Today registered another tragic loss in the world of motorsport. Marco Simoncelli was a remarkable motorbike racer; he was also a son and a lover.
But the loss of this prodigious talent has been overshadowed by the disdainful reaction of some within the online world. Numerous editors, bloggers and forum users rushed to upload links to video footage of the accident and photos of the reaction of Marco’s family & girlfriend. What purpose does this serve?
During the last week, we have been bombarded with images of the final moments of Muammar Gaddafi. I can understand why it was important for the people of Libya to see that the former dictator was no longer a threat to their lives, and that those who supported his regime should understand that the fight was over: I don’t, however, understand why, three days on, we’re still seeing them.
Marco Simoncelli was a racer. Nobody needs to see the moment of his death. Nobody needed to fuel the morbid and tasteless fascination of others.
And yet some have tried to justify their actions by a moral obligation to convey the truth – unsantised. Whilst the truth is most certainly at the core of good reporting, so is decency. The decent thing to do is to send our thoughts and prayers to Marco’s family and friends and remember the talented rider who brightened our lives with his unrelenting enthusiasm.
RIP Marco.
Written By
Steve Hindle
Steve has lived his life with motor sport; from childhood years as a fan, to racing around the greatest tracks in Europe, first as a driver and later as a team principal. Today he's a familiar sight trackside and in the pit lane, notebook in one hand, camera in another, capturing moments and contributing to some of the leading titles in motor sport and automotive media.
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Brilliant comment!
I totally concur with your thought’s on the video’s being put up by sad media groups who will do anything to sell their comic’s! It’s inconsiderate to Paolo, Rosella, and Kate his partner. and all of Marco’s family.
To know that your son, or partners death is being replayed over and over for some sicko’s makes me feel ill.
R.I.P Super Sic. We will miss you,
Mike, In keeping our video site (SkiddPlayer) up to date, we browse through YouTube in case anything has slipped by our main content discovery algorithm. In the first few days after Malaysia, the top 60 most watched videos (worldwide) included nearly ’50’ videos of the same clip showing the crash. It was a feeding frenzy and one of the worst illustrations of what a moral vacuum YouTube has become.
How sick do you have to be to try and exploit a tragedy like this? It’s bad enough that people feel the need to watch the accident, but they were downloading the same video and uploading it to their profiles, just to earn the ‘kudos’ for running it on their own channel.
I was watching the race live when it happened, and I will never watch that moment again. What really brought the loss of Marco home to me, was seeing photos of him (pre-Afro), as a teenager having fun with his friends – he really did seem to be a genuinely lovely bloke.