Governor Cox Addresses the Dark Side of Social Media in Wake of Recent Fatalities
In a recent White House media briefing, spokesperson Karoline Leavitt addressed the media with a picture of Iryna Zarutska, a victim of a brutal attack on a light railway vehicle in Charlotte, North Carolina, committed by Decarlos Brown Jr., positioned visibly behind her. During a press gathering held on a Friday morning, she also spoke on the issue of Charlie Kirk’s tragic death. The Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, found himself indulging in an emotional detour upon viewing the disturbing footage of Kirk being fired upon.
Governor Cox lamented the harmful effects of social media, equating it to malaise plaguing society, stating that human evolution had not prepared us to fully comprehend such explicit violent imagery. These cautioning words were not exclusively about Kirk but also referred to the tragic demise of Zarutska on August 22, an incident captured on the light rail vehicle’s surveillance camera. This distressing footage was later released on September 5 and soon travelled across the right-wing corners of the internet, commanding millions of views and serving as the backdrop to the narrative formation around Kirk’s death.
For Cox, and numerous others immersed in the vast online spaces, the unavoidable presence of the two killings stood symbolically of wanton disregard for law and the pernicious impact of social media platforms endlessly seeking increased views. Zarutska’s final moments, frozen in the gaze of a surveillance camera, are as heart-rending to witness as Kirk’s. The video seems to depict the 34-year-old perpetrator, Decarlos Brown Jr, rising from his seat on the Charlotte light rail to launch a surprise attack on Zarutska with a folded knife.
Caught unaware, Zarutska turned towards her assailant, a look of disbelief replacing her initial confusion. She brought her hands to her face as she collapsed on the floor while Brown calmly left the scene. Brown, a man with a history of 14 arrests and served numerous years in prison for armed robbery, was later found to be suffering from schizophrenia. He bizarrely claimed to his sister later that some ‘material in his body’ drove him to commit the murder.
Brown’s complex criminal background, coupled with his release from incarceration after multiple instances of emergency calls unveiling mental health crises and Mecklenburg County’s previous attempts to minimize its jail population, fueled the Republican narrative that Democrats lacked necessary sternness on criminal issues. This stance aligns with a historical political trope going back as far as Lee Atwater and George H.W. Bush’s 1988 Willie Horton advertisement. The advertisement sought to portray Michael Dukakis as a sponsor of violent crime, a critique that has only gained sharper edges in the recent political discourse.
Within recent times, political discourse has become excessively stern, with public figures like Stephen Miller labeling the Democratic Party as a ‘domestic extremist organization’. In response to the spiking tensions, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles penned, ‘I am grateful to those in our community who have respectfully chosen not to share the gruesome surveillance footage in honor of Iryna’s family.’ However, this plea for restraint and respect for the victim’s dignity turned out to be short-lived.
The disturbing footage soon dominated social media platforms, repeatedly posted by accounts with substantial followership. Despite its violent, heartbreaking nature, its impact was profound, serving as a grim reminder of societal challenges. In defending their stance against heavy police deployments, Democrats argued with homicide data indicating cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Detroit experienced their lowest crime rates in decades.
However, these statistics seemed to have little influence on the general response to the shared graphic footage. Contrary to expectations, the video was not promoted as a visual representation of a hidden societal issue. The task of disseminating such graphic content was once a decision weighed heavily by social media censorship teams and television editors. Now, the decision to view or refrain from viewing a person’s on-camera murder rests with the individual.
The increasing ubiquity of recording devices, from streaming platforms to surveillance cameras and even wearable glasses, continues to push humanity towards a world where few if any moments remain unrecorded. Graphic content can sometimes serve as an alarm to a society pretentious to a particular crime or violence. The public circulation of violent incidents in places like Gaza has led to significant shifts in the political dialogue surrounding the conflict.
Critics argue withholding graphic imagery can lead to an avoidance of confronting harsh realities, as seen in debates about the portrayal of school shootings and war. However, one video can no more capture the full scope of societal issues than a single comment can encapsulate a person’s nature. The disturbing images of a violent act may linger in the viewer’s memory, causing repulsion before eventually leading to desensitization.
Governor Cox concluded his press talk with a piece of wisdom for us all: ‘I urge everyone to switch off and disconnect, to spend time in the natural world, to embrace loved ones, to contribute positively to their communities. The choice is ours – whether we add fuel to the flame or pursue a peaceful retreat. It is a decision that we all must make.’