What is the effect of watching execution videos on the soul?

many of you will already know what i am alluding to, the recent wave of terrorist-beheading videos to hit the internet.

many ATSers have decided to watch these, one as young as 15. my advice to the kid was not to watch, however curiosity will get the better of you at that age. when i was younger, i also was interested in that stuff and i used to download "faces of death" videos.

having seen many such videos at a young age, my strong advice is not to watch these executions as they deteriorate your soul (IMO), and i always would regret watching that stuff.

so; do you people watch these things? why? and what effect does it have?

I doubt there is any true effect. It's too late kids have already been exposed to this stuff. Video games are a great example, take Doom 3, I am sure kids of all ages will play that game. I think when it comes to being 15 the kid is not going to be affected. When it comes to a 6 year-old that is a concern. The reason for this is because they havn't been exposed to it yet. It's a hard way to start off. I don't know it's just my humble opinion.

I felt awful after watching the videos. But I was drawn to watch them. Rather like the morbid fascination when passing a car wreck. You wanna turn your head and see blood.

I have often thought of this too. I am in my early twenties and IMO am not easily spooked, but to watch a video and to actually know that these people are dying for real is different. I had a few of these videos but I have deleted them all, as I do not feel comfortable even knowing they are on my comuter. I don't think that really answers your question just my 2c.

Ah.... Aristotle's "Catharsis of pity and terror".

Aristotle, in studying Greek tragedy, argued we are drawn to such images as a way of understanding our own mortality. It scares us, yet fascinates us...an emotional purging that puts us in touch with evil, allows us to experience it, and learn from it once we return "normality"

Well that's my weak definition.. A quick search on "aristotle" + "catharsis" brings up many better ones. I like this one, by a chap called Hans-Georg Gadamer :-

"What is experienced in such an excess of tragic suffering is something truly common. The spectator recognizes himself and his finiteness in the face of the power of fate. What happens to the great ones of the earth has exemplary significance. . . .To see that "this is how it is" is a kind of self-knowledge for the spectator, who emerges with new insight from the illusions in which he, like everyone else, lives.

It's a whole philosophical journey it itself really. Worth a google if you're interested...

I think that the effects it has will vary from person to person and that there is no scientific way of guaging such things.

Now, I know that for me, I saw the Faces of Death videos as early as 12, and quite honestly don't know what effects it's had... if any. I've also watched the recent execution videos as well... but it's almost always something that when I do view anything like that now, it's because I want to know what I'm talking about (since people were talking so much about Daniel Pearl for example). I'd like to think that I'm a good and ethical person, and that viewing things of this nature just solidify my stance/viewpoints even more. I personally think that there are other things floating around on the net that would do more to harm a person's psyche or "soul" than watching a select view being victimized. I've seen (pictures/video) and read about more horrible things that happened in Vietnam than someone's throat getting slit. I guess it's a somewhat desensitized view of the situation, but I think it's also a bit more balanced.

I guess that in the end I think that the execution videos specifically, help to make the threat of the terrorists more real for people. It shouldn't take actually viewing it to cement the point, but given all the other senseless violence in our media, people "just need to see it for themselves".

And just curious, what is meant by "deteriorate your soul"?

To sum it all up... I'm not saying it's a positive thing to view these things, but, I'm also not saying it's a negative thing either.

*edit* Yeah... what Muppet said! *end edit*

[edit on 9-8-2004 by ScislaC]

It's difficult to say. Oddly enough, for me, they don't seem to elicit an extreme reaction one way or the other. I don't find myself getting sick (even though for one moment on one of them I did feel a little queasy). I don't find myself completely outraged, even though I do get angry that one person could do some of these things to another person. The only reason I can explain for this is ... maybe somehow it's unbelievable. Literally. Some of the videos are just so over-the-top that maybe it's as if I can't believe that it's true. I'm not saying they are fake, I'm just saying they are so outrageous, that it's hard to think that's reality, ya know? That might not make much sense.

I recently turned 17 and I've seen all of the beheading videos. They don't really do anything to me anymore.

I was exposed to Faces of Death at a very young age. I believe I was like 12 when I first saw them. It's good to know all of the scenes are staged now, but back then they were really creepy to me.

When I first saw the Chechnyan (sp) beheading video it pretty much changed my life. I viewed things a little differently after and it kind of desensitized me to the others. I guess because it was so up close and vivid. Most of all because it was real.

