Reflection: Sensationalizing true crime is actually super insensitive

There’s a problem on the internet.

And no, it’s not minor infractions, like shitty memes or troll comments, or the much bigger, more terrifying nationwide scourges like faulty news sources on your mom’s Facebook or Neo-Nazis in Twitter replies. 

On the surface, it seems benign. At its best, it appears to be noble, and unifying, and filled with people who are kind and passionate about doing a grand good act for the universe. At the most neutral, it’s people interested in the darkest underbelly of society, encouraging us all to explore the darkness of the world around us and heed the warning of similar story after similar story. 

Welcome to the internet’s obsession with true crime. 

The vigilante side of things often rears its ugly head whenever a new, huge case hits the news. Most recently, the tragic story of Gabby Petito took the internet by storm. 

To briefly explain Petito's story: while on a road trip with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, Petito was declared missing on Sept. 11, after Brian returned home without her on Sept. 1. He wasn't taken in as a suspect in her disappearance, but rather marked as a person of interest to indicate he might have some idea of her whereabouts. 

And, as often is the case with things like this, the internet felt dissatisfied (justifiably) by the way the police handled the case — and, then, unjustifiably, took it in their own hands, spreading offensive and downright dangerous conspiracy theories.

Even those not trying to “solve” it themselves and just watching with bated breath had dalliances with insensitivity — many Twitter and TikTok comments read: “It’s like watching a true-crime documentary unfold in real-time” or “I can’t wait until this is on Netflix.” 

It should go without saying that an ongoing missing persons case is not the popcorn-chomping-entertainment-fodder people have been waiting for, but evidently, that isn’t true. 

Accusations flew faster than the offensive comments: her parents were in on it, the fiancée’s parents were in on it, Petito was a murderer herself and Laundrie was noble and staying silent to protect her. The theories were as ridiculous and baseless as they were out of place, including but not limited to beliefs Gabby has been sex trafficked due to her location on a hiking app, or had staged the entire disappearance for Instagram clout. 

After the case had exploded online, Laundrie disappeared from his home in Florida, reported to the police on Sept. 17, while Petito's remains were found in Wyoming with a cause of death determined to be a homicide.

This “ending,” though not really an ending, has the potential to allow the internet to pat itself on the back for solving it before the police did through assumptions and baseless accusations, though the fact of the matter is nothing is really solved.

Not to mention, there have been multiple instances where the internet was very, very wrong. 

Take, for example, what happened to Sunil Tripathi, a Brown University student who went missing in March. He had not been seen by his roommate or his family in more than a month, and ended up being accused of perpetuating the Boston bombing. 

A photo of Tripathi, along with a blurry photo of the actual bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and information about Tripathi being missing was posted to Reddit. Things quickly spiraled out of control: A Facebook page dedicated to finding Tripathi was deleted after an influx of hate comments, his family was harassed, and even famed gossip blogger Perez Hilton and a Buzzfeed journalist tweeted out Tripathi’s name to the internet. 

But, as we now know, Tripathi was not the Boston bomber. He, in fact, had died by suicide, and his body was found later that April. 

This kind of insensitivity and harassment is nothing new, but is indicative of a culture of entitlement to use these people’s lives as entertainment or as a source of vigilante justice — people are either mesmerized by the trauma that people go through, or they force families to relive said trauma because they fancy themselves heroes. 

This kind of insensitivity doesn’t just fall on those who create theories, it also falls on the shoulders of the observer. It’s no secret that the topic of true crime dominates the podcast industry, and true crime YouTube channels, blogs and television shows have always been popular.

On some level, enjoyment of these things can be harmless: An interest in dark, dreary happenings is why we have horror movies and peer at car crashes at the side of the road.

But when genuine interest morphs into something different, like a blatant disregard for the fact that victims of crimes are still people, use of crime for comedy or self-promotion or controversy, it becomes a different beast entirely. 

The attempts of random people to insert themselves into the narrative of real people’s stories for a chance at flash in the pan internet fame is not only disheartening, but also disturbing. When it comes to cases like Tripathi’s or Petito’s, no matter how different they may be, it’s important to remember as news consumers that we are not a part of these stories. They are not ours to manipulate publicly or create conspiracy around. They aren’t ours at all. 

No matter how much Twitter may want you to think they are.