The article entitled “Why cellphone videos of black people’s deaths should be considered sacred like lynching photographs” discusses wide photo and video coverage of Afro-Americans’ deaths in mass media. The videos, taken with the use of phones, are distributed through the internet and social media and are not viewed with the proper respect the death, especially violent death, calls for. The article states that this attitude is rooted in history when the deaths of black people were not considered important. However, such an attitude can not be tolerated in modern society, and showing footage of Afro-Americans’ deaths should be banned.
While no videos of deaths of white people can be easily found on the internet, many web pages provide footage of black peoples’ deaths. In the case of violent deaths, the argument is to draw the public’s opinion to the murder (Richardson, 2020). Sometimes public outrage helps find a guilty person, but this argument does not work in most cases. By showing deaths and TV and the internet, people strip death of all solemnity which befits such an event. Moreover, it serves to educate society to see death as a common event. Bereaved relatives may not get the level of support they need due to such photo and video coverage. The deprivation they feel by losing their loved one is multiplied by their inability to grieve in silence when the death is shown and, worst of all, discussed on the net or TV. I firmly believe imposing a ban on showing such videos would be a good thing since, in this way, death can retain its solemn character, and a person’s relatives may mourn in silence their beloved one.
Reference
Richardson, A. V. (2020). Why Cellphone Videos of Black People’s Deaths Should be Considered Sacred, Like Lynching Photographs. The Conversation.Barner, C. (2012). Social media and communication. Sage.