Are we to blame for Caroline Flack’s death?

In all honesty I do feel awkward and hypocritical about writing this post given that I am about to blame the media for this incredibly sad ending to somebody’s life whilst commenting about it and posting it online but bear with…

I understand that it is a very hard thing to write and comment about something that is going to be read by millions of viewers and readers (using my imagination for this) but the truth is, we have lost all compassion and awareness for others. When it comes to commenting about someone else, we completely disregard the impact it’ll have and are only concerned about the reaction it will cause.

The reason I am using the word we is because we did all play a part in this. We as a society want to be up to date with the latest news, what exactly is going on where and when – constantly being updated. For this reason apps such as insta, twitter and FB (instant messaging) exist. They saw a gap in the market and provided the people with an outlet. The media in general has been around for a LONG time but now more than ever, we can access information from a variety of platforms at any time. We don’t have to wait to watch/read the news, we can just check what that person posted on their social media and somehow think we already have the ‘full’ story.

First and foremost, there are a lot of things bugging me at the moment about this story. Not only by the way it is being shared but also the secrecy behind her death. I’m glad there is caution being made and a slight awareness of how to approach this story when everyone is to blame but at the end of the day Was it not a few weeks ago that this same person was being criticised for the court case she was involved in? Let’s not act like this decision to end her life came out of the blue and didn’t have a backstory.

I would like to put it out there that I am not commenting on her as a person, nor on what was/wasn’t true in the court case. The fact of the matter is that nothing changes because of her death but what I find truly shocking is the fact that suicide was the final decision. It doesn’t matter now that the media is mentioning she was struggling with mental health – that isn’t the point. The point is that someone struggling with feeling overwhelmed felt that was the only way out. Struggling with mental health shouldn’t be what makes everyone go ‘Ah, that makes sense. She was already going through stuff…’ It should never make sense. At the end of the day, we have no idea what was going through her mind or all the things she was dealing with. What I do know is cancelling an episode/show because a former presenter committed suicide is not showing support.

At the end of the day, we have a responsibility to comment, to update ourselves on what is going on in the world and to even form an opinion. It is not however, our right to troll, to allow someone to feel helpless and add fuel to the fire when everyone in this day and age is dealing with so much. We should not be aware of mental health when a shocking tragedy like this happens – we should already be conscious and aware in general so that everyone can feel safe and feel that their mental health is a priority!