Frank Harrison Midterm #3: Waking Life (Section 9)

At last, we have reached the third and final installment of my Midterm Waking Lifeathon. Seeing as my project seems to have taken a direction of humanity destroying itself, I thought this very memorable excerpt from the movie would be quite appropriate. So let’s take a look at the “Self Destructive Man.” 

Self Destructive Man
(It appears that after having written all of this, the blog tool doesn't find the video on youtube. So here's the link)

Does humanity really desire violence and suffering? Absolutely. We have all experienced the “train-wreck” effect where it’s so bad we couldn’t look away; no matter how hard we tried. Think about it. Remember a time when you witnessed an accident, whatever it may be. Think about how long you stood around, with others, just to see what happens next. Lights are flashing, people are yelling or crying or both; it’s a stimuli overload. How long before you became bored and walked away? For most, it’s not until the excitement is over. Now think about the last beautiful thing you saw; a sunset for example. Did you even make it to the end? Can you even remember it at all? I certainly can’t.

Why are we so drawn to violence? The media would be the easiest answer. Video games are violent. Movies are violent. Cartoons are violent. Hell, even the news which is supposed to inform us about what the rest of humanity is doing from the comfort of our homes is almost always violent; you know, aside from the weather, but even that is bumped up to a top story if there was any suffering involved. Violence is far more prevalent in media than it has ever been, and this is increasing almost by the day. Is it possible that we have just become desensitized to the point that we just accept pain and suffering as a normal part of living?

It certainly seems so. We have indeed become “passive observers,” waiting for the next great catastrophe so we can tune in and have something to talk about the next day. This is nothing new, though. Even back to the days of the Great Coliseum and beyond people have paid have paid for a chance to escape their own pain for a while and watch someone else having a much worse day. If the media decided to run stories about how much better off some people are than us, we may be inclined to get up and do something about it; maybe fight for a bigger piece of the pie. But as it is, we can be content that from the safety of our couch we have it better than most, at least as the media would have us believe it. The powers that be are taking good care of us, and we should want for nothing. In another scene from the movie a character poses the question, “Which is the most universal human characteristic: fear or laziness?” Are we afraid of change or just too lazy to pursue it?

With all of this said, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m just as guilty as anyone for accepting life as it has been presented to me. While I do not watch the news (not the network owned news anyway) or bother with the “purely symbolic act of voting,” I live comfortably, and it seems I wouldn’t dare do anything to upset that. It’s easy to be all talk, but I suppose that’s better than nothing. With this in mind, I’d like to close with one last clip from the film. Whether or not you agree with my ramblings, I hope I have at least interested you in this amazing film (assuming you haven’t already seen it).