Emoshin
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Here's a working hypothesis so far:
When we indulge in these fantasies, we essentially ask ourselves and/or society for permission: is it a victimless fantasy that I'm about to engage in?
And then the producers of the TV show, movie, video game or rpg will also ask that question on behalf of their general audience.
For example, we watch a long car chase scene. The hero chases the villain down a highway at high speeds. There are multiple car crashes, and we never see the passengers -- are they dead or maimed? Is the hero ever prosecuted for dangerous driving and manslaughter? We don't care, we don't want to know. And we know that in real-life, this would never fly. So why do we buy into this consensual delusion that this is a thrilling good-guy-bad-guy car chase on the screen?
Because of the adrenaline rush and because there is no cohesive group of car accident victims who are hurt enough to come forward about gratuitous violence with car chases.
How about torture scenes? Gunfights that break out in the middle of the street? Superheroes who smash up office towers while fighting supervillains? Again, we have that adrenaline rush and there is no cohesive group of survivors (and their families) of torture, gun shooting or office tower destruction who will come forward to express their hurt at seeing these depictions.
How about a fantasy story where we indulge in a fantasy of being good saviors against an evil society? It depends. If you want to include X in your evil society, do you have a real-life group of traumatized survivors or families who are coming forward to say: this is hurts us? Because if you do, suddenly you don't have a victimless fantasy story anymore.
And that's why, I think, humans are weird, but there is a reason why glorified violence is different than slavery.
When we indulge in these fantasies, we essentially ask ourselves and/or society for permission: is it a victimless fantasy that I'm about to engage in?
And then the producers of the TV show, movie, video game or rpg will also ask that question on behalf of their general audience.
For example, we watch a long car chase scene. The hero chases the villain down a highway at high speeds. There are multiple car crashes, and we never see the passengers -- are they dead or maimed? Is the hero ever prosecuted for dangerous driving and manslaughter? We don't care, we don't want to know. And we know that in real-life, this would never fly. So why do we buy into this consensual delusion that this is a thrilling good-guy-bad-guy car chase on the screen?
Because of the adrenaline rush and because there is no cohesive group of car accident victims who are hurt enough to come forward about gratuitous violence with car chases.
How about torture scenes? Gunfights that break out in the middle of the street? Superheroes who smash up office towers while fighting supervillains? Again, we have that adrenaline rush and there is no cohesive group of survivors (and their families) of torture, gun shooting or office tower destruction who will come forward to express their hurt at seeing these depictions.
How about a fantasy story where we indulge in a fantasy of being good saviors against an evil society? It depends. If you want to include X in your evil society, do you have a real-life group of traumatized survivors or families who are coming forward to say: this is hurts us? Because if you do, suddenly you don't have a victimless fantasy story anymore.
And that's why, I think, humans are weird, but there is a reason why glorified violence is different than slavery.