I have never liked seeing horrific images neither real nor imagined. I’ve never liked scary movies or horror films and even Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video used to give me nightmares as a kid. I remember once, my mother dropped my sister and I off at a lady’s house to braid our hair when we very young I think probably less than 8 years old at the time and the woman put on Hellraiser 1, 2, and 3 with Pinhead for all of us to watch, it was a terrible experience on so many levels. I never liked Chucky, Nightmare on Elm Street, Tales from the Crypt, X-files, and didn’t care much for the Goosebumps book series.
On the other hand, I love history, documentaries, nonfiction books, used to be a news junkie, try to keep up to date on current events around the world especially in the oft-overlooked and litte known places. I try to get an understanding of a place and situation from mutiple perspectives and as close to the ground as possible.
There are so many situations past and present that are absolutely horrific, heart wrenching, and devastating in nature. I am a firm believer that our society (meaning human society worldwide) is becoming more coarse and that this is a terrible development.
I was once over at the home of an Iraqi couple that had a satellite dish during the second Iraq war in 2003. And the lady of the house, would come crying over to me to tell me of some of the horrible images she had just seen on one of the Arab satellite news stations. When I was there, I made sure to avert my gaze from the television set not because I didn’t want to know what was happening but as a protection for myself. I gather no benefit from seeing those images, none whatsoever. And I feel harmed mentally and emotionally from seeing them. Continue reading →
