to think taking photographs of accidents is despicable behaviour

[wanderingaround]

There was a very serious crash here in Dublin yesterday in which a woman in her 30s died. The police are issuing appeals to people to stop posting images of the crash on line, out of respect for the bereaved family.

AIBU to wonder what kind of inhumane people would do this?

It's awful! We had a local crash where the driver died and the family knew nothing and saw the picture of their car on facebook! That along with the crappy comments you get about "must have been crap driving" and "holding up traffic now" must have been a horrible way to find out.

I think it’s abhorrent & there is a huge difference between footage of Hillsborough/911 & someone dying or their body. It’s not entertainment.

At the time, it wasn't seen that way. People scream 'why are you taking photos?' It's only years after that those photos prove to be invaluable. There are photos of people crushed against the fence, they are horrific, but without them, we'd never appreciate quite how bad something was.

In the old days, it was 'slightly' more understandable to grasp the rationale of a photographer trying to capture the moment (not for some lurid reason), but in the moment, even a press photographer is going to be deemed as being lurid.

Now that almost everybody's carrying a camera, the problems even more widespread.

I find even rubbernecking despicable; and no, that's not too strong a word. Not least because it's dangerous, can cause further accidents, and results in huge, unnecessary, inconvenient tailbacks that can hamper access for emergency vehicles. Getting entertainment from other people's tragedies is voyeurism of the worst kind. As for filming it, words fail me.

TornFromTheInside But what can be gained from filming a body & posting it on social media after the incident as happened?

This sums it up pretty well:

Yanbu, it's vile.

I like to think I would try to intervene if I ever saw anything like this and ask the people filming to consider how they would feel if it was their loved one.

Taking photos which could be passed onto police and insurance companies could actually be very helpful but not sharing them with randoms and not just standing their filming once the services have arrived.

I would welcome some sort of law against sharing things like this - there is just no need.

Just awful

My dog is a policeman and has to stop people filming crash scenes regularly

Your dog sounds awesome.

I don't understand why people do this, at all. I'd never think to pull out my phone to take a video at such a scene. It wouldn't even cross my mind.

their = there

You would have to be the most unfeeling, insensitive, despicable piece of human garbage imaginable to either film/photograph a tragedy as though its entertainment and equally as bad to share it. I just can't imagine what goes through the minds of the people that do this, it's so disrespectful and it's almost like the reality of the tragedy that has occurred isn't registering with them at all. They should tighten the law around things like this, though I can see how it would be difficult. It reminds me of how in ancient Rome people used to pay to see gladiators chop each other to bits or watch people be killed by lions - we clearly haven't evolved much since those days. I find this tendency in some people to be ghoulish really depressing. So much horrible stuff on the internet and photos of dead people etc in the Daily Mail that to some people it becomes normalised.

TornFromTheInside But what can be gained from filming a body & posting it on social media after the incident as happened?

Not much, it's not my cup of tea that's the sure. But that's two different things. One is taking the image and the other is posting it to social media.

My point is more about the taking of photos during tragedies - it's a real mixed bag with mixed motivations. Not all the motivations are bad though. In the heat of the moment, I think it always looks awful, but afterwards it can prove to be really poignant and useful.

Some tosser getting a kick out of it and posting on Facebook is quite sick, but I don't think there's much can be done to stop it.

I'm trying to imagine the mindset of people who do this - it probably starts as a message to their DP or mum or someone 'OMG I'm stuck on the M50 and there's been a crash and it's just awful, a woman has been killed' accompanied by a picture, and then people start forwarding the picture and it gets out of hand.

People need to start thinking about what they're photographing, they really do, and there needs to be more public pronouncements about this reprehensible behaviour (and the people who pass on the pictures are just as bad as the people who take them. I would be disgusted with any friend or relative of mine who would send me something like that).

YANBU, I saw the video (opened it before I realised what it was). Absolutely disgusting to do such a thing and so undignified for that poor woman and her family.

I don't understand it, why wouldnt you stop and cover her with a blanket for example or block the view. Basically make some effort to be a decent human being.

