Alammar1

Abdulaziz Alammar
Instructor: Ella Fran Voltz
UWRT 1102
Dec 2nd 2015

Journal 10
It is said that a picture expresses better than a thousand words.
Pictures, or visual media in general are strong stimulants. They affect us
strongly as humans. They can affect our mood, our feelings, and even the
way we think. Visually obtained information usually sticks better than any
other information received in a different method in most peoples brains.
However, just like anything else, we can develop a sense of resistance to
certain visual stimuli. So with time, they wont affect us as strong as before.
Susan Sontag also suggested that we can be junkies when it comes to
pictures or visuals. I do agree with her. I believe that we can actually be more
immune against disturbing scenes with time.
As a person from the Middle East, I grew up watching all kinds of
disturbing images of wars and killings and blood. The horror often changes
from a country to country. So when I first remember, the biggest case at the
time was the Zionist invasion of Palestine. Also, there was if I remember
correctly the American invasion of Afghanistan. After that, I remember the

Alammar2

invasion of Iraq clearly. Years later, the oppression on Muslims in Myanmar

(Burma). These years there are many sad and disturbing images coming
from Syria. So for me these picture or visuals are very common. And even
though there are many people such as my mother who cannot watch those
violent images, I believe that I have some level of tolerance or immunity
against them. I still feel bad and sorry for them of course, but they dont
have as much of an effect on me as before. On a related topic, I dream of
becoming a doctor. I can somewhat stand looking at disturbing medical
procedures, and I dream of being to treat and help other people who are in
need. So that might be helpful for a person who is thinking of entering the
medical field.
Another kind of visual shock is the sexual related visuals. We can
actually observe the evolution of this kind of visuals. We can start by
comparing media nowadays, including new forms such as YouTube and social
media, with the media from older and older years. I believe we can find an
increasing trend towards nudity and inappropriate visual. We are so close of
having 100% restrictions-free public pornography. And speaking of
pornography, we can see how the expansion and development of this
industry is growing dramatically these days. I believe unfortunately that we
as a society are getting used to it more and more, and that we got kind of
numb.

Alammar3

I am not really sure if we can undo the effects that already happened in
the society about this issue, but I really hope that we are able to heal slowly.
Thats of course if we even decided to go back to normal. I would assume
that it is nearly impossible because we are still going in the wrong direction
and accelerating dramatically. All I can think I can do at this point is to focus
on myself and my family and future generations. If everyone takes care of
their close circle, we might be able to achieve that goal in a few generations.