Sensationalism, misinformation and the commodification of tragedy
By SAGE KAMOCSAY— skamocsay@ucdavis.edu
It’s no secret that true crime media (podcasts, movies, television shows and more) attract worldwide attention. It makes sense — humans have always had an affinity towards exploring the darker sides of ourselves, and there is no deeper inspection than looking at real life. Stories of gruesome medical horror stories and mass tragedies born of incompetence scratch these itches; whether it’s serial killers, cults, medical malpractice or nuclear disasters, there’s an audience — people want to watch.
As a result, social media personalities have stepped in to recount these tragic events to the masses. Hundreds have made their names and fortunes off of marketing violence and death as scandalous and and irresistibly intriguing. On the surface, this may look like another harmless social media niche, but many of these influencers perpetuate disrespectful and damaging messages about the victims of the stories they tell.
Most significantly, many of these storytellers will, directly or indirectly, blame the victims. Maybe they question how the victims could have been so naive and ignorant as to fall for such a transparent trap, or they remark on the idiocy of those involved forgoing basic regulations or common sense on safety. Human emotions, vulnerability, trust and ignorance are disregarded as these influencers neglect to realize that they are biased because of the gift of hindsight. They forget that, just because they had the privilege of knowing what would occur and all the information needed to deduce the cruelty of a person or system, the victims were not so lucky.
More commonly (and more insidiously), these stories are harmful because of their misinformation. Facts may be conveniently ignored if it makes for a better story, and sensationalism is prized above integrity because it garners more engagement. At the end of the day, viewers would rather hear a story about an evil cult whose manipulation and secrecy caused the deaths of several of its followers, rather than a story about an evil cult whose destruction was limited to mass manipulation and psychological harm.
In the same vein, the presentation of these stories can be quite disrespectful even when all information is correct. Creators laughing at and making light of the details of the case, giving overly indulgent descriptions of death simply for the shock value, and sexualizing the perpetrators are examples of some ways tragedies may be butchered. These actions contribute to a certain way of thinking about these devastating events — as if they are simply for our entertainment; no more than a horror movie for us who are so lucky to be this far removed from them. In other words, they start to feel more like fictional stories than real catastrophes. With this logic, people further forget the plight and humanity of the dead and the scarred.
The worst part is, social media platforms encourage this harmful behavior. By the very nature of their mechanisms and algorithms, the most sensational, outlandish and emotional posts and videos are promoted to the largest audiences. Anything that gets a viewer to stay on the social media site longer is considered a successful post, with no regard for tact or empathy. As long as it gets interactions and views, it benefits the platforms.
But what is there to do about this? It takes a mass amount of people to create change just by reporting videos; publicly criticizing creators results in a similarly low chance at improving matters. Even if you convince the original influencer their actions were wrong, more will immediately rise to take their place. Complaining to the companies themselves will also likely result in no action, unless a lawsuit is filed or there is some other large threat to profits.
The best thing you can do is live your own life as respectfully as you can. Seek sources that are trustworthy and uphold the humanity of all involved and support people committed to upholding integrity in their work — for ultimately, a more informed public leads to a more empathetic world.
Written by: Sage Kamocsay— skamocsay@ucdavis.edu
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.
