What happened to Ms. Lam was a tragedy and this four-part series does, in the end, cover the incident well and offer a reasonable explanation.
But what it also does, and I think this is the biggest take-away, is show how absurd and damaging some individuals on the internet can be. Individuals who describe themselves as "websleuths" and "YouTubers". These individuals imagine themselves trained investigators, they are not. They ascribe to themselves expertise that they do not possess. They make judgements and reach conclusions based on nothing more than emotion, conjecture and opinion, namely their own.
In the law enforcement world we have a name for them; keyboard warriors.
There are many of them out there because anyone with a computer and opposable thumbs can create their own blog and, sadly, attract followers who for reasons beyond me believe whatever nonsense these people spew out.
This documentary profiles several of them, some in more depth than others but all of them come off in the end looking foolish. One of the problems is they don't acknowledge fault, they don't apologize, they just move on to their next "case". Here they throw out all kinds of unfounded accusations, without foundation or a shred of real proof, each one more absurd than the last. Unfortunately in one instance their "investigation" leads them to accuse an innocent man of murder which turns his life upside down. The term for this is cyber bullying and it has become all to common in our society. Yet not one of them is held accountable or even offers an apology. Were I him I would file lawsuits for libel against them, were I the LAPD I would do the same. But that doesn't happen and they simply move on with no accountability.
I reached my frustration limit with these "investigators" in this program when Ms. Lam's autopsy report was finally released. Several of them appeared on their blogs stating that they had problems with it....really? Are you a pathologist? Were did you receive your medical degree? Do you have any idea at all what you're talking about? The answer sadly is no, they don't. But even more sad it that they have audiences that listen to them.
My biggest problem while watching this documentary is that, even though in the end it exposes these people for what they are, I think it also gave them much too much screen time in the process. This roughly four hour series could have easily been trimmed by an hour by eliminating much of the time wasted showing these people spouting their various "theories".
I do think the police, forensic physiatrist and the medical examiner, you know, the REAL experts, restrained themselves admirably in pointing out what these keyboard warriors really are. I actually wish they had been less so but I'm sure they thought the point had been made....I hope they're right.
If someone describes themselves as a "websleuth" or a "YouTuber" please realized that what that really means is that they are just individuals who have no expertise or training or experience in....well pretty much anything at all...and are not individuals you want to listen to about anything, least of all something as serious as this. And to all those self appointed websleuths out there....have the intelligence to know what you don't know.
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