Aokigahara
Today the internet seems ablaze with the news that an incredibly popular youtube (>15m subs) published a video filmed in Aokigahara forest, often dubbed the "suicide forest" because of the large number of people who go there to end their own lives. In the video, the vlogger and his friends find the remains of a suicide victim and film beside them, even at points laughing and making jokes. There are plenty of people who have made blog posts and videos of their own who can express far more eloquently just why this is such a fucked up thing to do, but it made me think a little about how I think about the world in general.I think with the way we consume information, we can often get a very warped view of things. I think the most obvious example for me is American politics - something which I have zero stake in. But it is impossible for me to go on Twitter without seeing information about it, and because the kinds of people I follow on Twitter tend to all fit the same demographics, they all present the information in one way. I find myself swept up in all this and become invested in things that really don't affect me at all. When painted through the brush of social media, the world often seems like a pretty dark place.
Especially with the American election, I roughly formed the opinion that "this is probably bad short term, but hopefully long term it will be a net positive, it can expose the problems with the system/establishment" - although I don't really know why I think I deserve an opinion on this. So, when something happens and a whole bunch of people I respect tell me it's bad, I usually think it is bad, but hope that some good will come of it. But with the news today, it felt a lot harder to see the potential good. Sure, this will hopefully bring some additional exposure to the issue of suicide, but I think that will not outweigh the fact that this person managed to make literally millions of people's day at least somewhat worse by making this video.
Another take on this maybe being a net good is I think I'm going to quit Twitter after this, so perhaps it will be a positive for me overall.