4 Responses to Black Dahlia: Asshats on South Norton Avenue — No. 4

1. Santos L. Halper says:

   August 7, 2019 at 7:53 am

   I’m convinced none of the people who trivialize and exploit “true crime”—can you believe there is actually a podcast called “My Favorite Murder”?—grew up affected by violent acts. I am approaching the 30th anniversary of a brutal unsolved murder that occurred close to my home when I was a child. I vividly remember seeing the crime scene, reading the contemporary newspaper reports and sharing in the neighborhood fear and grief. So much so that I still have nightmares about this as a middle-aged adult and have tried to resolve my memories of it with therapy. It disgusts me to see people treat murder as some kind of entertainment—and I can’t begin to imagine how the families and loved ones of the victims must feel.

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   • lmharnisch says:

     August 7, 2019 at 9:58 am

     The actual crimes are terrible and I have encountered any number of families and friends who are still grieving. It’s sobering, or ought to be.

     In general, I’m not a huge fan of “true” crime, whether it’s books, TV shows or podcasts. The books are generally iffy or exploitive and the TV shows tend to dumb down or streamline narratives to fit into a 42- or 44-minute slot. The steely-eyed, persistent, tireless investigator who solves every case in one episode is too damn easy a trope. The producers cherry-pick the easy or straightforward crimes and ignore more complex ones.

     And then there’s the “true” crime podcasts. Dozens of them. I especially dislike the podcasts/YouTube videos that treat bloodshed as a joke (that would be the BuzzFeed’s “Murder Bros,” whom I despise.)

     Many podcasts seem to be done on the cheap and scrape information off Wikipedia or even more dubious Internet sites, throwing in some gratuitous laughs. One particular podcast swipes my voice from TV shows with no sort of release, which is very tacky. That would be “Ladies Getting Drunk and Laughing About Carnage — But My Heavens No, We’re Not Making Fun of Anyone (Wink Wink).”

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   • Amanda says:

     August 12, 2019 at 9:36 pm

     I actually listen to My Favourite Murder, and they’re not like that at all. They’re very victim centric.

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2. William Desmond Taylor says:

   August 14, 2019 at 3:17 pm

   No accounting for bad taste. And even worse the lack of intelligence, grace and compassion!

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