Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel and the Internet Injustice Machine

Michael Siegel

Michael Siegel is an astronomer living in Pennsylvania. He blogs at his own site, and has written a novel.

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6 Responses

  1. Oscar Gordon says:

    Maybe not weld the tanks shut, but put some padlocks on them?Report

  2. Saul Degraw says:

    I am not sure that Fyre Festival fits in here because that was a good old-fashioned train wreck/scam which seems to be part and parcel of the Influencer economy.

    My theory is that lots of people are very, very bored. This is partially but not completely related to pandemic fatigue. This kind of rampant speculation helps relieve our boredom. The other aspect is people like danger and dysfunction from a distance. A lot of the appeal of Tiger King (the first pandemic) appeared to be gawking at really dysfunctional people from tge safety and comfort of your home.Report

  3. Chip Daniels says:

    Fred Clark over at Slacktivist had a terrific essay where he discussed why people actually want to believe in horrible conspiracies like sex trafficking or satanic rituals.

    The dark conspiracy justifies an underlying anger and fear and evidence to the contrary is dismissed because it would upset the worldview.Report

    • LeeEsq in reply to Chip Daniels says:

      The dark conspiracy also makes life more interesting. It’s like living in a thriller or fantasy novel than your boring humdrum life. Another advantage of the dark conspiracy is that it creates an ultimate externalized villain. Defeat that villain and we can achieve total final victory for the forces of good, puppies, and kittens. The idea that there simply always going to malicious people and every age is going to have their problems is just horrible to people. Plus people don’t like the idea that they need to master their internal evil tendency frequently.

      Maybe the most austere religious people and leftist activists were right. Fun is the enemy of justice. A just society is one based around hard work and endless reflection through religion or political meetings.Report

  4. Billie says:

    Elisa Lam’s blogs and social media sites are listed here –
    http://elisa-lam-blogs.blogspot.comReport