The Desensitization Of Death

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The first issue I see with technologically sophisticated warfare is that warfare has evolved to the point where new technology is needed for it. There have been wars in the past, and nothing will change that, but warfare can and should stop now. However, that is another discussion. Lethal force itself, whether it is involved with warfare or not, is always going to have fatal consequences on someone, somewhere. By the hands of man or machine, death will steal someone’s spouse, sibling, child, parent, or any valued member of a community, no matter how much the victim may or may not have deserved it. At any scale, mortality will always have an emotional impact. Thus, this type of impact cannot be inflicted by a machine. There are enough lives …show more content…

Even today, we are constantly watching masses of deaths across the world on the news and it fails to strike people, myself included, that just because mass fatality is so far away does not mean that it is not just as tragic. Mind numbingly violent media, video games, and literature, though harmless in small enough doses, also contribute to the desensitization of human death. Death is an event that cannot be automated. The ability to breathe and live is a right, and no one has the right to steal it from anyone, no matter what the reason to do is. My own 11 year old brother points his Nerf gun at me and laughs, and without ever thinking I point one right back at him. These “toys,” which are sold alongside play kitchens and action figures, turn potentially fatal violence into a normal part of everyday life. A weapon that can cause hundreds of deaths in mere minutes is considered “cool” to my brother and his friends, and while it’s laughable in the moment, it’s terrifying to consider that the seriousness of lethal weapons is diminished into children's

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