Went into the combatfootage subreddit briefly and I'm wondering if anybody knows of any studies about how desensitization to violence through videos on the internet breeds sociopathy.
Saw a post about the bombing of al-Azhar University in Gaza and the top comment was a joke along the lines of "Well, at least we know no women were killed in this bombing."
@Seamus_Malek Isn't that one of the things the Cold War era US supposedly did on purpose in Peter Watson's "War on the Mind"?
@Seamus_Malek It is way too late now, critical mass was reached in 2014 at the very latest
@Seamus_Malek I'm pretty sure that is predisposed at a younger age. I'm hoping no one under 12-15 is in that subreddit, but who knows. Sustained emotional trauma, separation from the mother, head injury in early life, stuff like that.
@Seamus_Malek At the risk of being over serious with this, there isn't any strong evidence that media depictions of violence are, themselves, desensitizing at a scale that changes behavior. /1
@Seamus_Malek Similar to footage of Ukrainian drones double-tapping wounded Russians, people who consume that shit 24/7 will claim it "gives them an appreciation for life" or "contextualizes the horrors of war" but it's 99% cope and rationalization.
@Seamus_Malek By the way they remove all footage of any attacks on Israeli tanks and troops. It is too much violence to bomb a tank but it is okay to bomb a university. Also universities in Gaza are 50% ladies
@Seamus_Malek Fr comment sections on telegram channels are alarmingly callous
@Seamus_Malek It seems more likely that people with anti-social characteristics and lower capacity for empathy are more likely to come to these spaces rather than the other way around.