Should Real Deaths be on Youtube?

[ToneLa]

Only in slow motion

[Bobby Ralgex]

I know it's an old one, but I cannot believe his calm-like demeanour before he pulls out the gun and starts waving it about before shooting himself in the mouth into oblivion. I also cannot believe afterwards the ferocious blood tap on his nose. Horrible. Just fucking awful.

Oh I'm so fucking nineties.

[Cloud]

Ugh, no ta.  As people have said, obviously there are things that aren't particularly graphic... F1 deaths or whatever... but I'll pass on watching anyone shoot themselves or stab someone through the eye with a screwdriver.  I do think these things are best off 'underground', people will find them if they want to but it's generally not good to be desensitised to human suffering and death.

Unless it's the Area 51 raid, in which case knock yourselves out.  Hopefully it's a purge of idiotic Youtubers

Last death I saw was one of those "daredevil prank" things where someone thought it was clever to climb an electricity pylon and swing his legs at the cable.  Thankfully it was zoomed out and not particularly graphic but it's still kind of weird and from that distance almost comical watching someone get zapped and die instantly, his body bouncing off the frame on the way down.

Not keen on dead animals either.   Dead people and dead animals is why "my time on 4chan" amounted to about 5 minutes (of /b/).  But I have it to thank for getting me into ponies as it's only because the last thing I saw on /b/ was a very graphic image of a cat that had been shot in the head, and going off to sweeten my day with kitten videos wasn't going to help.

[bgmnts]

I'll watch a matador get gored to death by a bull or a hunter get his face chewed off by a lion but that's where i draw the line.

[ProvanFan]

Intelligence first, then death

[José]

BRAIN SKULL SKULL BRAIN. AH HA HA. brain skull skull skull brain skull. brain skull brain skull brain. DIDDLY AH DA DA DA DAAH STOP! DIDDLY AH DA DA DA DAAH STOP! DIDDLY AH DA DA *to offscreen* start the helicopter. *whomp* JUST LIKE THAT! AH HA HA.

[Shit Good Nose]

I was in a Facebook group with a few of the chaps (all older than me) at work which started out just messaging shit jokes and funny gifs and videos, but over the last few months it seems to have (d)evolved into videos of fatal accidents (for some reason mainly involving chainsaws).  I saw the first one without realising it ended with a bloke managing to chainsaw his face off when it kicked back on hitting a big knot in a tree trunk.  Immediately left the group.  Several other accidents and chainsaw death vids have gone round since. 

[Pseudopath]

Nobody mentioned those super-professionally-produced execution videos from ISIS yet? Fucking hell. That poor bugger getting burned in the cage. *welp*

[Kryton]

Some of the worst stuff I've ever seen were the ISIS videos. The mass execution of hundreds of Syrian soldiers (mainly just young lads in tracksuits), all herded onto trucks, whipped with rifles and crammed together like cattle. Driven into the desert, forced to lie down in a big line and then just shot in the back of the head one by one by one....

Another was a much earlier one when ISIS were just being heard about. Some of the ISIS types had pulled over several cars on a road and were just dragging people out of the vehicles and marching them to the side of the road were a guy with a laptop seemed to be running their names through a system and then forcing them to make a Sunni prayer (i.e to weed out the non Sunni muslims) and then just shooting them if they didn't comply. I think the same video later shows a line of young lads, hands bound all waiting their fate at the side of a lake or river.
One by one they're all dragged to the side of the river and shot in the back of the head and then kicked into the water. The water pink with blood.
It was just so hideously systematic.
Imagine being in that line of people watching your friends and family executed just before you're pushed forwards to be next in line.

Like many others (and with a family now), I find it difficult to watch anything gruesome, but in some ways it's a constant reminder that religion and mankind can be cruel and evil.

[Pseudopath]

Some of the worst stuff I've ever seen were the ISIS videos.

Blimey. Like minds, eh?!

[The Boston Crab]

Never watched this stuff but I hope anyone who has done is killed on camera 'so other people can learn about the horrors of humanity'. I actually mean it. Die you fuckin ghouls - on camera!

[imitationleather]

If I want to learn about the horrors of humanity I'll just rewatch Olympiacos v Spurs.

