- Feb 5, 2002
- 166,275
- 56,019
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
When any behavior or activity becomes commonplace in our culture, however evil it might be, it also becomes desensitized in our collective soul. For example, in the context of violence portrayed in the media, desensitization describes a process "by which initial arousal responses to violent stimuli are reduced, thereby changing an individual's 'present internal state'" (Carnagey, Anderson, & Bushman, 2007, p. 491). The acts become 'normalized' to us such that we can more easily accept them. We find ourselves no longer outraged by terrible acts of evil.
This process certainly occurred with the evil institutionalization of slavery. Slave owners in the south (and there were for many years owners in the north as well) and others who simply accepted it as a normal way of life at some point lost the sense of its essential evilness. As the Bible puts it (1 Tim 4:2), one's conscience is 'seared' and even if people know that the practice is far from the ideal, they are able to find seemingly valid excuses for themselves... and thus reasons to continue it.
Continued below.
Cultural Desensitization to Acts of Evil | VirtueOnline – The Voice for Global Orthodox Anglicanism
This process certainly occurred with the evil institutionalization of slavery. Slave owners in the south (and there were for many years owners in the north as well) and others who simply accepted it as a normal way of life at some point lost the sense of its essential evilness. As the Bible puts it (1 Tim 4:2), one's conscience is 'seared' and even if people know that the practice is far from the ideal, they are able to find seemingly valid excuses for themselves... and thus reasons to continue it.
Continued below.
Cultural Desensitization to Acts of Evil | VirtueOnline – The Voice for Global Orthodox Anglicanism
