Are we the baddies?

Have we learned nothing from Black Mirror? 2.0

It’s been a while since I gave my two cents about what’s going on in Internet Land, but my oh my, what a strange few weeks it’s been. Let’s take a look into this dystopian shitshow… shall we?

For a large part of my twenties, I was heavily invested in true crime. I spent hours at my boring desk jobs listening to murder podcasts and made sure to check out every new documentary that Netflix spat out. But when my own mam died from cancer, the insensitivity I had developed to the horrors of grief and loss was replaced by hypervigilance and anxiety. I saw the true crime industry for what it really was: a machine that’s turning true human tragedy into entertainment, often at the expense of the victims.

So, bringing that to the present day, I can only control my own choices, and while I have moved away from this form of entertainment, the online world is still very much transfixed by the latest horror show.

This month, all eyes have been on Baby Reindeer, and the subsequent mission to unmask the real-life individuals about whom comedian Richard Gadd wrote the show. In particular, his stalker, who has since been not only publicly named but also interviewed both in major newspapers and on television.

If you’ve watched the show, then you will know this is no black-and-white tale of stalking. Gadd himself has said that, in many respects, his stalker is a victim, too. She suffers from mental health problems, and this is made clear from the outset. So, firstly, the fact he failed to take many (if any) steps to protect her identity, knowing fine well that she is a vulnerable individual, is one thing… but then the general public completely ignored the message of the show and sought to not only unmask her, but harass her online?

It’s giving Black Mirror, if I’m honest.

This reminds me of a couple of episodes of Charlie Brooker’s famous anthology series. Firstly, White Bear, in which the public is invited to torment and stalk a convicted murderer for their own entertainment. See also Loch Henry, an episode about a young couple who see dollar signs upon discovering a true crime mystery in a remote Scottish village, only to become more embroiled in the situation than they ever imagined.

And finally, Joan is Awful, the first episode of the most recent series, in which our main character discovers her whole life is being televised on Netflix, and she’s being played by Salma Hayek.

Brooker has always said that Black Mirror takes place “only five minutes away,” but I never thought we’d see something truly dystopian unfold in real-time.

Richard Gadd has a right to tell his story, but, like in Joan is Awful, those depicted in his story cannot control how they are perceived. I have even seen discussions of people trying to hunt down his ex-girlfriend, played by Nava Mau. Imagine someone you dated in the past writing a Netflix show, and you are in it played by an actor, and hundreds if not thousands of people start trying to find out your true identity, where you live and other private details about your life?

The irony that, in the show, Mau’s character Terri is sick of living in fear and wants to be open about her identity as a trans woman and exist in public without the threat of violence… but now the viewers of this show are seeking to violate her right to privacy because a man wrote a show about her?

This also reminds me of an old Derren Brown experiment, in which he encouraged a room full of ‘anonymous’ people to make decisions about a man’s life, the results of which they would then see take place in real-time on a screen. The anonymity of the decision-making process, paired with the herd mentality, led people to vote for increasingly extreme events to take place, all to the detriment of the unsuspecting victim on their screens.

How are we the same people who tweeted #BeKind following Caroline Flack’s suicide? Is kindness only reserved for those who we can understand… those we feel empathy for? Or is it that something tragic has to happen before we all step back and see the bigger picture (which is definitely the case in Derren Brown’s gameshow experiment.)

In the case of Baby Reindeer and Richard Gadd’s stalker, I won’t even attempt to guess a diagnosis as I am not a qualified professional, but it doesn’t take a psychologist to recognise that this woman is unwell. She is clearly isolated, and this level of press attention would be enough to break anyone, never mind someone who is already vulnerable.

And yet, people will still tune in to see Piers Morgan interview her and click on articles to read about “her side of the story”. Do we not have a duty of care to protect people? Vulnerable or otherwise. If someone has committed a crime, allegedly or convicted, has their right to protection been waived? At what point do we, as a nation, take responsibility for the crimes we have committed - breaching privacy or even becoming stalkers ourselves?

As individuals, many of us wouldn’t dare to approach someone in person to express our dislike of them, but when we are protected by screens - and joined in Facebook comments sections by thousands of other people feeling the same way - it’s easy to see you can get carried away.

I wrote a similar piece about the sinking of the OceanGate submarine last year and how the hunt for the missing vessel became a meme machine.

In both real life and Black Mirror, it seems like people are more interested in the shared voyeurism of watching such events unfold than in any real, positive resolution. If anything, there is a sick fascination with the worst possible outcome, as seen by the hundreds of tweets and Reddit posts speculating on the number of hours of oxygen remaining in the vessel, the possibility of any found footage and even theories on a ‘survival of the fittest’ scenario aboard the metal tic tac.

- Have we learned nothing from Black Mirror? Conversations By The Sea - June 2023.

And, like that, the story of Baby Reindeer and its real-life counterparts will likely fade into internet oblivion within the next few weeks, but the impact of our actions towards these individuals will leave a lasting impact. Before you tune into a televised interview or click on an exposé, consider who is benefitting from this. I can tell you that the person in the hot seat will not be the same one counting the advertising revenue checks as the credit roll.

I’m interested to hear your thoughts on this one, as it makes me feel so uneasy, but I can also see why those who have been thrown into the spotlight without their permission might want to speak for themselves. Let me know in the comments below.

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We were lucky to be invited to my freelance bestie’s wedding this week. Lauren McWilliams and her partner Kieran hosted a fantastic party in Whitley Bay (my homeland), and we enjoyed delicious food, shed a few tears and danced the night away. To think, I was worried freelancing would be lonely and now I’ve been to two weddings of people I’ve met in this biz!

Other things I’ve enjoyed this week include…

📺Shōgun (Disney+) - We’re late to the party but finally watching this epic tale.

🎥Challengers (Tyneside Cinema) - Hot and hedonistic tale of a tennis love triangle. A great time. Highly recommend.

That’s all from me this week,

See you next Thursday for more about mental health for the chronically online,

Ellen x