Humans and Violence/Morbidity

[(insert name here)]

Anyone who's browsed the internet knows that there is more than an abundance of nasty material lurking beneath its exterior, from hand-drawn pictures of dismemberment and gore to actual photos of the stuff.  We've all stumbled across it at some point whether we've intended to or not.  The question is: Why is it there in the first place?  What would possess someone to create/share these things and why would anyone else want to look at them?

Now you may be thinking, "Well, (insert name here), the people who enjoy these things are a very select few who likely aren't the most mentally stable."  But you may as well stop that thinking right there.  While the majority of people don't crave the stuff to the extent of graphic disembowelment and the like, the vast majority still crave some sort of violence in some fashion.  Look at horror movies.  They are often about people being murdered in disgusting and graphic ways.  A lot of people enjoy watching these.  Look at gladiator films and the like, more ruthless and bloody killing that people find "cool".  Heck, look at the game that brought us all together.  It revolves around murdering thousands of people as fast as possible.  Clearly the vast majority of our species craves violence on some sort of level.

But why is this?  Is this odd thought pattern a flaw in humans specifically or do other animals on the planet have the same desire to watch gory torture and simply aren't "artistic" enough to share these feelings?  Could humans' desire for these sorts of things be created by the fact that they are forbidden by our society?  If humans were left to act naturally and go out and hunt and kill like other animals do, would they be less likely to get caught up on things like this and feel the need to express such violence through other mediums like drawings, movies, and videogames?

The floor is open.  Share what you think on the matter.


As far as how I personally compare to others in this violence/morbidity regard, I like to do violent things.  I love to destroy stuff, but I don't like to hurt anything that's alive.  I don't think movies or games where people get ripped to shreds in battle are cool, and I don't really go out of my way to find horror movies that revolve around gore unless they are super cheesy and funny because of how bad they are.  I don't like hunting other animals or even killing bugs for that matter.  However, give me a destructive tool and I'll go to town on anything that isn't alive.  Sledge hammers, blow torches, guns, you name it and I love to use it to destroy stuff.  I have many fond childhood memories of smashing/burning/shooting/exploding all sorts of toys and the like.

Now for why I think people like violence and gore so much: If I had to guess, I'd say it revolves around how our society is structured.  In nature, violence happens all the time whether it be from hunting for food or just a territorial dispute.  In human society, random violence is generally not allowed.  If someone walking down the street annoys you and you bop them in the nose as a warning to stop, you likely are going to get into some sort of trouble.  Obviously there are exceptions to the no violence thing like wars, but as a general rule society doesn't allow violence.  These rules force us to suppress our instincts to hunt and kill, etc.  As such, we try to find other ways to vent these desires, whether it being smashing a car with a sledge hammer, playing a violent videogame, or drawing a picture of a mutilated puppy.

[Lord_Chanticleer]

These rules force us to suppress our instincts to hunt and kill, etc.  As such, we try to find other ways to vent these desires, whether it being smashing a car with a sledge hammer, playing a violent videogame, or drawing a picture of a mutilated puppy.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with this one. The watching (and at times producing) of blood and gore must have to do with satisfying a natural urge that society as a whole has sought to discourage.

But whereas I can sort of understand why someone would convey violence through what we shall call "art", for want of a better word, by making it themselves, I find it odd that other people would want to just view it.

I can imagine the artist deriving some form of satisfaction from all this and thereby assuaging the irresistable call of our deepest animal insticts, but how can simply watching violence have the same effect? If anyone here is familiar with any psychological theories on that matter I'd love to hear them.

[Xylaquin]

Heck, look at the game that brought us all together.  It revolves around murdering thousands of people as fast as possible.  Clearly the vast majority of our species craves violence on some sort of level.

I don't think people play FPS games to get their "fix" of violence. I reckon FPS games are popular simply due to their game mechanic.

[Jolteon]

Well I can safely say I play Team Fortress 2 when I need to kill something, mainly cause the day was crap. So take that, Xylaquin!

I tried playing Pokémon, but it hurt to kill my brothers

[Lord_Chanticleer]

I don't think people play FPS games to get their "fix" of violence. I reckon FPS games are popular simply due to their game mechanic.

The mechanic is just what makes those games playable, it's the concept that intrigues us. And the concept is slaughter and maiming. It's a safe and harmless alternative to real life violence and as such I very much believe that that's part of the reason we're playing it.

