system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Media outlets and governments scrubbing the internet of the Christchurch footage is counterproductive. Everyone should watch the footage.

So I woke up my news feed yesterday, being bombarded by warnings about the Christchurch livestream footage that was leaked all over FB, Twitter, etc. Hundreds of warnings, from governments, media outlets, and individuals who watched it and regretted it. Warnings like "do not watch it" "do not share it on social media" etc.

So what do I do? I immediately start looking for the full version (was pretty hard to find that many hours after it happened; honestly impressed with the efficiency by which censorship can be enforced online).  I find it, and watch all 16 minutes. The car drive, the approach to the mosque, the initial open firing, the reload, the individual shots he fired at the bodies, one at a time, to make sure they were dead, the exit from the building, the open fire down the sidewalk, and the drive back. All 16 minutes.

Why?

I've always been of the belief that, the last thing you should do when something horrific happens is close your eyes. How can you fight evil if you can't even look at it?

I remember when I was a kid, maybe 12 or 13, my Dad showed me a video that was leaked at the time, of a Middle Eastern terrorist televising the beheading of an innocent person (I think it was before the James Foley incident). Not a clean, quick beheading like you see in the movies. Sawing at the neck for what seemed like minutes. 

Now that might seem crazy, to expose someone that young to something that horrific. But my Dad told me, "You need to know what humans are capable of. The overwhelming majority of them are good, beautiful, peaceful, decent folk, but there are people like this out there, and you can't turn a blind eye to them. Face it like a man and always keep in mind that, while the majority of mankind is capable of producing tremendous displays of love, cooperation, and compassion, humans aren't perfect, and some are capable of equally strong displays of violence, fear, and evil."

The emotions I felt during the first minute or so of shooting, were by far the most depressing moments I've ever felt in my entire life. 


For 20 seconds or so it was pure, dark sadness. 


Then that depression gave way, displaced by the most overwhelming feeling of violent anger that I've ever felt toward a person. I'm almost 30 now, and I've never felt such an intense desire to hurt a human being (the shooter). 

That lasted about 20 seconds, before again those feelings of anger were displaced by a third awful feeling. Despair. I started to cry. Not crazy balling crying, but a sensation of a few drops trickle down my cheeks, a sensation very foreign to me.

Like I said, these were thee worst feelings I've ever felt in my entire life. Depression. Anger. Despair. Nothing else I've experienced even comes close. The very definition of rockbottom.

So I can understand why media/governments want to withhold footage. To protect people from witnessing such horrific acts of evil. To protect children, who are far too young to have their innocence tainted by watching something so awful. 

There are other reasons as well. Legal ones, like withholding key pieces of evidence such as this, at least until various criminal matters are investigated privately. Perhaps another reason is to prevent other potential shooters from being inspired by such a raw account the act. Perhaps another is to prevent the conflict between muslims and christians from progressing to a more violent state (people reacting in anger and whatnot). That's especially relevant in relation to that Trump threat of "getting tough."

So my position is this. Despite all these seemingly valid reasons, they are still trumped by the importance and responsibility people have to witness what evil humans are capable of. The emotions I felt, while awful in feeling, were also feelings that I want to associate with this act, as motivation to investigate the problem and try to find a solution. I just don't think that's as likely to happen if I had simply averted my eyes, and went about my day. I also think that it's particularly necessary to watch because it was a white shooter and muslim victims. The media and people in general seem to hold this perception that it's only terrorism if it's the other way around, but that simply isn't the case. 

I suppose a successful changing of my view would involve a rational explanation of how I am underestimating the practical importance of any or all of the reasons stated two paragraphs up (the reasons why the footage should be censored/removed).

Also, I realize that it's only been a day since the footage was circulated. Emotions still super high, and it might be a good idea to hold off on discussion of this on CMV until people sort of settle down. But personally I think it's good to discuss it while there's still -some- emotions present, because a lot of these events end up being forgotten, or having their significance just sort of fade into the numbing of so many of these acts happening.

EDIT: I just want to clarify. I don't hold the position that even young kids should watch it. When I say "everyone" I mean your average, adult citizen. I understand that a line like that is fairly arbitrary, but I'm sure that for the sake of argument we can agree that at a certain point, the whole tactic of protecting innocence wears off.
gpt
The footage is part of the terrorist act. It was streamed to spread fear among those it depicts being murdered and to encourage copycats and spread white supremacist memes. There's a reason the shooter wrote all over their gun and filmed themselves. These were conscious choices on how they tried to present their murder to the world.

We don't normally have footage like this in similar shootings but people still feel the same about the tragic loss of life. We don't need to see their murder to understand they were killed for an atrocious ideology. We can focus on the victims lives and the loss without seeing their murders on a screen.