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Monday, March 21, 2011

Disaster Dopamine

   The 9.0 temblor that fractured roads and railways and reservoirs, and delivered a wall of seawater that swept away lives and livelihoods in northeast Japan has become a media experience that is crossing from news into entertainment, moreso than the first online disaster, the South Asia tsunami that killed over 200,000 in December 2004.
   Clicking on the video links for the first few days of the crisis was mainly about seeing and believing, and hopefully responding. But the posting and promotion of video clips, be it on Yahoo or YouTube, a week or weeks after the event seems more oriented to serving up vicarious thrills than deepening our understanding of the consequences of the tragedy still unfolding in Japan.
   When I click on the new tsunami video link on Yahoo, or MSNBC, or CNN, or search the YouTube channels for tsunami, am I looking to learn more or to enjoy the thrill of seeing mayhem unleashed on fellow but far removed inhabitants of our planet? I think we claim the first and deny and suppress the second. 
   Take your pick: Japan Tsunami at full height from the ground level (360,000 views); Japan tsunami earthquake Best Japanese Films Sorry (1.27 million views); Japan tsunami destroys town (609,571 views). One even has a music compilation. This is beyond information. This is disaster porn.
   It appeals to our thrill seeking side, the one that straps us into roller coaster rides, parks us in the cineplex velour for Scream 4, or nudges us off the canyon rim at the end of a bungee cord. It is what fills the seats at NASCAR tracks and around the ice at hockey arenas. Take away the crashes and the checking and you end up applying the brakes to the dopamine cells, the ones that make thrill seeking, well, such a thrill.
   Nothing against stock cars or hockey--they are contests of skill and judgement as much as they are demolition derbies. But if they or our YouTube channels become mainly channels for pleasure or relief at avoiding someone else's pain, then we have some real soul searching to consider for this Lent.
   Even if it is only OMG, or that facile expression,  "there but for the grace of God," that escapes our lips, we need to question not only what clips we click, but what clicking  on them says about us. Are we engaging in empathy, or exploitation?