Deterioration of Society

As you may have discovered, I am a law student. Much of my observations of late are based upon my experience there. Recently in one of my classes, I made one such observation. We were discussing the difference between Voluntary Manslaughter and Murder in the 1st Degree. In this discussing, we were reading a number of different cases where the person purposely and willfully killed the victim. The manners of death were numerous, from shootings, to stabbings, to killing with no weapons at all. The motives behind the killings were also of note. I will mention 2 of the cases in order to give some background.
The first, a man and his wife were going through marital troubles. She had stated that she wanted to see other people, and in fact she was already seeing other people. He spied on her one night and saw her with another man. His wife and this other man were getting cozy and drinking. He also witnessed them smoking pot. He went to where he was staying and retrieved a camera and a pistol. He returned and saw his wife and this man go into a guest bedroom in the house. He then entered the house and ran into the guest bedroom where he found his wife and this man nude and in flagrante delicto. He tried to take a picture and then he shot the man. The man later died from his wounds.
The second case involved a hitchhiker, Joe. The hitchhiker was picked up by another man, Steve. Joe asked Steve where he could find some girls. The two talked like that for a while, at which point, Joe asked Steve where he could get a blow job. Steve offered his services. Joe and Steve went to a baseball field. Joe then removed his pants and underwear. Steve attempted to do as he stated. Joe then kicked Steve in the stomach and proceeded to stomp him to death.
The point is that in my class when we discussed the manner of killing and the situations preceding them, there were a number of individuals in the class that started laughing. The manner of death elicited some giggles. I sat and thought about this and realized that the people in my class were not any different from any other person in America. The people had become desensitizing to the violence of murder. They laughed at the thought of a gay man being stomped on until he died.
I don't pretend to not be one of the people that has become desensitizing. In fact, I openly admit to being insensitive to violence, especially when I only hear about it and don't witness it. I, only thought that it was interesting that the people in America don't give value to the human life as much as they did in the past. But I suppose it isn't surprising considering that this is the country that had the old west with gun fights and duals happening on a regular basis. Mob violence and Mob justice was accepted in this country.
Alas, I find that still don't care. The small percentage of people that are so affected by violence on television that they commit the same violence is acceptable in order to keep the programs from becoming dull and boring.