Tragedy Porn

And Our Addiction to Seeing Others Suffer

I grew up in the 80s when violence was novel. Violence has always been with us, but the 80s made it bite sized, marketable and easily consumed. No longer confined to the evening news or local paper, violence was en vogue across society at large. Spurred by our new unofficial mantra, “greed is good”, our appetite for destruction found a willing chef in the guise of market capitalism. Sex might sell, but if it bleeds it leads.

The film industry opened the decade with the seminal horror movie Friday the 13th; in retrospect a loose analogy about the negligence of responsibility and the blowback it can cause. A few years later, we were introduced to Freddy Kruger and the Nightmare on Elm St franchise. The unmistakable message: there’s no escape from the self destructive horrors we create in our own minds.

Music of the time reflected our bi-polar preoccupation with decadency and decay. The classic avatar of rebellion, rock & roll, found itself championing a lavish lifestyle for those ruthless or beautiful enough to seize it. The new kid on the block, hip hop, provided a street level view of society’s negligence while promoting success by any means.

We thumbed our noses at the prudish warnings of the Tipper Gores, Moral Majorities, and other paternalistic entities. We laughed as they blamed the youth for the…