Have you ever heard the phrase:

| He became desensitized to violence and moved to the country to live a peaceful life herding sheep.

You haven’t. Because that’s not how trauma works. You don’t need to watch that video and traumatize yourself. You already know something horrible happened. You know it’s not right. If you watch that video you will literally terrorize yourself.

People who have been traumatized seem ok. They seem to be doing fine. Except when they occasionally lash out inappropriately. Or drink too much. Or have a heart attack because they are always in fight or flight mode.

The day of 9/11 I turned off my TV and worked on my computer. The people I knew who spent the day glued to their TVs were traumatized by watching the plane crash over, and over, and over, and over*. Some decided to join the military for vengence. Some aired horribly racist views. Many gleefully supported the war and destruction.

You don’t have to watch it. You are motivated to make the world a better place without watching it. How will it help?

People who become desensitized to violence aren’t the ones who go on to make their countries better. They’re the ones who end up shooting up a friendly bipartisan baseball game.

You don’t have to watch the video.