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People like puzzles, violence and intrigue. While it's unfortunate for the victims of the actual crime to have their life-altering event to be seen in this way, those elements are the hooks of true crime for most people, probably even moreso than the justice factor.

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"These clowns in congress have done it again. What a bunch of clowns!"

I feel like this take misses what a lot of people find compelling about true crime: not its gore or faux intimacy but its cultural weight as a modern day cautionary tale, like an urban legend with some amount of reality behind it. This woman got killed, what red flags might she have missed or what mistakes might she have made that I, the reader/listener, can learn to avoid so that I also avoid her outcome? This person survived a dangerous situation, what good choices did they make that I can put in my own tool box to also survive a similar situation?

That is to say, for a wide swath of its audience the emotion is not lust or even bloodlust but fear. Fear tamed or made smaller by the acquisition or feeling of acquisition of knowledge.

Yeah, people are often too quick to dismiss a fascination with dark and taboo subjects as just being in it for the shock value. Shock value is often part of the appeal but there can be more to it than that.

What’s this “our” stuff?? I only have a fake-crime obsession

I've been taking a break from the true-crime genre. It honestly wasn't a huge portion of my reading list to begin with, but I had a handful of podcasts and YouTube channels that I enjoyed listening to. That was until I watched a few videos from a specific channel. I can't remember what it's called at this point since I didn't seek it out on purpose, but every episode started the same way. They offered "their deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the victims families" in that almost human sounding AI narrator voice so many channels use now. Its hard to explain why it upset me so, but it kind of reminded me of starting a conversation with "no offense, but..." It was just peak pandering. Once I noticed the pattern I started to realize just how many tasteless tactics that these producers used and its just such a turn off.

I read a lot of biographical works based around dictators, genocide and general governmental folley so nonfiction about terrible events does not bother me. But there seems to be a disconnect in the true crime community between factual presentation and unabashed voyeurism. There's always been books published about particularly horrible or vexing crimes but most of them really go unnoticed unless you're geographically close to were the event took place. Now that any Tom, Dick and Harry can whip out a podcast the market is flooded with tactless people seeming to just want to cash in on the newest craze.

I think there are a lot of reasons why people like true crime- using it as a guide of what not to do is definitely one of them, but I think there’s more to it than just that. I don’t think you can ignore morbid curiosity and how this curiosity is often at the expense of victims.

I’m glad I saw this because now I’m really looking forward to picking this book up. I am someone who is very interested in true crime but I recognize it’s issues and I like nuanced discourse around the topic. I read Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka last fall and that book also explored our obsession with serial killers. Highly recommend.

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I just pictured my least favorite politicians wearing clown makeup and getting pies in the face! Thanks for the visual! 😂😉

Yeah, but like, that's also pretty fucked up, ain't it? Both as a sort of gawking at strangers and blaming them for not seeing something which is obvious in hindsight, and also a perceived need to equip oneself with a constant paranoia against an incredibly uncommon risk.

Also, if I got murdered and some true crime huckster tried to make a buck pawning me off as a cautionary tale for scared suburbanites, I'd haunt the fuck outta them