Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Martian
analog - a twisted and demolished car has the same impact. Looking at something that weighs nearly (or over, depending on the model) two tons and seeing it utterly destroyed. A splash of blood on the pavement. Someone mentioned an arm. Showing a mutilated body seems exreme and nnecessary and even if you feel the need, why give names, dates and locations? That just seems to be asking for something like this to happen.
|
I don't think a mere twisted car has the same impact. People see twisted metal all the time on the news, videogames are rife with wrecked cars, you see wrecked cars on the side of the highway or in a towing service parking lot as you drive by it. There's no humanity, there's no "personal" impact, which is what it needs.
On that same line, it is precisely the "personal" touch that requires the name, date, and location to be given. It's purely a tool of psychology. If you give detail, it's processed more intimately in the brain, and people care more.
A dead body is a dead body- a dead body with a NAME, is a person. If he died out on Old Miller's Rd, people think "i drive down that very road" - which is why it's done by area, and not mixed around. The effect of the geographical proximity transfers the thought of "this is happening in other places, not here, this doesn't happen in MY town" to "this happened down the street" which is very important in creating a sense of ownership to the idea. Time also limits wandering thoughts of, "this used to be a problem, i never hear about this, this must be old news used to scare me". Finding out it happened only a few months ago makes a person think where they were at the time. It makes them assign some memory (if only for an instant) to the timetable they're being given. "I was at the grocery store when this guy died", "I was out partying with friends when this guy died", etc. Again, placing ownership of the idea.
Without those elements, no actual importance is placed on what they're seeing, not anywhere near as significant, which is why they do it. The police officers that volunteer (i've never heard of an officer being paid for speaking at a school on drunk driving) to take their time and do this work aren't looking to gross out some kids, they don't get their jollies on making little kids get upset by showing them pictures of dead, mutilated people, they're trying to save lives- and not just those of the future-drivers, but others as well. Drunk drivers kill more people than just themselves, they kill lots of totally innocent people who happened to be sharing the road at the same time.