Media exposure makes disasters seem catastrophic

[s0nny80y]

Events like cataclysmic tsunamis and raging hurricanes covered by the media makes it seem like, to many apolcolyptic prophets, that the end of times are near.

I say, with the expansion and growth of technology, as humans, media has exposed us to events that we would never hear news about hundreds of years ago.

The 'Crisis in the Mideast' for example is being quoted as the start of the armageddon.

Holy crap. Wars like these have been waging for centurys. Diseases have devasted entire continents. Races of humans have disappeared. But in the end, humans tend to pull through.

Yes, people die, some in more unfortunate ways than others, but the human race has pulled through.

Speaking of survival, the reason why humans are on the top of the food chain is because of our brain to body ratio. Other animals have bigger teeth and/or faster legs, but they lack the amount of intelligence that humans have (we have thumbs but then so do apes). And with a large enough brain to keep us alive and kicking, it was a matter of time until humans contrived religion to have a reason to live right for an afterlife.

 

[Kylehnat]

Media exposure makes disasters seem catastrophic

Disaster (noun):
2: a sudden calamitous event bringing great damage, loss, or destruction

Catastrophe (noun):
3a: a violent and sudden change in a feature of the earth
3b: a violent usually destructive natural event

Disasters seem catastrophic, because they are catastrophic. I think with increased media exposure, we can see just how deep the devestation actually is.

 

[niky]

Well, it might not be a Catastrophe for you, but then again, I've lived through a big earthquake, pushed my (dying) car through waist deep water in a flash flood and I've had bullets and teargas fly past my head on my way to school once or twice.

They sure felt like disasters at the time. Of course, if it has nothing to do with you or doesn't affect you in any way, it won't be the same... but that's what media is for... like kylenhat says, it makes you more aware of things you wouldn't know of.

And re: numbers, statistics. Doesn't matter to the people who die... they're still dead.

 

[FoolKiller]

Events like cataclysmic tsunamis and raging hurricanes covered by the media makes it seem like, to many apolcolyptic prophets, that the end of times are near.

I say, with the expansion and growth of technology, as humans, media has exposed us to events that we would never hear news about hundreds of years ago.

The 'Crisis in the Mideast' for example is being quoted as the start of the armageddon.

Holy crap. Wars like these have been waging for centurys. Diseases have devasted entire continents. Races of humans have disappeared. But in the end, humans tend to pull through.

Yes, people die, some in more unfortunate ways than others, but the human race has pulled through.

I think you missed your own point.

Media makes disatsers seem catastrophic because, as kylehnat said, they are.

What media has done is make it seem lik ethese things happen more and mor every day. How many times have you heard your parents or grandparents talk about how much mor eviolent we have become or how much crime there is now? In reality crimes has gone down, but we hear about all of it now when we used to only hear about the rare one next door.

That same goes for disasters. They happen all the time. The Middle East has been fighting off and on for thousands of years and mother nature has been tossing us, and every other living thing on this planet, around for millions of years. I remember taking a geology course in college in '98 or '99 and the professor went on and on about all these natural disasters that occur and some girl asked how often these things really happened because she doesn't hear about them happening. He told her it happens all the time, that there are earthquakes daily and a tsunami every year or so somewhere, but it doesn't affect us and we don't hear about it or it is too small to be mentioned.

So it isn't that they make it sound like a catastrophe, they just now let us know about all the catastrophes. Afterall, you can only show a high speed chase with a flaming, out of control truck so much.

Speaking of survival, the reason why humans are on the top of the food chain is because of our brain to body ratio. Other animals have bigger teeth and/or faster legs, but they lack the amount of intelligence that humans have (we have thumbs but then so do apes). And with a large enough brain to keep us alive and kicking, it was a matter of time until humans contrived religion to have a reason to live right for an afterlife.

I'm not quite sure what this had to do with the rest of your post. It's like you went off-topic at teh start of your own thread. That or you were attempting to take a swipe at religious people. I can't tell.