Doowapwap that is just horrendous. There can be no excuse whatsoever for that

Totally agree. One of my son's friend died in a house fire - half the street were out filming it on their phones ffs! I could maybe understand it a bit if witnessing an crime, for example - if someone rang the police/ambulance first, then thought 'there's a crime taking place, maybe I should film it to have evidence for the police' I could understand that. But just filming it so you have something dramatic and exciting to share with your Twitter followers? Disgusting. How would they feel having the most traumatic experience of their lives plastered all over social media?

I had a bad car accident last year. My car was flipped over on to its roof. People filmed me and took photos whilst I was still inside it. Poeple then posted these photos to Facebook with my registration plate on show. Several of my friends saw the photos and recognised my car. At this point they didn’t know if I was dead or alive. It’s a disgraceful thing to do.

No one does it for witness or evidence purposes, they do it because it gives them a hard on to be the first to broadcast shocking news. Disgusting.
Society is ill.

I think it comes from journalists TBH How often do you see journalists at some tragedy shoving a microphone in someone's face and asking them how they feel? That isn't journalism, it's voyeurism and it's exactly the same as what those picture takers are doing.

Difference is Journalists are generally helping to create a historical record of sorts - how often did you use old newspapers in school projects etc?
They are also a lot more discerning in what photos they print - I've never once seen a picture of a fatal car crash with a body in situ, it's always of the clean up job.
I doubt they enjoy that particular aspect of the job but it's something that "has to be done" - I think one of the UK journalists covering 9/11 said as much. They couldn't do anything except make sure the event was recorded.

It is despicable. I can't stand on every travel announcement that there's bee a crash on one side of the motorway but the other side is jammed because people are slowing down to look. Ghouls.

I think it’s abhorrent & there is a huge difference between footage of Hillsborough/911 & someone dying or their body. It’s not entertainment

See, I'm struggling to find a difference if the photo shows humans suffering. It's just about scale really. There were some desperate photos in the papers of Hillsborough, I can still see them in my head now. They were individuals dying, or dead, clearly identifiable.

Sadly I think its always been like this - morbid fascination, just that mobile phones have enabled the filming and distribution to take place. Pre mobiles, I suffered what might be called a dramatic incident. You wouldn't believe the number of people who 'just happened to be walking by' once word got around. Bearing in mind there would be no reason to walk past my house otherwise (due to its location), I've seen just how morbid people can be and it isn't just the Jezza Kyle types either. This was a naice village full of people you might think would know better.

As for the difference between taking and distributing a photo, I suspect the motive is rarely (ever?) to provide evidence/a last photo for family/public interest. It's because some people are despicable.

It needs to be made a crime.

I can't stand this. I know it's not the same but I saw an "article" in a paper years ago about Peaches Geldoff, she was pushing her baby in the pram, the front wheel hit a kerb/hole in the path and the baby was flung out. There were photos of the pram starting to tip, then the baby literally in the air, and then lying on the path and Peaches picking him up. That sick bastard stood and photographed the actual moments a baby was hurt just because Peaches was famous, rather than run over there and help. It actually sickened me.

Difference is Journalists are generally helping to create a historical record of sorts - how often did you use old newspapers in school projects etc?
They are also a lot more discerning in what photos they print - I've never once seen a picture of a fatal car crash with a body in situ, it's always of the clean up job.
I doubt they enjoy that particular aspect of the job but it's something that "has to be done" - I think one of the UK journalists covering 9/11 said as much. They couldn't do anything except make sure the event was recorded.

This is very much how I think of it, but still, in the actual moments of a disaster and immediate aftermath, they still get accused of being morbid etc.

These days though, the media are actively seeking freelance / private footage too which cannot be helping matters.
Taking the images is only one half of the problem too - the publishing of them is the other half.

The press wouldn't usually show dead bodies (but it has been known in some circumstances) - but they've pushed the boundaries regularly.

I think there is also a difference between an event of significant tragedy (as in a major disaster) and a personal tragedy - an RTA. There are probably some tragedies that might fall somewhere in-between, but publishing them on social media with no filters, no waiting for families to be notified etc... it's grim as can be.

This kind of behaviour is abhorrent- he took a selfie where the policeman died at Westminster

I always get a bus that goes past the university and fills up with youngens. The other day we went past a burning car and all of them had phones straight out. Mental behaviour.

I can't think of a single justification to take a selfie at such a moment (even if they weren't aware of full gravity of the situation). Just why?