Two events this week in Southern California have gone viral: — A high speed chase ended when the suspect climbed out of the window of his vehicle on the freeway and was immediately hit by at least two vehicles traveling at (or more likely above) the speed limit of 65 MPH.
— A semi failed to stop causing multi vehicle collision resulting in at least three fatalities. Graphic video of both incidents can be found on most of the local news feeds. In the case of the car chase, one news outlet’s helicopter had an obscured shot through some trees, so the fatality was inferred but not explicit; others had a clear view and televised it live and posted the video afterwards. The semi accident footage came from a dash cam, and it left nothing to the imagination. I mention this only because even in the worst moments of tabloid TV, there were things which simply were not broadcast. And even in the rare instances when certain things found their way into a live telecast, they were not shown again. But those days are gone. I am not opposed to televising real violence, given proper warning and context. But my view has always been in the minority. Until now, apparently. It’s yet another significant cultural shift, and time will tell if it is for better or worse. Looking at the number of views and likes, the videos of the deaths are massively higher than other videos posted on their social media accounts. And in a world where clicks and shares determine “quality” content, I guess they succeeded. But at what, I have to wonder? Kevin M. (RPCV) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4A3Q4XBtOQML9PP7Gwo4pyWMR8JhwLJ3YnJpuES4H-%3DVQ%40mail.gmail.com.
