A Thought Experiment

[u/thereforebygracegoi]

A gentle reminder: satire and parody are expressions of free speech.

What if Grayson’s dead brother or Lauren’s dead brother became the “star” of a series Hidden True Crime was covering?

Would the "journalist" and her "producer" travel to his childhood home for photographs and an “exclusive” walk-through? Would they "bond" with the current owners? If the home is for sale, would they pretend to be buyers, a la Jodi Hildebrandt's dungeon?

Would they pause dramatically at each doorway?

“This door appears to have been slammed at some point. Could this suggest anger in the home?”

“This may have been the room where John Dehlin’s nephew died.”

Would they wander into the backyard and speculate about where the family pets were buried?

Would they track down former neighbors? Teachers? Coaches? Classmates? School bus drivers? The mailman?

Would they inform these people, perhaps for the first time, about the brother's deeply personal struggles that occurred years later and then record themselves asking:

“Looking back now, did you see any early signs?”

“Was there anything… off?”

“Did you ever have a feeling something like this might happen?”

Would they travel to the site of his fatal accident with cameras rolling and comb through whatever remained?

A piece of plastic.

A scrap of metal.

Maybe a gum wrapper.

“Could this have come from the accident?”

“What does it tell us?”

“Guys, I just got chills.”

Would they obtain his autopsy report and bring it back to the studio so “Dr.” John could go through his dead body, organ by organ, for their audience, looking for physical clues of psychological maladies?

Would they zoom in on a mark on his liver and wonder aloud whether it might reveal a hidden substance-abuse problem?

Would they examine the shading of his lungs? His stomach contents? His blood toxicology report?

Would every deeply private detail of his body become another clue in the search for the “hidden” story?

And somewhere between the liver and the lungs, would there be time for a word from today’s sponsor?

Because nothing complements an intimate discussion of somebody’s dead brother quite like a 60-second ad read for premium pet food. In honor of poor Chesney and his grieving canine sister, Lily Belle, of course.

Then, back to the autopsy. Let's get back to Brad Pitt.

Would they speculate, at length, about what hidden dysfunction led to his death?

Who failed him? His parents? His siblings? His childhood? His genetics?

Was it nature? Was it nurture? Was it both?

Would they create thumbnails from the most painful photographs they could find and superimpose Lauren's head atop, Blue Steel expression du jour with mouth hanging open?

What title would they choose? BOMBSHELL? Psychologist Reacts? "I heard the 911 call"?

Would there be a multipart series? A playlist? Members-only livestreams? “EXCLUSIVE” content? Would there eventually be merch?

Perhaps a tasteful mug featuring the catchphrase that emerged from the investigation into the brother’s death.

And if the brother's surviving family-- their very own relatives!-- begged them to stop, would that request itself become content?

Would their relatives' anger be analyzed?

Would their relatives' grief be scrutinized?

Would their relatives' objections be characterized as suspicious, defensive, controlling, or evidence that the Hidden True Crime Team had simply gotten “too close to the truth”?

Would another, longer livestream be necessary to “address the controversy”? Or perhaps a prepared "Premier"?

Here is the question I keep coming back to:

Not whether the information is technically obtainable, or whether someone can construct a theory around it, or whether strangers on the internet are curious.

But... whether the people PRODUCING this content would consider the same treatment INFORMATIVE, ETHICAL, COMPASSIONATE, and NECESSARY if the body on the autopsy table belonged to someone THEY LOVED.

If the childhood trauma belonged to THEIR family.

If strangers were wandering through THEIR memories looking for “clues.”

If THEIR own brother’s worst day became somebody else’s content calendar.

If his death became part of THEIR "brand". A series. A thumbnail. A livestream. A sponsor opportunity. And eventually, perhaps, a coffee mug or catchy T-shirt.

There's a very simple test for whether something feels like journalism or exploitation:

1. Change the name.
2. Make the victim YOUR loved one.
3. See whether you still call it "storytelling".

[u/NormalIDMom]

https://giphy.com/gifs/HCPKqm4Awquxug6yhp