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Tons of people watch these kinds of videos by choice over on /r/watchpeopledie (Warning: Very NSFW Subreddit if the name of it doesn't make that immediately obv

by Nadya 8y ago

Tons of people watch these kinds of videos by choice over on /r/watchpeopledie (Warning: Very NSFW Subreddit if the name of it doesn't make that immediately obvious. Contains many videos of accidental deaths and murders, including those of children.) I'm sure some of them are jobless and would love to be paid $28k a year to do something they already do as a bit of a hobby.

untog 8y ago
How many people who browse /r/watchpeopledie browse the sub for a length of time equivalent to an entire work day, Monday to Friday? And how many of those users, who browse videos of people dying all day every day, for pleasure, are qualified to judge what is offensive and what is not? These people should be referred to mental health professionals, not assess what is suitable for the world. You're also entirely missing my original point. The people currently doing the job don't like it. They don't want to be doing it. And yet they are. Why do you suppose that is? Perhaps... because there are no other jobs available? Saying "you should be looking for a new job" to these people is like telling a homeless man he really ought to be looking for a rental property in his budget range.
bendotero 8y ago
That's sick. What you just described is someone who is unhealthy, not a person who needs a full time job to further indulge in something deviant.
- hnaccy 8y ago
  Even if we concede that they have some dysfunction why is it an issue they do this sort of work? It's like having someone with poor sense of smell take out the garbage.
  - untog 8y ago
    > It's like having someone with poor sense of smell take out the garbage. No, it's like having someone a poor sense of smell detect which things smell and which things don't. Not to mention, having them do this work is taking advantage of a dysfunction rather than helping to address it. In fact it would be likely to make the dysfunction worse.
    - hnaccy 8y ago
      >No, it's like having someone a poor sense of smell detect which things smell and which things don't. I'd guess most can identify murder and gore films even if they don't mind them. They're pretty obvious. I don't understand why taking advantage of this "dysfunction" is a bad thing.
      - bendotero 8y ago
        So watching the destruction of human life and/or incredible suffering of other people is not problematic to you? If someone has a dysfunction is it not cruel to take advantage of the dysfunction, whatever benefit might be derived by others? Seems like the very definition of dehumanizing rather than caring whether or not your fellow man is thriving.
        hnaccy 8y ago
        I'm not saying force these people to work, simply that they're people who lean more to the callous side of the emotional spectrum and they're better suited for this kind of work. What you see as dysfunction, their apathy when viewing bad content, is their normal state of being.
        anigbrowl 8y ago
        Rather than argue I'd like to suggest two questions for consideration? Why do you think some folk are drawn to habitually view such content? What other things do you think satisfy that impulse?
        dallashoxton 8y ago
        >Why do you think some folk are drawn to habitually view such content? Curiosity, memento mori maybe.
        darkpuma 8y ago
        > "Why do you think some folk are drawn to habitually view such content?" It's paradoxically unusual but at the same time incredibly relatable. Everybody dies, so there will be broad spectrum curiosity for the subject, inhibited only by natural squeamishness. Years ago when highschools still had shop classes, the teacher showed my class a binder full of color photographs of what a lathe accident looks like. The lesson was that lathes aren't toys. I'd never seen anything like those pictures before. They were disgusting, and fascinating. Probably psychologically damaging, but not as damaging as getting caught in a lathe. Did I mention the pictures were fascinating? For most people, seeing that sort of thing is rare. Some people are drawn to novelty, particularly when they can relate to it. Very little in life is as relatable as death; death is even more universally relatable than eating. Is the suppression of squeamishness a form of mental illness, or a form of psychological damage? I think it definitely can be. But I'm far from convinced it necessarily is.
- dallashoxton 8y ago
  What about people who work in slaughterhouses? Or a coroner or a mortician? Are they inherently "unhealthy" people because they have the personal temperament to handle a job that involves a lot of close contact with death? All nasty but necessary jobs with probably a lot more PTSD risk/scale than occasionally watching some gore and having to identify if someone's use of a racial slur violated community guidelines or not.
anigbrowl 8y ago
Have you considered that a lot of people who already watch that stuff all die do so compulsively and are incubating a crippling mental illness? Also, I'm not sure that people who are consuming that content with enthusiasm are necessarily going to good job at screening it out for other people, because there's a significant overlap between enjoyment of such material and enjoyment of the reactions of people who find it distasteful.

