WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF DESENSITIZATION

Another day, another mass shooting. In the quest to gain advertising dollars, the American media will exploit this latest horrific act for ratings and page views. To pull at heart-strings, they will maneuver the victims and their families for exclusive interviews. In addition, they will create breaking news headlines like, “Deadliest Mass Shooting in Modern History” or “10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Shooter”.

If the shooter is white, he will be labeled mentally ill. If he is black, he will be labeled an angry militant. If he practices Islam, he will be labeled a terrorist. There will be a debate about the word terrorist. Then there will be a debate about the Second Amendment. Pretty much, there will be a debate about everything.

Around the clock on every national news station they will broadcast the story. You will consume it and you will click it. You will donate to the causes (even if it isn’t validated that the victims see the returns). You will share the story and spread it on your social media accounts. That is, until it becomes old news.

Clearly, there is a pattern here.

Look closely to the cycle that forms after one of these tragic events take place. It has a deeper meaning because it creates a society that is desensitized. Moreover (if you are one of the “woke” ones), it will figuratively brainwash your subconscious.

Ask yourself, were you really shocked about this last shooting? Did you motionlessly think, “Another one again?”.. Were you scrolling past various articles just to see how many victims were killed? Did you cut off the television because that was all they were talking about? If so, welcome to the world of desensitization.

We are repeatedly being inundated with images of death and destruction. The only time we see good news is normally towards the end of the broadcast. Negativity is the cornerstone of most media because people feed off of it.  It’s an energy that spreads like a virus jumping from one person to the other. If you were born during the 1980s and early 1990s – you have been targeted since childhood with a mixture of media, simulated games and the latest electronics. Makes you wonder if this is all one big social experiment, huh?

According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, in the past 311 days there have been at least 308 mass shootings in the United States. This statistic proves how often it occurs and how often the media only focuses on certain ones.

In this new digital age of consumption, there are no curtains to pull when another one happens. How long will the informed public keep their attention on this current tragedy? How long before we move on to the next?

In a sense, we have been brainwashed into thinking these events are now normal – but there is nothing normal about them.