Desensitisation

(This topic was recommended to me by Kara. I'mma write on it and see where it goes.)

(The Free Dictionary) Desensitisation : the process of reducing sensitivity.

We throw the word around, never really thinking about exactly what it means to each of us and what it has DONE to each of us. I say this and now everybody stares at me going, "well of course we know what it means and what it's done"... Except for that's bullshit, of the purest kind.

It's obvious to me that we no longer know what it means - what it has done - when somebody who is close to me can relate a story to me which shows just how desensitised we really are. She tells me of a time that she saw a man in a blue jacket on a street corner being kicked in the head, and nobody seemed to care, much less do anything - people turning a blind eye in their cars or thinking "What are those hooligans up to now? Ah well, doesn't matter." Nobody knows the non-movie-staged emotional argument from beforehand, so what's the matter? As long as everybody's far enough away not to get involved themselves - and get hurt - it doesn't matter. Right?

Right?

No. WRONG. That is fucking WRONG, gang. I don't even know if there's a way for me to express the wrongness of it, not to mention the anger behind that sentiment I am feeling. Our society took a seriously wrong turn somewhere along the lines for the worse. The much worse.

It's not like that is an isolated incident. Where were the police when this was happening? Probably busy trying to do damage to civilians who were peacefully protesting the wrongfulness of our country at the moment - at the Occupy movements. They're there, while somewhere else, somebody on a street corner is getting his head kicked in because nobody will step up and HELP, much less the people with guns and badges (said in that order because they seem to like shooting first and asking questions later).

Oh yeah. If somebody who actually exercises their second amendment rights decides to get involved - that is to say, pulling a gun on the aggressor, if they pull the trigger, they can be indicted on murder charges, even though they're attempting to save another person's life. Vigilante or not, they're trying to help somebody. If they only shoot to maim or cause pain, they can be sued later for it by the ATTACKER. Make sense? Nope. But that's how it is. (This is a topic for another time.)

We don't care anymore. Human life no longer holds value except to a select few, and only then because they care about the person involved. We see it everyday - in person, on the television, on our online news outlet of choice. Human life just doesn't matter anymore. Sadly, I am no longer surprised when I see stories like this, just saddened.

Unfortunately, this connects all too well with a subject we all know I hold dear. Along with this general lack of caring about other's lives, it seems that life in the LGBTQ community is valued by even fewer. The news stories talking about a gay young man being beaten to a pulp, a lesbian taking her own life because of what her classmates said about her, a transgender person being beaten up in a McDonalds while the staff just looked on. Why is it?

We all have our own lives, our own problems. Maybe that's what it is, that we're too busy being self absorbed that we don't SEE what's going on to other people. Too busy worrying about making rent or paying the electric bill. Too busy trying to get to a job site so that we can get bitched at by the customer for their internet running too slow, or to work because we're late. Is that what it is? That we just simply fail to see what's going on? Or is it simply apathy?


Something's gotta change.

Until next time.

Peace.