Society and the Media

Has society become infatuated with gore these days, to the point that newswires such as AP/New York Times feel it necessary to make repeated references to decapitation and limbs being torn off in reporting yesterday's Staten Island Ferry tragedy?? I've looked at a few of the news services which are listed at Google's news site, and not all are as filled with details about body parts.

[Google's news site uses computer-generated algorithms rather than human judgement to show how news is reported from thousands of news sites around the world. You can list list in chronological order, with the newest listing first, or by relevance. I like to use this site when I have time, to get a more global perspective on major stories. News is largely a matter of perspective. The majority of what the public is spoonfed come from sources aligned with political and financial interests. I try to keep that in mind when reading news, and look at other sources, especially indie sites. This is one of the easier ways I've found to do this.]

Anyway, I read the AP/New York Times version of the Staten Island ferry tragedy, and wondered, "Are we feeding our own morbid fascination by reading grisly news, or do the journalists feel the public is desensitized enough to accept whatever journalists do to grab the reader's attention?" Maybe both. Along the same vein, I was also wondering whether to see Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. I know it's violent. I loathe violence, and I can barely sit through it when watching a film. I couldn't even bring myself to watch Tarantino's Dusk to Dawn. If I feel any visceral pleasure out of watching Kill Bill, what does that say about me? Is it the same as reading gory news?