On ritual sacrifices

Saw a tweet saying: The purpose of '(ritual) sacrifice' is to desensitize people from actual violence, which is necessary for certain societal needs.[Paraphrased]

That doesn't seem right to me. It feels right partially coz it is sensible -- societies which had people capable of violence would survive longer just because they fended off other violent people better and/or were violent enough when needed to secure resources for their own people ensuring their survival and longevity.

However, I don't think that's the purpose of ritual sacrifice. I think I read something related to this is Scott Atran's 'In Gods We Trust' and I think I would side with his explanation. If I can re-articulate it here, it essentially states that the point of religions sacrifice is to show the other person that you are capable of sacrifice. It's a way to build trust in the society. You show that you value something (something that is actually valuable in the society that you live in) and then you are willing to let go of it for some higher ideal. This strengthens the bonds that you share with your fellow man through belief in that shared higher ideal. For example, I would sacrifice a horse, better if it's the healthiest horse I have, to the Gods not because was to harden my heart (as OP says, or somebody else wants to harden my heart, alternate scenario of OPs argument) or because I believe in God, but because I believe in my fellow man. 

Sacrifice of this manner is performative. The performance yields the intended goals.

Besides, life in pre-modern societies already offered plenty opportunity for people to be exposed to violence, and I'd argue that sacrificial killings offer little to no additional benefit in that regard. People then were already pretty exposed to violence, death, pain... you wouldn't need ritualistic violence dressed in robes of scripture just to desensitize people from actual violence.

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Apart from all of this, in this day and age, practices like these just feel wrong (ethically). Even if (big if) we assume that the point of ritual sacrifices was to "toughen people up", "desensitize them from violence" or what not, do you really need this for life in 21st Century? I'd argue that modern life already offers simulated alternatives to violent experiences through graphic movies and video games with action, fighting, blood and gore, and also 24x7 eye-ball hungry news with a lot of violent imagery. These in total are as good as if not better at the "job" than sacrificial killings of animals.

Besides, it's not that most people are actively going out and strangulating/beheading a goat their blood-soaked hands.

Public participation is mostly passive, if at all. Pretty sure playing GTA/Counter Strike is much better at inducing violent tendencies in people than every once in a while watching an helpless animal being sacrificed. Getting some packaged refrigerated chicken from your local shop on most days isn't that different from just buying fruits and vegetables.