#so339 Also on the Sensationalizing True Crime podcast: this podcast pushed me to consider the role I play as a consumer. True crime can be informative, even important: but only if we engage with it critically, remembering that behind every dramatized storyline is real harm, real loss, and real people whose stories deserve empathy, not sensationalism.

#so339 I listened to the Sensationalizing True Crime podcast. What tied the entire podcast together was the shared theme of responsibility: both on the part of media creators and consumers. As the group pointed out, true crime doesn’t just entertain; it influences perception, behavior, and emotional responses at a broad social level. And while not everyone will become desensitized, obsessed, or imitative, the small percentage who do pose real consequences.

#so339 It is suggested that even though viral videos of police misconduct can spark national conversations, police can still use their own messaging strategies to maintain legitimacy among certain groups. From a policy standpoint, this complicates efforts toward police reform. If different segments of the public are consuming completely different narratives, how can there be consensus on what needs to change?

#so339 One point that really stood out to me in Cheng’s article is how social media becomes a battleground where police departments and civilians compete to shape the legitimate meaning of police violence. As a college student who grew up in the age of social media, it’s interesting, and kind of unsettling, to see how these platforms aren’t just neutral spaces but are actively used by institutions to frame controversial events in their favor.

#so339 To me, this reading highlights a major ethical issue: social media companies promote sharing and visibility, but for some users that visibility is dangerous. It makes me wonder what responsibilities platforms should have
when their tools can be weaponized by the criminal justice system.

#so339 Online networks aren’t clean indicators of real relationships. People get tagged randomly, appear in group photos, or communicate for totally non-gang-related reasons. There are also a ton of “trends” that are not actually taken seriously, as in they are a trend because are rage bait or not real. This makes the use of social media in gang prosecutions feel incredibly imprecise. Also AI?

#so339 The reading made me rethink how seemingly harmless social media behaviors can be taken completely out of context and used against someone in court. It raises a serious question about whether the justice system is equipped to interpret online social cues, or whether it just cherry picks content that confirms existing biases.

#so339 The book invites scholars, policymakers and the public to think about violence, poverty and culture in a mediated age.

#so339 For me, the key takeaway of the book is that drill music and social media aren’t peripheral to gang life, they are part of how gang life is being remade in the 21st century. But the “hope” offered by digital fame is uneven and dangerous.

"hero" and "menace" aren’t fixed traits of people but social effects produced by relationships, music, social media, and policing. Something we talked about in my other class was the concept of Rap Rivalries and how choosing a side of a war that has nothing to do with them is a way for people of the public to see themselves as a part of the drill world or the gangsta rap industry. #so339