Saturday, May 2, 2015

Maria's 4th Blog Post: Selfies at Serious Places

The only plausible thing to do after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Nepal is to…take a selfie?

 
The devastating earthquake has now claimed more than 5,000 lives, yet there’s people (like the man above) that took the time to stop and take a selfie in front of the ruble that is left of Nepal’s Dharahara Tower. He’s among the many that documented the tragedy through a selfie. It reminds me of my 2nd blog post of the people who took a selfie in front of a New York apartment explosion. Apparently, people love to flip out a camera at sites of disasters.

Although these kinds of selfies seem arrogant, W. Keith Campbell, an expert on narcissism, offers up a different take on the motivation behind these photos. “Some are narcissistic, ‘Hey, check me out. I’m so cool,’ and some are ‘Look how bad this is,” he says. He mentions that some people might be communicating to their loved ones, in the form of selfies, to say “Hey, I’m still alive.” Two media experts have said that the people in Nepal taking selfies are rooted in self-involvement and should not be judged right off the bat. However, the question of “is it respectful to the dead?” arises.

What do you think of selfies taken at disaster sites? Is it helpful or is it all for attention?

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