America's Obsession with True Crime

[natalieneace]

I think there's a total fascination with true crime in America because people want their 15 minutes of fame. People featured on Dateline, Snapped, and 48Hours are only on 1 episode about their murder and then they become famous, in the news, or talked about all over social media. A recent example, in Washington state, 15-year-old Jaylen Fryberg shot his 5 friends at their lunch table after inviting them there via text. He was popular, had everything going for him, and now all his closest friends are dead and one severely injured. Everyone knows his name now. His face has been plastered all over news stations and opinions on his behavior have flooded social media. What really was his purpose for killing them? In ICB, Dick and Perry wanted to make money. There was no true justification for the Clutter family's murder. Nor was there for the friends of Jaylen. And another question to throw on the table here, is any murder justifiable?

Another thing to note, society/ the public wants a good story. They want to know every detail of every person's life. Why? Why is there a fascination with knowing everything about everyone? It's not necessary. This even affects today's politics and Americans wanting to know what we're really doing in other countries. Maybe in this case there's a justification for the public to know about those things but who determines what the public can handle? And now worse than ever with the increase in social media usage, rumors pop up every day about celebrity scandals that which "regular people" have nothing to do with. ICB has sparked the idea of knowledge being given to the masses. Holcomb citizens delved into every part of the Clutter's life and murder and gave their opinions on leads, motives, etc. People in today's society not only question other's life and death, but their own quality of it. Americans question what's in the food they eat, the water, the air, etc. The people of Holcomb started locking their doors and questioning everything that they've let slide by. And even today, people quest for the ultimate awareness of their surroundings yet it is sadly unobtainable.

[sethfrost]

I think people are fascinated with death and murder because everyone can do it, but few do. To actually take another person's life must be an incredibly difficult thing to do and every murder has a motive. I think that people are fascinated with the causes of the murder and what caused the murderer to actually snap; people want to be able to compare themselves to others to see how they stand in life and people want to be able to say that they have faced a problem but they were strong enough not to kill. Death is something that is surrounded with mystery and no one knows everything about it and everyone is a little curious about death because we all will have to face death.

[alexsprecker]

I don't think that people are only fascinated with the fame of murdering, I think people like the idea of crime but are afraid of consequences, that's why I believe shows like 24 hours are so popular because people are lustful and violent and wish they could do the things that are featured in the TV shows but know deep down that if they ever do something like that they know they will get caught. But they love the idea of the crime and want to know how people get away with so horrific crimes because they not only want to do those crimes but want to know how to do them successfully.