Is desensitization really a bad thing?

http://www.psxextreme.com/feature/261.html

Just wondering what people think about this.

I think desensitization is a load of bull****. I simply cannot grasp the notion that because I replayed Manhunt three times that I would somehow be any less struck by a real violent act than if I hadn't played that game. One is fiction, the other reality - it really is that simple. Doctors and soldiers don't get used to seeing horrific things by playing games, they do so by dealing with such things in the real world. Even then, some of them still have problems coping with certain things.

The example that was given of that guy saving two people in the car crash doesn't have anything to do with him being desensitized by playing America's Army. The game taught him what to do, yes, but the fact that he remained calm was down to him, not the game. It's probable that someone else who also played Medic in America's Army would just freak out and wouldn't know what to do. People are different and they react differently in tough situations...what they played beforehand is irrelevant.

The problem with desenitization, at least IMO, is people aren't shocked by events, and therefore are less likely to react. When reading or hearing about a murder or a fatal car crash how many people have caught themselves not caring? The casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan are looked at as statistics rather than real men and women. Now I'm not arguing for or against the war, but very few people are as shocked by casualties as they should be. Or how many people have heard of atrocities around the world and not done anything about it? Darfur, HIV/AIDS, poverty, human rights violations, torture, etc. I know I haven't done anywhere near as much as I should for these causes. Maybe that speaks more to our 'me-first' culture than desensitization, but desensitization certainly has something to do with it.

And desensitization isn't limited to violence and death. For example the political campaigns for Obama and Clinton raised roughly $85 million dollars combined... last month. People should be ****ing bricks that during what is very likely an economic recession, the political candidates are essentially trying to buy their way into the White House. But who does anything about it? People have accepted practices like that and moved on.

While I am by no means saying games are responsible for all of this-for all we know games have nothing to do with desensitization-but to say desensitization isn't a bad thing (or at least doesn't have major negative effects) is naive. That same desensitization of soldiers, firefighters, police officers, doctors and others who have jobs that require some level of desensitization is very likely a significant cause of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Does desensitization have some advantages? Absolutely, but I don't think you can justify it because some jobs require it.

When reading or hearing about a murder or a fatal car crash how many people have caught themselves not caring?PBSnipes

The topic is desensitization through fictional media and you're talking about something completely different. I don't think this has anything to do with being desensitized, it's simply human nature. You cannot truly empathize through newspaper articles or 2-minute news clips about people you never even saw and who don't mean anything to you. You might give it some thought for a minute or two, but then carry on with your life as if nothing happened. But that's normal. The level of empathy increases the closer you are to the people affected by tragedy. Reading about people dying and going to a war-torn country and experiencing it for yourself are two completely different things - to expect them to yield the same reaction is unrealistic.

Actually, all that article seems to be saying to me is that emergency response training is good. I disagree that desensitization and training are the same things. I think the author of that article twisted around the meaning of desensitization to fit his theory.

I think that desensitization is more than "I used to be squeamish around blood, but now that I have some medical training I can handle it." [This might be a colloquial use of desensitize, but it is not the scientific use of desensitize that is at issue.] Desensitization is more like "I have seen so much blood during the war that it doesn't affect me at all, my emotional response to blood has shut down and I'm not going to react to it in a normal manner anymore."

Desensitization is bad. There is no good there.

I agree with the author to the extent that he points out that there is no proof that video games desensitize people to real violence. I also agree that video games can be used to train people in good ways and that video games definitely have positive influences on people. These positives have nothing to do with desensitization though.

Also, I'll point out that PBSnipes is confusing desensitization with apathy and I agree with UpInFlames that it is more a matter of human nature.