Snuff Slop

A Dark New Era For Online Video

I got the video in one of my many group texts. It wasn’t my first time seeing violence online. What made this so different? I saw the atrocities of Gaza on TikTok and Instagram. I saw Black men repeatedly beaten to death by police officers. What about the beheading videos during the war on terror? What made this footage so visceral?

Speed.

With the other videos, if you were squeamish, you could stop. Or, you had time to steel your nerves for the gruesome end. When watching the Charlie Kirk shooting, by the time a change of heart could conceivably happen, the bullet has already ripped through his neck and his head has immediately lolled, gushing blood. He did not die immediately; he was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. But we all saw the light leave his eyes. He was already gone.