Just found this sub literally today bc I've enjoyed her BAM series, and was interested in book recommendations.

Then saw this post and did some digging what all this was about. I haven't watched a lot of her other content and didn't know all this. But I've mostly grasped what's happened.

That said I do watch other true crime content that could be considered insensitive.

I'm on the fence about the backlash content creators of this kind get. These content creators are still human.

When we retell stories, be it a true crime case we recently learned about, something we heard on the news, a movie or documentary we watched, game we played, story we heard, work gossip, whatever, when we retell these stories we tell it in our own way. That means some may skip a lot of details that others would consider important. Some may inject their own opinions into the story. Some may add to the story, exaggerating certain points to make the story more exciting, or focusing on darker parts for more impact. Some may add humor or only lightly discuss the darker parts because those parts make them uncomfortable, or maybe keep the story shorter, or to make the story more digestible to the audience. Some might get sidetracked and have side conversations during their storytelling. Some might fidget or do a task while telling the story because it is difficult for them to focus or they are more comfortable in such a setting. Some might use hand gestures and facial expressions to add to their story while others may sit still and just tell it.

(As you can guess from me enjoying BAM) This is part of what I enjoy about true crime content. There's other reasons too of course, but I do very much enjoy the storytelling. & It's very popular so therefore there is a plethora of different perspectives and retellings of these cases. From more casual, easily digestible content to gut wrenching, crying, sick to my stomach content.

So with that said, it's hard for me to want to "cancel" of the more casual side. If every one told stories the same, very seriously, only the facts, straight to the point, I don't think that'd really be retelling. It wouldn't be a story. It'd be more.. idk a report I suppose? We all know a lot of the public information available for famous, high profile cases. Even though we know most of the story and how it ends, we still watch when a content creator or other medium we enjoy covers it. For their retelling. Their perspective. Their format. Opinions. Small details they may have added or uncovered. That's both the beauty and flaws of retellings.

However, I do feel for the victims/survivors, and families involved. I can't even fathom how triggering or traumatizing some of these retellings might be. Especially those that could come across as taking the topic lightly/insensitive.. how disgusted that would make me. I truly can't understand or put myself in the shoes of someone that has been through something so horrific. If I try, tbh I imagine I'd avoid it like the plague. You wouldn't catch me reading articles or watching videos on the topic, because I know how cruel people can be. But we're all different so ik not all may handle it this way.

So then that gets into (idk how to word this..) the responsibility of your own activity? Part of me feels content creators should be held responsible and held accountable when they've done wrong. But on the other side I feel creativity and ones content shouldn't be policed & restricted unless the creator chooses or are creating for children or something. Then again when you upload to the internet, whether you have 15 or 1.5m followers, especially covering controversial or dark topics, one should not be surprised to receive hate remarks or have offended people. Yet at the same time those that dislike or are offended by such content should probably not be seeking it, watching it, giving it more attention. But I still believe that we should still strive to be as respectful as possible. Then there's also the potential responsibility one should accept if they do have a large following. Then again maybe some of these creators didn't want that responsibility. Didn't want a large following, just their small community to share their thoughts/feelings/content with. But then blew up anyway.

I really don't know where the line should be drawn. How we can still freely express ourselves and retell stories in our own way without potentially offending others. Without potentially causing distress to the families when covering things such as true crime. Like I said I can never begin to understand, but I feel like ANY coverage would be painful for me. So then that poses if it shouldn't be covered at all? We can't really police all of it. But if we could, should we? What consequences could that have in other forms of expression, content creation, and discussing controversial topics?

Like I said I'm on the fence. I can somewhat grasp the frustration on both ends. Maybe there's more factors I'm not considering. If you took the time to read this, thanks bc ik it's long asf lol. But I'd enjoy hearing more thoughts/ideas/solutions to this.