Can someone explain to me why disaster videos are being shared?

I was also glued to my phone yesterday. Refreshing all news sites, searching on Google to see if there was anything new on another site, and just hoping for some good news. And yes, I was also watching the press conference where Halsema told us that Peter R. de Vries was ‘fighting for his life’. Somewhere a relief: hope. Hope that it can turn out well.

But I must say that I also saw a very ugly side yesterday. Because as nice as social media is to stay informed about everything, as happy as I am that news sites are updated as quickly as possible with the latest news, something happened yesterday that I will never understand. And I want to understand everything, even if I won't agree with it. But I just can't wrap my head around this.

Those videos. Can someone explain it to me? What goes through your mind when you experience something like that and your first instinct is: let's film it? What is going through your head? There lies someone's father, someone's friend, someone's husband: a person. That you then start filming and even try to get closer to capture the person better: I can — fortunately — not imagine it. That you then send someone a message with this video attached. What do you write as text? Do you really think you're doing something good?

And then everyone forwards it en masse. I dare to bet that the vast majority doesn't even think about it and just clicks ‘forward’. Because if you really think about it, I hope you make a different choice. Why do you want other people to see this so badly? Who gains anything from this?

The website GeenStijl still has the video on their site at the time of writing, and on Twitter, there have also been several reactions that this is how it should be, because ‘they are just reporting the news’ and say that we have the right to stay informed. Why we would have the right to see these images completely escapes me. Such images do not contribute anything to the news. To the shocking news that Peter R. de Vries has been the victim of a cowardly, hopeless attack.

I hope that most people who received the video did not forward it. Whether you watched it or not, make sure that the enormous chain reaction of forwarding stops with you. And if you think: what harm can it do?, then think about those who love the victim. Their loved ones and family. To see someone like that again, I think no one deserves that.

To end on a lighter note, there is one small thing that I also don't understand. In such events (which shock the entire country), we are — for example, by the AD and RTL Boulevard (although the latter has taken it offline again) — treated to articles listing how celebrities react to this event (spoiler: they are all in shock, just like all non-celebrities). What do the reactions of famous Dutch people add to the whole situation?

Today my thoughts are with Peter R. de Vries, and with his friends and family.