[Inspector Norse]

This thread is on its third page now so all of the incisive, cutting points I wanted to make have already been covered.

But basically no. Someone else just said that the kind of people who really want to find that stuff will find it elsewhere.

I can understand that there is a sick fascination but for me it's a fascination that should be recognised as sick, and should be controlled the way members of the England cricket team would hopefully control the urge to get jiggy with a wee child.

[Pseudopath]

Never watched this stuff but I hope anyone who has done is killed on camera 'so other people can learn about the horrors of humanity'. I actually mean it. Die you fuckin ghouls - on camera!

But would you watch it? You know...just to find out if your weird call to the cosmos had born fruit?

[Inspector Norse]

If I want to learn about the horrors of humanity I'll just rewatch Olympiacos v Spurs.

Netflix releases first details of Mindhunter season three

[Cloud]

Always managed to avoid the ISIS videos, don't want to give the mad fucks the pleasure.

I did aaaaages ago like age 19 see a video from the middle east somewhere where they hacked a guy's hand off for theft.  Grim

[thenoise]

Since it's not been mentioned yet, I'd like to own up to having watched that old clip of a Russian (?) soldier having his throat cut out, complete with his voice going weird. It was in black and white but a colour version surfaced eventually. I got them by typing 'snuff' and other horrible terms into Napster clones in the early 00s. Most of the results were nonsense.

[Noodle Lizard]

I don't watch videos of actual death/injury/assorted tragedy anymore, and actively avoid them for the most part, but I've seen my fair share of them.  I do think people should have the right to, especially in an age where everything is photographically documented anyway.  I don't buy the "would you want your death on YouTube etc." argument, but if direct relatives of the victim want it taken down, their wishes should be respected as much as is possible.

I don't think many people are going to stumble upon the Tommy Cooper/Vic Morrow deaths by accident, and though the Morrow video isn't graphic or even particularly clear, the footage should be available since it's part of a high profile and long-contested legal/ethical battle.  Reading about it on Wikipedia is one thing, actually seeing it is another entirely.  Budd Dwyer, as well.  With many videos - yes, they're more often satisfying morbid curiosity than anything particularly "important".  There are arguments both ways about whether or not seeing that stuff desensitizes you or makes you more empathetic. 

Seeing these very real things has always gotten the strongest reactions out of me, moreso than any headline, documentary or think-piece.  You don't need someone narrating 3 Guys 1 Hammer to know that you're witnessing pure fucking evil.  As a result, I certainly have a far more passionate disdain for the Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs or Los Zetas or Luka Magnotta than I do for any of the other countless undocumented murderers out there - purely as a result of actually seeing their "work", empathizing with the victim, their families - all of that comes in one big wave just from watching those videos.  The Abu Ghraib photos and Al-Qaeda/ISIS videos certainly made the whole situation a lot more "real" than it had been before.  Almost humanized it all, in a strange way.  No Hollywood movies made about those instances - how could they even try?  Reality can be so much grimmer than fiction could ever be.

[flotemysost]

I remember at uni someone in my halls showing a video called 'Man gets fucked by a horse and dies', which appeared to be a grainy close-up of an equine megacock moving around a bit - it was kind if hard to tell what was going on, definitely nothing graphic and it was treated as a bit of a laugh (I think the general consensus among my mates was that it was fake).

A few months later I watched a fairly grim Channel 4 documentary called Zoo, about zoophiles, which focused on a  specific case where a bloke in the US died from injuries after having sex with a horse and yes, it was the guy from that video. Felt a bit weird and horrible realising my mates and I had been pissing ourselves over this man's final moments.

Never sought out that stuff on purpose, I do understand the morbid fascination or wanting to test one's own limits, but I guess I just feel like: is watching this going to make the limited time I have here better in any way? And obviously there's respect for the victim's family/loved ones. I read an interview recently with a young British woman whose dad, an aid worker, was beheaded by ISIS - the video was posted online and that was how she found out (I mean it was in the news, it's not like she saw it because her mate posted it on FaceBook or something) but fuck that, seriously.

[Cuellar]

I remember seeing that Budd Dwyer one years ago and thinking it horrible.

I just watched it again and kept rewinding it to the bit where he pulls the trigger. Must have watched it about 5 times in a row.

