Shibumi

i am anxious to hear the responses to this question. I just finished watching "the hunted." in case your're not familiar with it this is the one with tommy lee jones and bonesio deltoro playing cat and mouse with knives in the woods. there is a line in the movie that has ben bugging me that i will parapharse for you: 'once you can kill in your mind the physical is easy, the hard part will be turnng it off.' my question is this: am i correct to concluded that since killing isn't a common thing for most of us we have to overcome the mental inertia of taking a life, that makes sense. but why would it be hard to turn off? i don't know if that was a holly wood spin or what.

Oraenor

IMO killing the first time is like losing your virginity, once you have commited the act, trying to think in the frame of mind the old way is hard or impossible.

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gong fu

i dont know personally i havent killed anybody (that i know of) but i know people who have killed, and they seem different before and after it does have some kind of effect that i can see, but i do know some others who it dosent seem to bother, but everyone is different.

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Bjjexpertise@be

I guess mainly because we haven't been exposed to violence and blood as we grew up. I'm sure if we had gladiatoral matches that is as popular as football I'm sure we wouldn't think twice about killing a man.

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shaolin-warrior

I'm not positive, but what you are turning off is you remorse to the act. Not the ability to kill.

Toudiyama[NL]

I think it all depends on how the kill takes place
Akill or die situation during a burglary, will have different effect than having ro kill someone because your superiors tell you to kill anyone who is using a mobile phone annd not reacting to your english command to put the phone down
Or a soldier killing a reporter thinking it was an insurgant

All these will most likely have a different effect than a murder in the first degree* in which case the line was already crossed before the killing



* I do not meanif it was judged to be so but that it really was ( police may know someone to be guilty but not have enough physical proof for a courtcase)

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BoarSpear

There some things you cant "UN-SEE" or forget you did. Killing someone falls in that catagory. Once you have been down that street, you either resolve to never do it again, or you move on...Either way, unless there is something wrong with you, it changes the way you view the rest of your life. The more often you are exposed to it, the more jaded you become...

makiwara

I suggest reading "On Killing" by David Grossman. It delves into the instinctual adversion to killing fellow humans and how we overcome them. Without giving away the bulk of the book, it basically says that it is hard to kill another person, so we have to basically 'dehumanise' who it is that we're killing. Also distance is key factor ie: it's easier to kill with a knife than it is bare hands, easier to shoot than to stab, easier to bomb than to shoot. With a knife studies have shown that people tend to slash than to stab, as it is less invasive less personal. The book gets far more in depth and actually backs these claims with battle field studies.

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Eyegouge

I was hunting with a buddy of mine and he spined a deer, it was to far of a shot, he should have waited longer. When we got up to it, he was going to shoot it again but he couldn't. He was all shook up. He'd never spined one on accident before, and he just walked off into the woods with the shot gun. I was yelling at him. I got so pissed off, I stuck the deer and let it bleed out and then went and talked travis back into coming back.

I'll never forget sticking that deer, and the blood. That's the only thing bigger than a mouse or a fish I've ever killed. It's kinda differnt when it bleeds red like you do. I can't imagine how it would haunt me if I had to kill another human being.

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GonzoStyles

wow he takes a poor shot then doesn't have the guts to put the poor animal out of it's misery? I hope your buddy has taken up something more his speed, like gardening................................

Memnoch1207

Some people get a "rush" from killing, a blood lust so to speak and others suffer from their conscience.

I think "Turning it off" has more to do with not having any conscience about doing it, there's no remorse afterwards.

Most people, such as myself, feel bad about hurting or killing something or someone. But there are people who become desensitized by it.

GonzoStyles

true, but those people who are "traumatized" by it IMO were not fully aware of the gravity of the situation. In warfare it seems to be different simply due to the volume of death that one is exposed to, that is a matter I'll leave up to those with real experiance in that area.
In a self-defense or other situation (IE gouges buddy who couldnt finish the job he started) you have to understand that you may in fact bloody/maim/cripple/or kill in the process but that this is not the focal point, too many people associate hunters/warriors (and i use that term sparingly) with a blood lust when in fact if this was true all hunters could just go work at a slaughterhouse and those who get a charge out knocking heads would go to work for the prison system.

Shibumi

hey makiwara it is so weird that you should you suggest this book, i just recently came into possession of it. so far i have only scanned a few passages and key words but i am looking forward to reading it.thanks.
all the responses have given me a lot to think about i hope to be as helpful to someone down the road.

makiwara

That is a great book, I have heard that he also wrote a book 'On Combat', though I haven't seen it yet.

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