Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a sense of the past.
Susan SontagRead
The shock of photographed atrocities wears off with repeated viewings, just as the surprise and bemusement felt the first time one sees a pornographic movie wear off after one sees a few more.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Repeated exposure to shocking images dulls our emotional response to them.
Susan Sontag's quote suggests that when we are repeatedly exposed to distressing or shocking content—such as atrocities captured in photographs or explicit imagery—we become desensitized over time. This desensitization can reduce our emotional reaction and engagement with the important issues represented, making it crucial to be aware of how media can shape our perceptions and reactions to reality.
Themes
AtrocitiesDesensitizationMediaEmotionsPerception
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about media's impact on society, this quote can highlight the dangers of desensitization.
More from Susan Sontag
All quotes →Science fiction films are not about science. They are about disaster, which is one of the oldest subjects of art.
Susan SontagRead
Gide and I have attained such perfect intellectual communion that I experience the appropriate labor pains for every thought he gives birth to!
Susan SontagRead
Volume depends precisely on the writer's having been able to sit in a room every day, year after year, alone.
Susan SontagRead
In NY sensuality completely turns into sexuality - no objects for the senses to respond to, no beautiful river, houses, people. Awful smells of the street, and dirt... Nothing except eating, if that, and the frenzy of the bed.
Susan SontagRead
It hurts to love. It's like giving yourself to be flayed and knowing that at any moment the other person may just walk off with your skin.
Susan SontagRead
Similar quotes
While the Coliseum stands, Rome shall stand; when the Coliseum falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, the world shall fall.
Venerable BedeRead
The test of all beliefs is their practical effect in life. If it be true that optimism compels the world forward, and pessimism retards it, then it is dangerous to propagate a pessimistic philosophy.
Helen KellerRead
The more highly public life is organized the lower does its morality sink.
E. M. ForsterRead
When we enlarge our view of the world, we deepen our understanding of our own lives.
Yo-Yo MaRead
Reverence is an attitude of honoring life. _x000D_ Reverence automatically brings forth patience. _x000D_ Reverence permits non-judgemental justice._x000D_ Reverence is a perception of the soul.
Gary ZukavRead
Glamour cannot exist without personal social envy being a common and widespread emotion. The industrial society ... recognises nothing except the power to acquire ... No other kind of hope or satisfaction or pleasure can any longer be envisaged within the culture of capitalism.
John BergerRead