Content Warning: This post discusses disturbing content related to online media, including references to death, exploitation, and violence. Reader discretion is advised.
“Welcome to the dance of destiny, ladies and gentlemen. Around and around and around we go, and we’re only beginning, folks. Only beginning! On and on and on and on, and when will it stop? When will it end? When? Only when the last two of these wonderful, starry-eyed kids are left. Only when the last two dancers stagger and sway, stumble and swoon, across the sea of defeat and despair to victory. One couple, and only one, will waltz out of here, over broken bodies and broken dreams, carrying the grand prize of 1,500 silver dollars.”
Rocky, They Shoo* Horses, Don’t They?
Hearing about a widely circulated case involving a tragic event that was live streamed. It makes me think of the history of watching people go through trials, tribulation, and being hurt for other peoples amusement.
It is nothing new if we look through history: gladiators and public executions have been shown to people throughout history. Sometimes under the guise of societal warnings but also just for entertainment value.
In today’s society the horrors might have subsided in the mainstream and become more consensual, at least that is what we like to believe. But every once in a while something will appear and it will shock and disgust us, and yet it will also be watched by tens of thousands of people.
With shows like Fear Factor, MMA, and Jackass, the line is still slightly blurred as to whether we are watching in awe of people doing these extreme tasks or whether we are laughing at their desperation. Then there are the shows that live only on the internet, where laws and social norms seem to go out the window. Some might remember the controversial online video trends from the early 2000s that depicted staged or real violence. everyone knows that these types of videos are deplorable and yet there always seem to be an audience for it, and the audience seems to go along the more extreme the content becomes. And now someone has passed after being filmed non-stop for 12 days whilst being subjected to extreme conditions violent behavior.
The brother who participated in the live stream has now come out and said that everything was staged except, of course, the passing. However, a man has lost his life, and it was watched by approximately 10,000 people who paid the streamers and told them how to engage in humiliating and ethically questionable behavior.
So where do we move from here? Do we just have to accept that some people watch this stuff, enjoy it or get off on it? And that with the ever-growing, never-regulated internet, there will be more and more outlets and forums for these people.
I mean, I don’t have the answers, but I guess the answer is yes.
And in the meantime we can speak up about everything we think is wrong and morally repugnant and hope that people will follow us in a more peaceful and gentle way of living. And if not, let’s hope they find other outlets that don’t seclude them from a world that is actually beautiful and good to live in.
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