I don't really have a stance on the videos and who should be able to view them. They might do certain things to certain people and it might not.

muppet nice post!

I don't think it deteriorates your soul at all. Yes, it is disturbing... I was downloading videos on Kazaa one night and got one of the 'snuff films' on accident... pissed me off, but I forced myself to watch it a couple times and come to grips with the reality of mortality. It was a good thing. Later that year I was doing a 'book' for 3D design class and decided to do a piece on death. I spent a whole night just looking at pics of people who were dead, then I had to save them, open them up on photochop, adjust to greyscale, and crop each one to fit the art. It was disturbing, but I put myself through it. It was a book, and I haven't opened it since I displayed it... not sure if I even have it anymore, lol. But the point is that it gave me a greater appreciation for life. My understanding of the entire human world was expanded with one great big blow. To tell you the truth, as disturbing as it was, it was an amazing thing, looking back on it... no video game could even compare to the realization that a body is dead. Incomparable.

I do hope that I don't see anything in real life, though... I've seen enough death in RL, and it sucks. Even hunting animals pains me... and I hope that I get a good kill, just for the sake of the animal (I'm slowly turning vegan, lol... too primitive to go vegan, though... I much prefer fish and chicken to beef... but Elk.... MMM!!! Richest meat on the planet, IMHO! sry... off track)AARGGH!!!! I hope I never have to go back to living in a cave.... I'd have some serious issues. The need to watch death? We are primitive. We need that reminder that we aren't stone. Makes one person appreciate the other... unless it's all you see all day long, like EMT's.

AAhhh... yes, ask an EMT about this.... they will give oyu a completely different perspective on life... be warned, though... some of those guys are pretty disconnected. One of my best friends (R.I.P.) was an EMT.... heard some twisted stories.

[edit on 8-9-2004 by Earthscum]

What is the effect of watching execution videos on the soul?

On me personally, nothing!, however there would be some people
that would be extremely disturbed by this kind of thing.
I don't watch them myself, not as it makes me queezy or sick or anything
just that I think it shows disrespect to the person being executed.
I'm not talking rapist and murderers here, I mean the poor unfortunates,
caught up in the war on terror.
Personally I have better things to do.

I once watched a newscast without realizing they were going to show a guy falling to his death, his screams and the fall haunted me for weeks. I have never watched any of the video or the clips on the internet of the murders, I know my limits, the gore on tv that is made up is more than enough for me the gore of reality I can't handle, hearing about it is horrible enough for me.

[edit on 9-9-2004 by goose]

I dont think it brings nearly as much to those who are actually related to the victoms.
I have seen them all and to be quite honest,the first wave of them were not anything more than the gore I see in a good hacker/horror film.I know there is a difference between the two being one is reality and the other just Hollywood effects.But as posted above,what we get in games and TV these days has already given us the extreams of this violence.
I will say two things here that really got to me though.
This lastest one is really brutal.Having a better quality video really drew you into the reality of it.I could not watch the whole thing.I am a gore hound and love my horror movies.The more blood and guts the better.But this last one just had something that made me not want to watch the whole thing.Instead I read a transcript because,,,well,I am human and I just had to know.Kinda like when you see an accident on the side of the road.Why all the traffic?It's the lookie-loos.

Second:After hearing that the Nick Berg beheading had been done and conformation was out,I had to wonder when the video would be released.Why?Because The REAL father of Nick Berg lives just across the way from me.As it was announced about his son,it really hit me.It hit me hard to see his father sitting on his steps with a look on his face that I have never seen before.Blank.Sadness.Confussion.Horror.All wrapped into one facial expression.He sat there for about 6 hours with no movement or facial changes.
That is when it hit me.Why in the hell am I watching these videos when there are other fathers and mothers doing the same thing everytime this happens.
I felt like I committed a crime.I felt demeaning inside.I had watched the beheading of someone child,father,freind,brother,sister,,,,,,and here they are going through my worst fear,the death of a loved one.And not only that,but a death in a most brutal way.

I will not watch anymore of these videos.No matter how intense or how small it is,I will not watch another one.

RIP to those who have become victims of cowards who hide behind masks everywhere.

I know when I saw that beheading video (whether it was 'real' or not), I felt really awful - physically and mentally.

I felt guilty for watching it, sad that it had been seen by so many people, my heart was pounding, fast, and the adrenalin was rushing, I felt anxious, nervous, and sick - I knew I never wanted to see anything like that every again.