Mama Moonbat quits anti-war movement

[Preechr]

Y'know, this conversation has gotten fairly interesting... We are all the time hearing about how violence or sex or whatever in movies, games and TV influence kids, but I'm wondering if maybe whenever anybody sees a person or a story in and audio/video presentation if there's not a natural disconnect.

Here's what I'm thinking: the popular thought is that our brains can be conditioned or programmed in various ways by negative images and audio, but has anybody spent any time studying the way the brain receives the incomplete sensory data received from a TV in general? This might be a good one for Seth... lol...

I'm wondering if there's a biological reason "most people" "don't really make an emotional connection with the subjects like they would if they met the people personally." Our brains were not built to understand TV. Sure, we can hash it out cognitively, but the parts of the brain related to real emotional response aren't located in or subject to the frontal lobes, are they?

Maybe we see images on TV like we would in a mirror. Max alluded to the idea that maybe some people put themselves in her place, but I wonder if that's the only way any of us can experience her story unless we know her personally. When we see reports about Va Tech or whatever, don't we filter it all through something along the lines of "What if I were there?" or "What if that was me?"

I don't think real compassion is even possible. Empathy, maybe, but even that is essentially self-serving, for lack of a better word. When you really feel compassion for someone, it's not about you.

Way off topic, but I thought I'd put it out there. I still think that logic and reason outweigh any emotional response morons might have to something as serious as a freakin WAR, but your discussion made me think of this other thing...