
The newspapers and media organizations are controlled by corporate boards who intentionally do not want the American public to witness the true horrors of war. The LA Times had a good piece last month which talked about the poor media coverage of the Iraq War and why the public has not been given access to the images of suffering.
I don't think Americans can tolerate watching their own military soldiers abuse and torture detainees (Abu Ghraib) nor can they tolerate watching a country descend into chaos (Iraq). People probably mentally tune that stuff out because it causes too much cognitive dissonance, especially for a Bush supporter who voted for war and torture.
Posted by: Agitprop | July 24, 2005 at 12:25 PM
Ugh, gross. Yes, why did I click on that?! Do we really let off pent-up something or other thus suppressing our own desire to cause blood-flow, or are we just very very very happy it wasn't our own sorry selves this time?
Posted by: Karen | July 24, 2005 at 09:57 PM
oh that was just gross. but people love to watch a good car accident.
Posted by: liz at blondesense | July 27, 2005 at 09:26 AM