Jecca ZaneVoyeurism or plain curiosity?
October 18th 2006 22:56
I had a lecture this week in Literature about the Penal Settlement, written by Kafka.
This is a most disturbing and morbid story of one mans torture by a machine that is pretty much being sold by an officer. There are people standing around witnessing a demonstration of how the torture machine works. It is most gruesome and I am reluctant to go into much further detail.
The lecture then went on a turn into the Nazi regime, the Holicaust and much more. We began to discuss what it is psychologically that entices a human being to watch such things are these..people being tortured, car accidents, fires, etc.
Is it a sense of 'fuckedupedness"?? Or is it just plain curiosity.
As you all know, there was a car accident out the front of my home last week. I was so drawn to it, I was standing there outside and I actually had an analytical moment where I wondered to myself 'why is it that I am standing here? What am i waiting to see?' I shared this with the class and the lecturer asked was it because of the 'there but for the grace of God go I' factor, but I think it was more than that.
Being so close to a possible mortality/ fatality was a strange experience. Its not something that happens in my street or in my front yard for that matter, every day. If it was, I doubt it would be so interesting.
It was almost like a spiritual experience or some kind of outer body thing. Not sure how to describe it really.
I went home last night and I thought about the human experience and how we are all so very different. I do believe that the way we interpret things, see things, calculate things, react and respond to things is determined by our pasts, the way we were raised, our conditioning, etc.
Interesting that I open many magazines and read about peoples trauma stories, real tragedies and yet I am not amazed or surprised. I dont see alot of these things as an overwhelming experience, however this is because I grew up in a home where these kind of things happened every single day. Sexual abuse, physical fights, broken limbs from being attacked, captivation..the list goes on.
I meet people all the time who talk about something bad in their lives and I dont tell them how to live or what to do, I just listen and relate. I have seen, however, people that havent had too much trauma in their lives react with utter shock and dismay. Makes me chuckle.
Back to the watching trauma thing, I think children are completely different. There is the wow factor such as seeing an ambulance drive by and wanting to follow it..we have television programs where we want to see people fight 'Jerry Springer', etc. We watch these things and just roll our eyes in pity..perhaps. But I cannot believe a stable well balanced child would deliberately want to view a killing or a torture, etc. Kafkas Penal Settlement talked about the officer bragging that as someone is being tortured and killed, the children are to be given preference as to where they want to sit for the viewing, as it is important for them to witness 'justice'. I wonder if the children would actually become conditioned to see it this way, rather than to be traumatised by what theyre seeing..
There are websites that alolow you to view murdered people, severed limbs, morgue photographs of celebrities,etc..AURGH. So sad. I personally, even having the horrid background I have, would never be able to witness such things as I would be left well and truly disturbed for a very long time. My brain would be severely impressed.
I do not understand the thrill of horror movies, where peole are decapitated, skinned, choked, raped, stabbed, eaten..I mean COME ON..I can get my thrills elsewhere. I dont get it.
I dont want to incriminate myself by saying this, but I will..I often get put off by men who like to watch horror..I dont understand it.
What do you think?
This is a most disturbing and morbid story of one mans torture by a machine that is pretty much being sold by an officer. There are people standing around witnessing a demonstration of how the torture machine works. It is most gruesome and I am reluctant to go into much further detail.
The lecture then went on a turn into the Nazi regime, the Holicaust and much more. We began to discuss what it is psychologically that entices a human being to watch such things are these..people being tortured, car accidents, fires, etc.
As you all know, there was a car accident out the front of my home last week. I was so drawn to it, I was standing there outside and I actually had an analytical moment where I wondered to myself 'why is it that I am standing here? What am i waiting to see?' I shared this with the class and the lecturer asked was it because of the 'there but for the grace of God go I' factor, but I think it was more than that.
Being so close to a possible mortality/ fatality was a strange experience. Its not something that happens in my street or in my front yard for that matter, every day. If it was, I doubt it would be so interesting.
It was almost like a spiritual experience or some kind of outer body thing. Not sure how to describe it really.
I went home last night and I thought about the human experience and how we are all so very different. I do believe that the way we interpret things, see things, calculate things, react and respond to things is determined by our pasts, the way we were raised, our conditioning, etc.
Interesting that I open many magazines and read about peoples trauma stories, real tragedies and yet I am not amazed or surprised. I dont see alot of these things as an overwhelming experience, however this is because I grew up in a home where these kind of things happened every single day. Sexual abuse, physical fights, broken limbs from being attacked, captivation..the list goes on.
I meet people all the time who talk about something bad in their lives and I dont tell them how to live or what to do, I just listen and relate. I have seen, however, people that havent had too much trauma in their lives react with utter shock and dismay. Makes me chuckle.
Back to the watching trauma thing, I think children are completely different. There is the wow factor such as seeing an ambulance drive by and wanting to follow it..we have television programs where we want to see people fight 'Jerry Springer', etc. We watch these things and just roll our eyes in pity..perhaps. But I cannot believe a stable well balanced child would deliberately want to view a killing or a torture, etc. Kafkas Penal Settlement talked about the officer bragging that as someone is being tortured and killed, the children are to be given preference as to where they want to sit for the viewing, as it is important for them to witness 'justice'. I wonder if the children would actually become conditioned to see it this way, rather than to be traumatised by what theyre seeing..
There are websites that alolow you to view murdered people, severed limbs, morgue photographs of celebrities,etc..AURGH. So sad. I personally, even having the horrid background I have, would never be able to witness such things as I would be left well and truly disturbed for a very long time. My brain would be severely impressed.
I do not understand the thrill of horror movies, where peole are decapitated, skinned, choked, raped, stabbed, eaten..I mean COME ON..I can get my thrills elsewhere. I dont get it.
I dont want to incriminate myself by saying this, but I will..I often get put off by men who like to watch horror..I dont understand it.
What do you think?
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Comment by Joy
Comment by Deorre
Stress Alive
Man Lessons
Interesting, us humans.
Comment by Ash
Flashes of memories
I personally don`t get the whole 'horror film' thing either - is real life not scary enough without you having to fill your spare time with it.
DOn`t know what the attraction is, but it certainly has got me thinking about it!
Ash