by Nadya 8y ago

untog 8y ago

How many people who browse /r/watchpeopledie browse the sub for a length of time equivalent to an entire work day, Monday to Friday? And how many of those users, who browse videos of people dying all day every day, for pleasure, are qualified to judge what is offensive and what is not? These people should be referred to mental health professionals, not assess what is suitable for the world. You're also entirely missing my original point. The people currently doing the job don't like it. They don't want to be doing it. And yet they are. Why do you suppose that is? Perhaps... because there are no other jobs available? Saying "you should be looking for a new job" to these people is like telling a homeless man he really ought to be looking for a rental property in his budget range.

bendotero 8y ago

That's sick. What you just described is someone who is unhealthy, not a person who needs a full time job to further indulge in something deviant.

hnaccy 8y ago
Even if we concede that they have some dysfunction why is it an issue they do this sort of work? It's like having someone with poor sense of smell take out the garbage.
- untog 8y ago
  > It's like having someone with poor sense of smell take out the garbage. No, it's like having someone a poor sense of smell detect which things smell and which things don't. Not to mention, having them do this work is taking advantage of a dysfunction rather than helping to address it. In fact it would be likely to make the dysfunction worse.
  - hnaccy 8y ago
    >No, it's like having someone a poor sense of smell detect which things smell and which things don't. I'd guess most can identify murder and gore films even if they don't mind them. They're pretty obvious. I don't understand why taking advantage of this "dysfunction" is a bad thing.
    - bendotero 8y ago
      So watching the destruction of human life and/or incredible suffering of other people is not problematic to you? If someone has a dysfunction is it not cruel to take advantage of the dysfunction, whatever benefit might be derived by others? Seems like the very definition of dehumanizing rather than caring whether or not your fellow man is thriving.
      - hnaccy 8y ago
        I'm not saying force these people to work, simply that they're people who lean more to the callous side of the emotional spectrum and they're better suited for this kind of work. What you see as dysfunction, their apathy when viewing bad content, is their normal state of being.
        anigbrowl 8y ago
        Rather than argue I'd like to suggest two questions for consideration? Why do you think some folk are drawn to habitually view such content? What other things do you think satisfy that impulse?
        dallashoxton 8y ago
        >Why do you think some folk are drawn to habitually view such content? Curiosity, memento mori maybe.
        darkpuma 8y ago
        > "Why do you think some folk are drawn to habitually view such content?" It's paradoxically unusual but at the same time incredibly relatable. Everybody dies, so there will be broad spectrum curiosity for the subject, inhibited only by natural squeamishness. Years ago when highschools still had shop classes, the teacher showed my class a binder full of color photographs of what a lathe accident looks like. The lesson was that lathes aren't toys. I'd never seen anything like those pictures before. They were disgusting, and fascinating. Probably psychologically damaging, but not as damaging as getting caught in a lathe. Did I mention the pictures were fascinating? For most people, seeing that sort of thing is rare. Some people are drawn to novelty, particularly when they can relate to it. Very little in life is as relatable as death; death is even more universally relatable than eating. Is the suppression of squeamishness a form of mental illness, or a form of psychological damage? I think it definitely can be. But I'm far from convinced it necessarily is.
dallashoxton 8y ago
What about people who work in slaughterhouses? Or a coroner or a mortician? Are they inherently "unhealthy" people because they have the personal temperament to handle a job that involves a lot of close contact with death? All nasty but necessary jobs with probably a lot more PTSD risk/scale than occasionally watching some gore and having to identify if someone's use of a racial slur violated community guidelines or not.

anigbrowl 8y ago

Have you considered that a lot of people who already watch that stuff all die do so compulsively and are incubating a crippling mental illness? Also, I'm not sure that people who are consuming that content with enthusiasm are necessarily going to good job at screening it out for other people, because there's a significant overlap between enjoyment of such material and enjoyment of the reactions of people who find it distasteful.