Saturday, December 29, 2012

Death porn

A lot was made recently about a NYC newspaper that printed a photo of a man who was about to be killed by a subway train. Yes, it was disgusting. But they do this all the time.

Yesterday, an 11-year-old boy was killed by a dump truck as he tried to cross the street. Local TV stations played endless loops of video of the boy buying a soda and something to eat at a deli -- seconds before he walked into the street and was killed. The video also showed him fixing his jacket and schoolbag on the sidewalk outside the store after his purchase, and stepping toward his death.

This is not okay. It's death porn and it's disgusting that the news people show this sort of thing. Yes, report on the boy's death. But don't try to titillate the viewers -- not when you're talking about a death, and especially when it's a child. I'm not even sure the parents should see that video, never mind random viewers.

I called the media vampires the other day. But it's worse than that. They're ghouls, eating the dead before our eyes. It's utterly disgusting. And if this happens in our country on a regular basis -- which it does -- then we are disgusting. Welcome to the United States of 2012.