# Do you watch death/murder/torture videos? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 4, 2015, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775 "2015-02-04T00:05:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/41 "2015-02-04T17:49:07Z")
> [@Tuxie](#): > > I do, which probably makes me sound creepy. > > I guess a part of it is morbid curiosity, and part of it is that I would rather know the terrible cruelty of humankind rather than be naïve about it. > > In particular, what disturbs me the most is cruelty towards women. I’m not saying you are creepy. My only question might be… have you considered talking to someone about this? There’s something somewhere thats pulling you to see “snuff”, but maybe if you talked it out with someone you could move beyond it? If the horror of the death of the Jordanian pilot shows us anything, its that truly disgusting horror-show deaths can happen to any gender. ---
**Author:** ![CGav8r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@CGav8r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CGav8r)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/42 "2015-02-04T18:02:19Z")
The idea of being entertained by someone’s pain, suffering or death seems abhorrent to me. Imagine that there is a darkened room full of college kids somewhere, guffawing over footage of your mom’s horrific car crash or repeatedly watching a tape of your schizophrenic uncle committing suicide on the side of the highway. I’ve avoided all of that, and only watched the numerous videos about 9/11 as they were happening, on the first day. Haven’t watched them since; I remember them all quite well and that’s enough for me. And terrorists send those videos out to provoke a reaction - I know beheading someone is awful, I don’t need to see it to get that, and I definitely don’t need to fall into what the terrorists want me to do. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/43 "2015-02-04T18:14:32Z")
An ex-military manager at a company I used to work for once showed us, without warning, the footage from a fighter as the pilot shot a missile into a crowd of men in a very Arab looking place (traditional garb, buildings that looked like stone) killing them. You couldn’t see much except smoke when it hit, but it made me feel empty and numb. Then he turned to us and said, “what did you notice about that - apart from it being _really cool!?_” :eek: He showed us footage of people being killed by a missile strike to make the point that the pilot, when he switched from his assigned target to a new one because the people he was trying to kill had moved - double-checked with his commander via radio and confirmed a change in plans. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/44 "2015-02-04T19:36:34Z")
Once or twice that I can recall. 1) the Saddam hanging, it was on a webpage and I just clicked on it though I don’t believe in corporal punishment, 2) watched the video of a car race death where there was debate about whether the car driver intentionally hit the other driver who had gotten out of his car after an initial collision between the two. I’ve seen other deaths on the news. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/45 "2015-02-04T20:00:30Z")
Not once, not ever. There’s stuff I don’t need in my head. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/46 "2015-02-04T20:30:36Z")
I sometimes followed links to sites displaying this kind of videos, and clicked around out of curiosity. I sometimes forced myself to watch unsavory videos of real life events since I thought I had a kind of moral duty to face reality. Most often, though, I can’t bring myself to do it. For instance, I never watched the often mentioned videos of decapitations. ---
**Author:** ![Nikki\_Tikki\_Tavi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3da27b/32.png) [@Nikki\_Tikki\_Tavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nikki_Tikki_Tavi)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/47 "2015-02-04T20:49:45Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > No, because pain and death are IMO among the most private things and I owe it to the victim not to needlessly violate that privacy just out of curiosity. Exactly. I am a horror movie buff and I like the really gory stuff. Show me some gouged eyeballs and disembowlings and let’s see what it looks when a dummy filled with fake blood goes through a wood chipper. But not real stuff. Not car accidents or hostages burned alive or executed prisoners. No matter who the person was, I don’t want to see them come to their end, nor do I want to see the corpse afterwards. When they showed the bodies of Hussein’s sons on the news I was horrified at the gloating some people indulged in. That’s a LIFE and I think I owe life, if not the person who it inhabited, some respect. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/48 "2015-02-04T21:04:35Z")
I certainly don’t search each one out and there’s quite a bit I’ll never watch just because I’ve seen one example and that was enough but I did view a few, like the politician that shot himself during the news conference, the Nick Berg beheading and yesterday the Jordanian pilot. It’s horrible, depressing and should never happen to anyone but I’m able to put it in its proper place and be done with it. I will say this about the pilot, and I’ll spoiler it, not because it’s gross but because some don’t want to know any detail… That guy was one of the bravest men imaginable. Even when he must have been in excruciating pain he remained stoic, near motionless and died as dignified a death as possible in the midst of a terrible situation where he was left with nothing but the way he would act in the face of death. I really admire his strength and wish, but doubt, I could have been that strong. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/49 "2015-02-04T21:33:25Z")