[InfectedSausage]

Because it's...cool?

Seriously:
This is a very interesting topic, and I'm surprised not a lot of people have replied. I'll give my thoughts of the matter, since I'm very bored at the moment and I did just see a very 'cool' death scene from Irreversible.

I'll be honest - I don't know. Teens in particular love this type of stuff, from violent games to violent movies. But why? It may be cool to see a unique death scene, but really, we should be more disturbed by it.

Now, I'm gonna be honest that I go on websites like the YNC and Bestgore when I'm bored. Nothing really bothers me. I don't know if I should find that as a bad thing, or a thing I shouldn't care about. I've seen things on the YNC, from a guy getting beaten to death with a brick and the aftermath of a suicide bomber, that should have scarred me, but it hasn't. I don't know why I just sit back and watch this crap (and then request UP52 to watch these). On the other hand, if I see any violent things happening to animals, then I would probably be disturbed.

I've even found movies cooler because of the unique death scenes. My favorite is probably the guy in Robocop who smashes the truck on that toxic crap, and then gets run over by the villain.

But yeah, I don't understand why we love violence in pictures, videos, games or movies so much. Maybe for the real shit that happens, like on YNC, people just watch it to see what goes on around the world, and are interested about it? I don't know.

[Joshed7]

I tried playing Pokémon, but it hurt to kill my brothers

An interesting topic indeed.

When I was younger I used to be very violent. I would get in trouble for being too violent and destructive from kindergarden (4 years old) all the way up to Grade six (10 years old i think?). I got suspended a few time for being a bit too rough, and things like that. One time I actually punched a kid a few times and my mom thought it was because of the games I was playing. She told me that it must've been the two new games I had. Timesplitters:FP and Medal of honor. I said it was Medal of Honor's fault and I never got to play it again, but I kept my precious Timesplitters. It wasn't until I went to middle school where I was now not as smart as those around me and was smaller than my peers that I realized I couldn't keep being violent and I started to think before doing. Funnily enough around this time I started to develop my self diagnosed depression.

I still sometimes have the desire to destroy things, usually when I'm angry. I'm not angry often, but I won't bore you with the details. Point is, I do like destroying things sometimes, but I don't like hurting people. Physically, or verbally.

[InfectedSausage]

An interesting topic indeed.

When I was younger I used to be very violent. I would get in trouble for being too violent and destructive from kindergarden (4 years old) all the way up to Grade six (10 years old i think?). I got suspended a few time for being a bit too rough, and things like that. One time I actually punched a kid a few times and my mom thought it was because of the games I was playing. She told me that it must've been the two new games I had. Timesplitters:FP and Medal of honor. I said it was Medal of Honor's fault and I never got to play it again, but I kept my precious Timesplitters. It wasn't until I went to middle school where I was now not as smart as those around me and was smaller than my peers that I realized I couldn't keep being violent and I started to think before doing. Funnily enough around this time I started to develop my self diagnosed depression.

I still sometimes have the desire to destroy things, usually when I'm angry. I'm not angry often, but I won't bore you with the details. Point is, I do like destroying things sometimes, but I don't like hurting people. Physically, or verbally.

This is kind of how I am. I can be calm, and be nice (I'm almost always very nice), but other times, I can be hell.

I'm pretty much known to the family that I break and destroy things. This is why I got blamed for the goddamn crappy mouse that broke. I mean, I can't blame them for blaming me, since I did almost destroy a MAC computer at my school (though it was because I was fighting with someone in the classroom, and I picked up a chair and threw it, but instead of hitting the person, it hit the MAC and knocked it over) and I did punch through my first laptop. I also damage myself quite a lot. When my oldest cat died, I punched a brick wall about 20-30 times, to the point that my hand was just an almost mutilated mess. Games aren't the cause of this though. I play a lot of violent games, but they have never made me more violent than I already am. Even my parents don't blame it on the games (though one time, my parents thought a violent action I did was because of me watching Bronson 50 times)

[Joshed7]

This is kind of how I am. I can be calm, and be nice (I'm almost always very nice), but other times, I can be hell.

[InfectedSausage]

What? 

[Hano]

A very interesting topic indeed. I do believe it is something very complex that controls why we would want to see such things. It also seems to be very varied within people, which is the most intruigung part.

