Detached from reality?

[Forthwith]

So I log out of hotmail and it does it's usual asstastic feat of
redirecting me to the local msn page..... and I see the top story is
about the bomb blast in Turkey. People are dead, a country
is reeling, bitter recriminations are being bandied about regarding
politics, terrorism and the military.... living history as they
say.

Bomb blast in Turkey (http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,3772-2849983,00.html)

And what is my reaction?

That picture looks like a red alert2 screenshot.

Have I become detached from reality? Have I lost the ability
to empathise or feel horror? It takes a great deal to shock me
nowadays, maybe I'm just jaded or maybe I've just seen so
much death and destruction that it fails to have meaning for me
anymore?

Anyone else feel similar at all? Or maybe I'm just reading too
much into it.

[Cassa]

I get that sometimes too....I wonder if maybe life in general is a game, and would anything _really_ happen if I flipped out and kicked someone's head off in the street because they were annoying me.

[Mattryx]

Originally posted by Cassa
I get that sometimes too....I wonder if maybe life in general is a game, and would anything _really_ happen if I flipped out and kicked someone's head off in the street because they were annoying me.

If it were a game the body would disappear as soon as you went around the corner. I think you should try it! ;)

[Cassa]

Would they drop coins and/or candy?

[sortius]

it is all a "game"... it is all a "dream"... just remember, a dream is just as powerful as a reality.... scare yourself occasionally... it really brings things into perspective./

[plext]

Well, if it is a game, this map really sucks.

[jaseparlo]

But is it art imitating life or life imitating art?

We hear shit all the time about games and TV etc desensitising kids to violence, but when the majority support a war (they may not now but they did when it started, in AU, UK, US) then what the hell message do they think they are sending?

And we see it all the time, more and more now as the US provokes smaller weaker groups into terrorist action to justify the machine. You have to stop caring or you would spend your whole day crying.

[scathing]

Originally posted by Cassa
I get that sometimes too....I wonder if maybe life in general is a game, and would anything _really_ happen if I flipped out and kicked someone's head off in the street because they were annoying me.

That depends on if you've turned God mode on....

[scathing]

Originally posted by Cassa
Would they drop coins and/or candy?

That depends on if they were wearing a long coat while offering it to you before you flipped out ninja style....

[angel_b]

Originally posted by jaseparlo
You have to stop caring or you would spend your whole day crying.
*nods*

[Cassa]

Originally posted by Forthwith
So I log out of hotmail and it does it's usual asstastic feat of
redirecting me to the local msn page.....

Slightly OT, that really shits me off. If I wanted to go to that page I'd take myself there. And for some reason my old account which I check from time to time, always takes me to the spanish one (YupiMSN)...thanks, that's sooooo helpful.

[scathing]

Originally posted by Cassa
Slightly OT, that really shits me off. If I wanted to go to that page I'd take myself there. And for some reason my old account which I check from time to time, always takes me to the spanish one (YupiMSN)...thanks, that's sooooo helpful.

Did you specify your location, in your personal details, as Spain (or some spanish-speaking country)?

On my MSN Messenger profile, I've told them I live in Japan so my banner ads are all Japanese. I am so fucking kawaii it hurts.

[BlueBoy]

[still ot] I had my ICQ location as Azerbaijan. Ever had Turkish "women" try to pick you up? *shudder* [/still ot]

[Necron]

Holy Shit!!!, your right. That is so just a screenshot from Red alert 2, my V3 rockets did that..... Expect my Cuban Terrorists to attack your base anytime soon!, Im on a rampage.... mwahaha.

My Soviet forces will crush you Allied Scum!

[scathing]

Terrorists with explosives don't kill people. Video games kill people (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000-10-09&res=h).

But yeah, I'm seeing RTS screenshot there too.

Maybe we are all desensitised. I say we sue the video game and movie industry for doing it to us.

[Necron]

Im up for quick money!!!!, *struggles with own mind*, No but games are 'GOOD', *back to right state of mind* oh man games have fucked me up proper. *struggle*, no, no, noooooooo, you will never win, for I am Gordon Freeman..... No wait, Im Necron... err, who am I?

[miss elise]

Not caring about things is called apathy. I am here to say that this is a virtue, not a fault. My apathy has allowed me to not do so many things, it really does make life that much easier.

Also, referring to the first post in this thread, if you think that something is wrong it is. Don't rely on thinking with your emotions, otherwise you will be like those women in movies that cry alot and are crap. Think with your head!

Damn crazy emotional movie women.

[Sutter]

Sure maybe it's you being desensatised, but there is a good formula/maxim for how many people have to die before people start getting upset.
As close as I can remember it's:

1 in your town
2 in your state
5 in a niebouring
10 in another country

works with any event, too. some flood in some town in the US, I couldn't care about, be a couple of shops in Fairfield get flooded and I'm hungry for info.....