It's narcissistic and its attention grabbing for 15 seconds of fame to fill some empty void of mediocrity.
But it's use is widespread from evil actions like we saw today in London when hacking someone to death on the street to promote an out dated fringed view of a religion became the norm. Really?
Well this action caused another immense knee jerk reaction of shock value in the media all over the world.
Television stations grappled to be the first to show on screen the blood stained knife wielding hands of these animals who butchered this innocent man. Some censored the hands because they were deemed too graphic, but they still wanted to get that footage out there. Did we need to see this to understand the horror of this act? I think we have plenty of words in the English language to describe it comprehensively.
But then people on Facebook felt the need to publish the uncensored images on Facebook to shock their friends and to be the 'first' to share this topical footage. This also occurred during the Boston bombing when some felt the need to remind us how real terrorism is. I think most people know how horrific blowing peoples legs off is when this is reported without the need to see the half mangled limbs dangling off the wheelchairs. Even if these people thought we needed to know how horrific this action really is, surely we should have the choice as to whether we want to see these images without them being plastered all over our news feeds.
And what about nudity? It's all over film and television and whilst I'm not a prude and enjoy admiring a nice figure as much as anybody else, shouldn't I deserve the right to choose when I want to see private parts splashed across my TV or laptop? Do we really need to see pubic hair to know the woman is completely naked in the shower in a movie or can we safely assume that's what one usually does under the shower? Do we really need to see a thrusting naked bottom to know that the characters are real and not just actors faking it? Shock value sells movie tickets as much as newspapers and religions. As one famous Hollywood actor once said "Congratulations to the actress who won an Oscar for simulating sex on the screen."
I am tired of this world wide trend of shock and awe and the sooner we stop buying into the rubber-necking that these ridiculous tactics cause, the sooner we can actually get a sense of what happiness there actually can be in the world, and not have our minds scarred by the harsh reality.
Some people can't avoid this harsh reality when they have it forced on them in real life and I do feel for these people that have to battle it for the rest of their lives. It is not easy to say the least. But even these people would never wish exposure to gruesome events on anyone so why not try and protect the world from potential post traumatic stress situations.
Shock value that would impress me would be the resignation of Tony Abbott from the Leader of the Opposition.
It would be a shock, but oh what value it would provide :-)
J G S
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