I have been into many things in my life, and around the age of 16/17 I was very into a comic series called 'Johnny the Homicidal Maniac' and it's spin-off 'Squee'. Now these were very dark, gory comics which I would never dream of showing to anyone in public, yet or some reason I considered them entertaining behind closed doors.

Now, when it comes to actual gore I'm not a fan. I can handle it, as i've been in a few horrible situations. I seem to be awfully unlucky, people around me seem to get hurt a fair deal. But unlike the comics, I get no satisfaction from seeing people get hurt. Nor can I even begin to understand why anyone would.

I suppose the 'primal instinct' idea is the best explanation for now. But I don't see how that would work with reading a dark comic or watching a vile video, as we know it's a work of fiction and that we are not actually involved in any way.

EDIT: I would also like to add, without you all thinking of me as a creep, that I am a very violent person at times. I'm almost always calm, I can handle abuse from people very well and I tend to laugh things off, but whenever something happens to someone around me, even if I don't know them, I tend to snap. I see this as the afore mentioned 'Primal Instinct' to protect my close ones.
Just thought it'd be interesting to post, as everyone else seems to have given us a look into their psyche.

[Fauch]

Now for why I think people like violence and gore so much: If I had to guess, I'd say it revolves around how our society is structured.  In nature, violence happens all the time whether it be from hunting for food or just a territorial dispute.  In human society, random violence is generally not allowed.

These rules force us to suppress our instincts to hunt and kill, etc.  As such, we try to find other ways to vent these desires, whether it being smashing a car with a sledge hammer, playing a violent videogame, or drawing a picture of a mutilated puppy.

I think the contrary. some formes of violences aren't allowed, but a lot are fine and even encouraged. there is a lot of violence in our societies, and not only on the screens (but there is a lot on the screen, each time you watch the news, it shows violence)
when they want to start a war, they are happy to find people like infected sausage who can watch horrible stuffs without being shocked.
and the psychological violence is very strong. here it is even called something like the disease of the century, people fall in depression a lot because of all the psychological violence.

you may also have noticed that sex is considered worse than violence. a child can watch a horror movie and no one is shocked, he isn't even ashamed of doing in front of his parents. but if he watches a nude woman, everyone is like "oh my god"
my 12 years old sister claims to not be afraid of graphic horror scene, but is totally shocked about nudity.

oh and also everyone finds normal to kill insects, or even some animals like rats. sometimes we mass murder them and we think it is normal. sometimes we also kill animals for fun and everyone think it's fine. of course, when you maim a cat or a dog, everyone is shocked. but if you go to the forest and start shooting at boars, even though you don't plan to eat them, everyone thinks it's fine.

[doom guy 64]

I don't think people play FPS games to get their "fix" of violence. I reckon FPS games are popular simply due to their game mechanic.

damn right, hate duke nukem forever it is horrifingly bad, but serious sam is EPIC!!!!!!

[Undead Priest52]

Not quite sure how to compete with doom guy's post, but I'll try....

EDIT: I would also like to add, without you all thinking of me as a creep, that I am a very violent person at times. I'm almost always calm, I can handle abuse from people very well and I tend to laugh things off, but whenever something happens to someone around me, even if I don't know them, I tend to snap. I see this as the afore mentioned 'Primal Instinct' to protect my close ones.

This is actually very much like me.

I have been quite a violent person throughout a bit of my life. Only in the sense that (insert name here) is; breaking things, and destroying anything other than living creatures. It's really quite fun.
However, I can't say that I don't enjoy brutal video games or movies. Brutal horror movies, no. But I've seen a lot of action movies that feature some intriguing kill tactics that featured gory things, and I was quite moved. The same goes for video games. Not sure why, that's just the way I am.
I wasn't all that violent when I was younger; it's grown on me in the last few years. Which could have something to do with encounters with ignorant people who try to step all over you or your friends. I've never been in a real fight in my life, so I must control the violent instincts rather well, I suppose.
I won't go any further into this. However, I will say that Joshed and I spoke about our own anger situations to each other on Skype quite some time ago. It isn't often that I'll share so much about it with another human being. Oddly enough, we were both pretty similar in this area...

[InfectedSausage]

damn right, hate duke nukem forever it is horrifingly bad, but serious sam is EPIC!!!!!!

That had nothing to do with his post 


UP, I'm sorta the same as you, except for the 'never been in a real fight' thing but I can control my violent instincts as well.