terry_thomas•1mo agoTop Commenter

Warning: I told my friend I think most 'true crime' podcasts are kinda gross and she got mad

Last week we were driving and she put one on about a really bad murder case from the 90s. I mean, I get it's interesting, but idk, it felt wrong to listen to it like it's just entertainment. The hosts were even doing ads for mattresses in the middle of talking about the crime scene. I said maybe it's just me, but turning real people's worst days into a show you listen to while doing chores feels off. She said I was being too sensitive and that it raises awareness. Has anyone else had a fight with a friend over this kind of thing?

3 comments

3 Comments

hart.mark1mo ago

Yeah, that whole "raising awareness" line is tricky. It can be true for some shows that dig deep into unsolved cases, but for a lot of them it's just a handy excuse. The real problem is turning tragedy into a product you can binge. Your friend might not see it that way, but feeling weird about the mattress ads in the middle of a murder story is a pretty normal gut reaction. It just shows the whole thing is packaged for consumption, not really for justice.

iris_davis901mo ago

Ever read that article about how these podcasts can actually hurt ongoing cases? It said some hosts spread rumors that mess with police work. And the ad breaks in the middle of the awful details, like you said, feels so cheap. Does raising awareness mean we need to hear a jingle right after talking about a victim? I just wonder when it stopped being about the people involved and became background noise for folding laundry.

gray614d ago

I mean is it really that different from having commercials during the evening news though? Like people have been making money off of tragedy for decades, the packaging just changed. And honestly some of those podcasts have actually gotten old cases reopened, you gotta give credit where its due.