Chernobyl and Selfies

I saw an article today that stated that people had to be told to stop taking “sultry selfies” at Chernobyl. Seriously…..CHERNOBYL. And as I was thinking to myself why on earth would people be dumb enough to take selfies, let alone sultry ones, at the site of a terrible disaster I started to think……..

WHY THE HELL ARE PEOPLE HAVING TOURS TO CHERNOBYL IN THE FIRST PLACE???

Seriously, I get learning about history and all that, but it seems a bit creepy. And given that 1986 was only 33 years ago, shouldn’t it still be rolling in radiation? But apparently thanks to the new HBO series, there has been a boom in Chernobyl tourism.

Then I realized that people go to places like the former site of the World Trade Towers, the OKC bombing site and concentrations camps all over Europe all the time. So maybe the going isn’t the weird part.

But selfies?

When I was in Amsterdam I went on a tour of the Anne Frank house. Not so different I suppose. I would show you a photo of me there, but I didn’t take one. However, when my friend and I left, we moved around front and were looking at it from the street, feeling sad and somber from all the information we had just heard, and there was a large group of friends and family all jockeying for position with their selfie stick in front of the front door. They were smiling and laughing and it seemed wrong. So much so that both of us commented on it.

Then the article commented that “people have been caught taking similar shots at other sites of historical tragedies, like Auschwitz, Pearl Harbor, and Robben Island in Cape Town, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in prison.”

Wait…..I know people who have taken photos of themselves at Pearl Harbor. Clearly, not sultry ones, but photos of themselves and their families. And I didn’t really think anything of it when they did. So what makes this different?

Is it the amount of time that has passed since the tragedy? Or the personal connection you feel to the events? Or maybe is it that we have always done this, but before social media you didn’t see it, so you didn’t think about it. Back then you only had a roll of 36 exposures with you and maybe the family shot didn’t turn out, instead of a little phone in your pocket that can take a limitless number of photos. Maybe we are enjoying disparaging the cult of selfies, but people aren’t really any different, aren’t significantly less respectful, than they have always been, we just didn’t know it when the photos were in an album in a coat closet somewhere in their house?

Except for that sultry part. Pretty sure no one in the 70’s was taking sexy shots of themselves at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Or were they? 

Check your albums and let me know, because I have a sneaking suspicion that this isn’t new.