Ethics of Moral Desensitization

The internet has brought people together in many ways. For every scholar that shares an idea, there's three people looking to the internet for pornography, violence, and generally distasteful materials. The exposure to these materials has a tendency to desensitize us, remove the flinch factor from a horrible event. The particular event to spark this discussion is the recent release of a video of a Texas judge who beats his 16 year old daughter with cerebral palsy over stealing. The internet, in particular Google's internet empire have allowed literally millions of people to view this material. While we may not cringe like we should, we do react. Massive amounts of attention have been brought to this video, the judge is now being pressured to resign and enroll into anger management. Ethically, we are exposed to more graphic materials, but that exposure can be a good. A good that can cause change, and thereby furthers our cultural morality.