flipping thu the channels yesterday i stopped for a few moments on what i guess was a reality cop show. a motorcycle was speeding through town, right past a cop car which goes into pursuit mode. the biker reportedly hits speeds over 80 mph through town and ends up under an suv where his bike catches fire.
the film shows the soccer mom frantically saving her children, one by one, from the burning cars. just as soon as she & her family clear the area, the suv blows up a little. if it wasn't a reality show i would have thought it staged for tv viewing.
meanwhile, the biker had run into a nearby field but is captured by the cops. they i.d.'d him by all the scrapes on his body. the arresting officer reports what the biker supposedly said when they got him: "but it worked when i did it on video."
i'm not convinced that virtual reality so much influences behavior in "real life" as much as it might highlight the level of (un)consciousness by which some live their lives. people who say terrible things to other people online are likely just as creepy in real life. the careless just as careless and the wreckless just as wreckless. outside of a better view, what difference does it make whether we walk through life or type through it?
