I have noticed the culture of posting pictures of dead people is not going anywhere, anytime soon. I assumed doing this was for people that were new to the internet and as Nigerian became more familiar, they will eventually stop. Unfortunately, we're still here, so I wanted to make a case for why we should stop.

1. Degrading Mental Image: The family of the deceased have an image of the individual and that is what will live forever. They want to remember the person as they lived, not as a corpse. Not dismembered, dismantled, gored, or bleeding. Worst, not on the floor surrounded by people with cellphones out. It's extremely traumatizing to the family and disrespectful to the memory of the dead. This is something someone's worst and more vile enemy is more likely to do than a casual observer or even a loved one because it's a very hateful act.

Now, a lot of the time, it's the family that posts the picture. Remember, ignorance is not uncommon these days. A lot of people in Nigeria regularly traumatize themselves, simply because they don't know what is and what isn't traumatic. They also don't know the effects of trauma on their psyche, happiness and success in life. People that can't argue without yelling, and can't disagree without fighting are all showing signs of trauma. People that resort to impulse and violence quickly are showing signs of trauma. People dealing with depression, or severe anxiety, all trauma. If you read a list of 'behaviors exhibited by trauma victims' you will see that everything short of suicide is what we consider 'regular Nigerian behavior'. Truth is, it's not, we're just out of touch with our mental health and how much we damage others.

2. It's a Sign of Low Mental Development: There are few things more telling of an uneducated person than their public sensibility. A person that's uneducated is often not mindful of the environment they create or the impact of their behavior. Seeing a dead body is painful for everyone involved, and can cause Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder just from sight. The human mind is not designed to look at dead human beings. It shattered people's sense of self, sense of safety, and sensitivity to death. There's no quicker way to turn a person into a killer than consistently exposing him or her to images of death. There are children witnessing these things and people who have witnessed the same in real life who's wounds are reopened by it. But in the name of 'social media post', an uneducated person will go ahead and post the image because understanding the consequence takes a level of awareness or thinking that is hard to attain without a well developed mind. Showing a person violence it's self is an act of violence. You post things on social media for people to see, try to be aware of the impact you have on those people.

3. It's Desensitizing: This point builds on the previous point. There is nothing that will make you more comfortable with tragedy and death than seeing it regularly. Not comfortable in the sense of finding peace with the reality of death, but comfortable with seeing other people die. An over exposure to violence makes somebody very comfortable with violence. The reason this is bad is most of the time, these pictures are posted to show how horrible the death is, or to show empathy with the victim. That it actual does is make you and everyone else care less about the death because you will become desensitized. Trauma to the brain is equal to injury of the body. To protect it's self, your brain will stop reacting strongly to things it sees regularly that may be traumatic. Yelling is traumatic, but if you hear enough yelling your brain will turn numb to it. If you see enough death your brain goes numb as well.

This numbness is not strength. It is actually the normal parts of your brain shutting off or breaking irreparably. These parts are linked to other parts of your brain so when they shut off or break, many things are effected. You may be used to yelling, but you now have severe social anxiety and low self-esteem, your quicker to violence, and have a reduced ability to communicate how you feel without yelling. You man be used to seeing dead bodies but you find yourself caring less about human life as a whole, feeling more hopeless and threatened by your environment, growing depressed and angry without explanation. We don't want to be desensitized from death because that will desensitize us from life.


I know this is the internet and everyone will do what they want to do, but I hope this write up can appeal to you and help you consider something you haven't considered before.


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This is one of such informative posts that deserves to be on front page.
Sadly, lalasticlala is a snake eater

I confronted a facebook friend about this last week

OP views seconded

So spot on!

I close my eyes and quickly scroll past images of dead bodies, and wonder how a human being that's not sick in the head will have such images on his device to upload to social media!

Interesting. But I'm wondering, how do medical students/practicing doctors cope with their frequent exposure to these things? Are they trained to cater for their own mental health?

OP,
I love it! Good post!!

Abeg loud this beautiful information make all this people that have found joy in posting such things. Have unfriended many people on FB because of posting things that will only make me sad. Most especially things like ... You're heartless if you see this and can't type Amen OR If you don't want this to happen to you and your family type Amen. Na delete straight,I can't have people that will be cursing me indirectly on my page.

This is one of the most reasonable post have read in a while, thanks op..

i thought i had seen all forms of gory picture and pictures of badly injured corpse, until the day i opened a thread on nairaland and so a guy who posted the unearthed corpse of his father, aparently he was unearthed over a land dispute

that image really fvcked me up,

RIHMEEK:
OP views seconded

Hmm. This our little boy has finally become a papichulo.

as in ehh! It's like a norm on facebook

I totally agree..

[s]

helinues:
I totally agree..

[/s]
me too.

UK and US hardly show graphic image of dead people. We all remembered the people that froze to dead in UK ,how many people saw their corpses? Of course they kept it private.

If you need uncensored, dehumanizing, reality gore to feed your eyes, then login to www.bestgore.com. Visit and be gorified.

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This is so true

I agree with you

Route99:
Interesting. But I'm wondering, how do medical students/practicing doctors cope with their frequent exposure to these things? Are they trained to cater for their own mental health?

That is why some Doctors and Nurses can watch patient die right before their very eyes without any assistance becos some reasons such as hospital bills or lack of police report for a gun shot wound.Death means nothing to them becos they are use to it.Only some still have that human emphathy to carry out their job first to save lives before any request .So I Agree with the Op on this, when you get expose to death and violence you become use to it and would no longer see it as a big deal.

but it has reduced alot....

you mostly see graphic photos now in crime section....

IGBOSON1:
So spot on!

I close my eyes and quickly scroll past images of dead bodies, and wonder how a human being that's not sick in the head will have such images on his device to upload to social media!

Them dey even put am on their status.

angelEmade:
This is one of such informative posts that deserves to be on front page.
Sadly, lalasticlala is a snake eater

these kinda post don’t make it to front page but let one ahnie sneeze inside her room n u will see how the useless news will make front page

Imagine someone burnt beans in her house n it made front page whereas there are thousands of educative threads that will never see front page

Crying Angela

Goodnewsforlife:
these kinda post don’t make it to front page but let one ahnie sneeze inside her room n u will see how the useless news will make front page

Imagine someone burnt beans in her house n it made front page whereas there are thousands of educative threads that will never see front page

Glad I m giving you sleepless night,I m living rent free in your empty head .

Welcome to my elite list of stvpid stalkers.
I should create a thread for you guys and brand it as....keeping up with ahnie's.