Odd.

[Shit Good Nose]

A few months later I watched a fairly grim Channel 4 documentary called Zoo, about zoophiles, which focused on a  specific case where a bloke in the US died from injuries after having sex with a horse and yes, it was the guy from that video. Felt a bit weird and horrible realising my mates and I had been pissing ourselves over this man's final moments.

I saw that as well (although I'm fairly sure it was on Film4 - it's an American doc [and questionable in its own right], not a 4 production).  Never thought for one second they'd actually show the moment (or, rather, an excerpt of it), especially given that it's illegal to show beastiality in the UK. 

[Konki]

That'd be the Enumclaw horse sex case.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enumclaw_horse_sex_case

[weekender]

In my slightly edgy younger years I thought I was being cool watching videos like this.

As I get older, I just wonder what value I got from doing so.

I don't think I've ever done anything good as a result of watching one of these videos.

So, instead, I don't watch them and I do things like running hook-a-duck stalls at summer fetes.

[Shit Good Nose]

In my slightly edgy younger years I thought I was being cool watching videos like this.

As I get older, I just wonder what value I got from doing so.

I don't think I've ever done anything good as a result of watching one of these videos.

So, instead, I don't watch them and I do things like running hook-a-duck stalls at summer fetes.

I think most people (as evidence by this thread) go through it at some stage in their lives.  Whether it's morbid fascination, the fact that it's a bit taboo/forbidden etc, genuine interest in death, or whatever.  Back when I was 16/17/18 I actively sought out that kind of stuff but lost interest in my 20s and then when I became a dad in my 30s I actively avoided it.  Now in my 40s I'd be happy to never see any of it ever again.

Just general human nature, innit.

[Zetetic]

... empathizing with the victim... Almost humanized it all

I suppose my issue with this angle, is that you're only seeing the person in an extremely narrow, extremely terrible part of their life, and one where in one sense they were at their worst.

[Dex Sawash]

I saw a video of an elephant killing a car on liveleak. Unfortunately, it didn't finish with the portrait mode video capturer.

[thecuriousorange]

Footage of man dying.

https://youtu.be/3mqTUwt_uyI

[Fat Jesus]

I couldn't watch anything like that, I'm not mentally strong enough. Even if it's not gory, or it's poor quality video, you still know what's happening.

For example, I saw the Hillsborough, Heysel and Bradford disasters unfold live on TV. Vivid, horrible pictures, even from somewhat of a distance.

The closest I've gotten to deliberately seeking out death pictures was in my early days on the internet, about 1995. I checked out the then-notorious
website Gallery of the Grotesque, and saw pictures of a man who had been cut into pieces with all of his body parts arranged in a pile. His head was
on top and his penis was stuck into his mouth. I can still visualise it.

I can't even watch animals getting hurt in films without getting angry and upset. I recently watched Decoder (1984), and there was a scene where a
man squeezed a frog in his hands and I had to look away. The sound still got to me though: a terrible screaming sound. Now I'm no fan of frogs, and
this may well have been faked, but it still upset me.

I suppose this all makes me a pussy, but I can live with that.

[petril]

For example, I saw the Hillsborough, Heysel and Bradford disasters unfold live on TV. Vivid, horrible pictures, even from somewhat of a distance.

they still make newbie football stewards watch Bradford. The full fire brigade video. I mean it's opt out and you're free to bail, but most people both times I've seen it are just sat there, stonefaced in shock and horror. Oh the poor man et al. Completely sobering when they explain the causes beforehand and you have to see it unfold, unable to do a thing because it was years and years ago.

they leave the Yorkshire Television frontcap on it at the start as well

[Noodle Lizard]

I suppose my issue with this angle, is that you're only seeing the person in an extremely narrow, extremely terrible part of their life, and one where in one sense they were at their worst.

I suppose what I mean is that I find it easier to detach from hearing about horrific things.  We hear about them all the time.  People are fascinated by this stuff, and podcasts and documentaries about murders and serial killers and other such grimmery are among the most "sellable".  But actually seeing it happen forces me, at least, to see it for what it is.  There are things about real-life violence, injury, death and tragedy that nothing else can replicate.  It starts to become less "morbidly fascinating" than purely miserable.