Turning Away

The story that dominated the local news yesterday might have been this piece from John Blake of CNN:

How ‘good white people’ derail racial progress 

But when it comes to getting those multiple clicks and retweets, nothing beats:

Pregnant woman dies, baby in critical condition after shooting into Columbia home, Howard County Police say,Wilborn P. Nobles III for the Baltimore Sun 

I’m finding myself in horror at the loss created by this local shooting, but also disgusted by how quickly stories like this go viral on social media. It almost looks as though no one wants to be left out. A quick search of the words “Columbia Maryland “ on Twitter brings up account after account sharing the same story. Wanting to inform? Maybe. Looking for clicks? Very likely.

So much to lure you in:

Pregnant woman

Shooting

Baby

Death

Suburban Columbia

Police

Are there people who click on stories like this the way that people rubber-neck at accident scenes on the highway? 

I find something about this phenomenon disturbing. The victim of this crime was a real human being with hopes and dreams and people who loved her. She doesn’t deserve to be turned into clickbait. There are legitimate issues to address here, most notably gun violence and how our culture could be doing a much better job to address it. 

In the old days they used to say that lurid stories sell newspapers. Perhaps this phenomenon is not new. But I find myself turning away from the churning waters of social media, the frenzy of tweet and retweet. 

A mother will never hold her child. A child will never know her mother. 

How do we respond to that?