Christ no. I mean, I worked in a butchers and bakers right out of school and helped out in the slaughterhouse so I know I’m not squeamish regarding blood and guts but…no, I have no interest in seeing it as entertainment. I think my opinion probably hardened as well post 1994 at Imola when Senna died. I watched it live and probably for the first time I had that sick, still feeling as the rescue teams attended. I walked through to the kitchen and tried to avoid the replays ever since. So no. Can’t give a better rationale other than those already given. I don’t need it for information, education or entertainment purposes, it isn’t even disturbing the privacy at the moment of death that bothers me, more perhaps the indignity heaped on the human body or the helplessness I’d feel…shit, I don’t know. Maybe I’m just selfish in not wanting any extra horror inside my head when I can already imagine enough to last me a lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/50 "2015-02-04T22:02:07Z")
I usually watch them out of curiosity including the beheading ones. However, the new video of the Jordanian pilot being burned to death is unusually gory and painful to watch especially if you watch the full version. I would recommend staying away from it unless you truly think you can handle something much worse than your typical death video. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/51 "2015-02-04T23:24:02Z")
Executions? Probably. Suicides? Probably/Maybe. Closeups of sad people, brutalities? Probably not. I was fascinated by the Bud(d) Dwyer one, and I wanted to see that newscaster who did it live on TV. I think I’m less interested in the gore than in the dipshit situations that the people who are the stars, or the attendant gore. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/52 "2015-02-04T23:45:44Z")
Strict “no snuff films” policy, here. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/53 "2015-02-05T02:23:48Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Strict “no snuff films” policy, here. The full Jordanian pilot execution video is in a class of its own because ISIS made it as a mini-documentary with fairly high production values. I have seen poor clips of other executions such as Saddam Hussein hanging video plus many others but this newest one is nothing like that. It is a true and horrific snuff film in graphic detail. You get to know the victim for many minutes before they put him in a cage and set him on fire. It is so disturbing that I had to watch it several times just to get habituated to it if that makes any sense. My current reaction is for the U.S. and its allies to hunt down and kill every single ISIS member on sight. They are worse than Nazi Germany by far and people still complain about why people didn’t do anything about their atrocities for a long time. Well, here is the chance to not let that happen again. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/54 "2015-02-05T02:48:53Z")
You remember that Pedigree commercial where the narrator was a dog and at the end he says “I am a good dog. And I just want to go home”? Just _thinking_ about that makes me cry. So does _reading_ about how [Liviu Librescu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liviu_Librescu#Death_and_legacy) died protecting his students during the Virginia Tech shootings. And those teachers/staff at Sandy Hook, and… So no, I don’t ever **watch videos** about actual **real** live **human beings** being maimed or killed. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/55 "2015-02-05T06:46:34Z")
After 9/11 when I repeatedly saw idiots make excuses for the enemies who committed it (and still commit it) I forced myself to watch as many beheading videos as possible to remind myself exactly what the enemy’s culture believes in and either openly condones or tacitly accepts. In the words of the emperor from Star Wars, _ **"To feel the power of the hate flow thru you…"** _ And strangely, believing in basic Western Judeo-Christian values, I have not committed even a single hate crime! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/56 "2015-02-06T01:29:38Z")
There is definitely a desensitizing effect. I’m watching something called “Trial at Nuremberg” (1964) A documentary not to be confused with “Judgment at Nuremberg” They showed Mussolini being strung up and a German general being executed…took a me a few minutes to register that I had just seen something fairly horrific. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775/57 "2015-02-06T01:38:05Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > After 9/11 when I repeatedly saw idiots make excuses for the enemies who committed it (and still commit it) I forced myself to watch as many beheading videos as possible to remind myself exactly what the enemy’s culture believes in and either openly condones or tacitly accepts. In the words of the emperor from Star Wars, _ **“To feel the power of the hate flow thru you…”** _ That is basically the reason I watch them too. I don’t like people that are hopelessly naive about what other people are capable of and assume that all people are basically good but maybe a little misguided. True evil does exist even among large and organized groups and you need to know what it looks like so that you can combat it. Hint - showering them with decency and ‘human rights’ doesn’t work for true evil. They will use that as yet another weapon against everyone else. ISIS definitely falls into that category. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-watch-death-murder-torture-videos/711775.md?page=2)