SOCIAL MEDIA’S TOXIC VALIDATION OF MURDERERS

The taboo has always been alluring. Time – unfortunately – hasn’t changed that. Even in the Victorian Era, when Jack the Ripper was an unsolvable phenomenon, the perpetrator completely bewitched the people of England. Tidbit to note, many of these fanatics were, ironically, from the West End of London where there was just enough geographical distance between them and the murderer at loose. Even now, in the twenty-first century, this morbid fascination with murder lives on unaltered, except for the fact that the disturbing and inappropriate comments about killers are becoming increasingly accessible due to rise of social media.   

Cameron Herrin, an 18-year-old who killed a mother (Jessica Reisinger-Raubenolt) and her infant during a street racing crash, is a prime example of social media’s toxic validation of murderers due to their attractive appearance. Numerous social media campaigns have supported Herrin and viewed his 24-year sentence as “too harsh” as the 18-year-old is “too cute” to be behind bars. Primarily on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, many deemed Herrin as a “poor boy” who seems “to look innocent” of the very real crime he has committed – an illegal street racing crash. This goes on to show that people online, primarily women, think it’s acceptable to justify someone’s criminality if the felon possesses attractive facial features, which would excuse them from doing any harm as they ‘just don’t seem like the type’. To an extent, this could be considered understandable and normal netizen behaviour as many base judgements on physical appearance first and foremost; however, what is completely inexcusable is nonexperts interfering with investigations and the lives of the criminals or their victims. Reisinger-Raubenolt’s devasted husband spoke at Herrin’s sentencing and said, “It is critical for you to understand that you’ve created everlasting pain and depths of sorrow”. For a man who has experienced excruciating anguish due to the death of his wife and his baby girl to have to experience thousands of people on social media defending the accused, is vile. As the people who are creating these edits are more detached form the case and social media is a highly accessible tool where anyone can post their opinions, disturbing validation of murders purely because of their physical appearance has skyrocketed. Even Camron Herrin’s mother spoke about the situation and labelled it as “an unhealthy obsession”, this goes on to show that the public’s obsession has reached heights to the point of disturbing relatives who would have the accused’s best interest at heart. Not to mention Herrin’s TikTok account has alarmingly reached 2 million followers despite for the fact that he has no posts, showing the extreme lengths people would go to when fixating on something enticing and dark, like the taboo.   

The Netflix TV show Monsters, produced by Ryan Murphy, is another prominent example of people excusing murderers and their actions due to attractive appearances. This innately pressures the viewers to root for the lead as they psychologically want to like the protagonist, that is why most movies don’t centre around the perpetrator but rather the victims as there are no redeemable qualities or growth arcs when talking about psychopaths. That is the main problems with True Crime series. The second series of Monsters fixates on Jeffrey Dahmer, a serial killer and sex offender who has murdered 17 men and boys between 1978-1991, as the lead antagonist. Many on TikTok have said that they sympathise with Dahmer as he was ‘just a very lonely guy’. This has progressed on to edits of Dahmer (Evan Peter’s version) that seem to be glorifying him and excusing him of his crimes and romanticising the persona of Dahmer by depicting him in an attractive light. There is also a significant impact on the victims lives and it makes it significantly harder for them to deal with their trauma, when people, who have no relation or experience with anything regarding crime, are making ‘thirst-traps’ of the actual murders.   

There have been a lot of controversy with True Crime Series as a phenomenon since directors aren’t able to drive the series away from a sympathetic perception of the villains. Whilst there weren’t any Netflix series in the Victorian Era people still were obsessed with crime and the taboo of murder just like today, except in the modern-day people can publicize their twisted fantasize online with only a click of an upload button. this accessibility encourages people to post without a second thought and completely neglect the impact of these inappropriate post might have on the victim’s family. Who need to live in a world where they are consistently reminded of the crime committed against their loved ones.