Garth Rattray | Macabre social media postings defile decency

At around 1:59 p.m. one day, someone invaded the home of a 14-year-old girl, attacked her, sexually assaulted her, then bludgeoned her with a hammer. Her screams were in vain, until a relative attempted to rescue her. This relative fought with her attacker and [also] sustained injuries. The girl was transported to the hospital but died.

That was horrible enough, but … as if to add insult to injury, someone recorded images of the severely injured, nude and dying girl and posted it on social media. This prompted Superintendent Damion Manderson, head of the St Andrew South Division of JCF, to issue this statement on the matter, “We appeal to members of the public to desist from circulating the nude picture of the victim ... it is distasteful, it is unacceptable for us to be displaying such indiscretion…”

Many postings make the social media rounds showing still and video images of our badly injured, dying, and dead brothers and sisters. There are absolutely no boundaries. No one’s privacy is respected. It’s a ‘feeding frenzy’ of cell-phone photos relishing the pain, blood, and gore of human suffering. One very recent video was circulating showing the aftermath of a motorcycle crash. There was a woman lying on the asphalt, it seemed as if the crash and her fall tore away a lot of her clothes, exposing her nether regions. But most of all, part of her right leg was traumatically amputated. The remaining stump was mangled and bloody.

A female was among the onlookers videotaping the injured woman as she writhed in pain on the ground. The person who was videotaping the horrible scene (with her phone) was heard saying, “Unnu get har ‘elp nuh! Somebaddy call di police!” She didn’t help the injured woman, and she did not call the police … she was too busy videotaping the suffering victim.

MORE THAN DESPICABLE

I think that it is more than despicable that people take images of others who are in their most vulnerable and defenceless state … injured, suffering, dying or dead. For me, one of the most hurtful was the video images of a young lady from whom I used to buy newspapers in Half Way Tree. She worked throughout the day, rain or shine, just to support her family. One day, the driver of a garbage truck lost control, it swerved and mounted the sidewalk, mangling and killing the young lady. She was pregnant, and the lug nuts of a wheel tore open her abdomen, killed her, and exposed her dead foetus. Depraved individuals splashed those images all over the internet.

Research has revealed that posting images of the injured, dying or dead is more common than we might believe. A 2020 survey in the United States, carried out by the Pew Research Centre, discovered that 64 percent of their citizens were exposed to disturbing content online. And a 2019 study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that 55 per cent of social media users have seen real life violent content. While 45 percent of social media users reported seeing videos of dead or dying people… according to a 2018 study published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress.

Live streaming on social media platforms has opened the door to graphic and disturbing images. They are becoming more prevalent over time. People adopt the persona of television newscasters bringing breaking news from the scenes of mayhem and horror from natural disasters, criminal violence, and crashes.

In a 2020 report by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, Facebook was named as the most common platform for sharing explicit and graphic content. A 2019 study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health named Instagram as a common platform for sharing self-harm and suicidal content. A 2018 study published in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media fingered X, formerly Twitter, as a common platform for sharing graphic and disturbing content, including violence and injury.

DO NOBODY ANY GOOD

Of course, graphic and disturbing posts do nobody any good. For example, the frequent and disturbing images of road traffic crashes have not resulted in increased caution on our roads. Seeing gunmen pouncing on unsuspecting victims, or seeing the bloodied corpses of their victims have not made it possible to guard against criminal attacks.

Disturbing posts only traumatise and distress many viewers, especially the young people. They are especially disrespectful, traumatic and offensive to the family, relatives, friends, acquaintances, neighbours and perhaps the colleagues of the victims. In general, such posts desensitise the viewers. Eventually, injuries (no matter how horrifying), and fatalities will not garner sympathy or empathy from others. And, of course, sharing graphic images may inspire copycat behaviour – in the case of trauma caused by criminal activities.

Additionally, I have always felt that criminals who brutally murder people are able to view the fruits of their labour on the internet. It must bring them great satisfaction, earn them admiration from their ilk, and give them bragging rights to be able to replay the grotesque images created by their hand.

To reduce or modify disturbing images, social media platforms should quickly remove them when detected. They could also introduce user reporting to identify such posts and take them down. Governments should actively educate their citizens about the serious pitfalls of those disgusting videos. Over time, those measure should mitigate against that sort of offensive content on social media.

I know of individuals who fear that images of them injured, dying or dead, could be distributed more than they fear death itself. That’s saying something!

Garth Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice, and author of ‘The Long and Short of Thick and Thin’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com