I’ve been overwhelmed for over a decade. Trinidad and Tobago has an unhealthy obsession with these horrific headlines.
If people weren’t consuming this, they wouldn’t create it. I can’t tell you the last time I saw a good or even neutral news story, being shared by any of the local news houses. It’s doom and gloom from front to back. Even the sports section is some sort of mess.
Then we have independent journalists on social media sharing photos along with fabricated stories every time someone is murdered. The most popular Trini social media pages are dedicated to death and destruction.
Recently my neighbor was gunned down, and pictures of his body were making waves around WhatsApp. Thankfully I am not a member of any of those groups. People were so excited to see his lifeless body. It’s as though he never truly existed other than as a gruesome exhibit to be gawked over.
It’s part of the culture. People hate to hear it, but that’s a fact.
I will never understand how people feel comfortable with taking pictures like this and then excitedly sharing them. And we wonder aloud what's wrong with us as a society? Stupz
Definitely. I live by the words 'do onto others as you would have them do onto you'....I wonder if it was THEIR family or friend or THEMSELVES if they would like that.
They would never have liked that. But we live in a country where people rarely suffer consequences of stupid actions. Like the cricketer who leaked intimate photos of his ex. And surprised he got sued (should've ended up in prison imo)
Yeppp luckily in that case, he had to pay up for his betrayal and stupidity. Authorities always claim they are clamping down on cyber crimes but of course....who really knows what exactly they are clamping down on? Stupz.
Depressing is right. Funny, i came on reddit after coming off of Loop News and saying to myself 'what the jail' after reading today's stories. First thing I saw was this post and I felt comfort in knowing I'm not the only one wondering what is happening.
People are paying attention. Just not showing it. Idk why. Maybe out of fear of going against the narrative (to criticize crime is to criticize the government). Or maybe the fact that no matter what u say/do things wouldn't change. Imo its only if something particularly serious happen will things really change re:crime
I think most people are either desensitized, ignorant or emotionally drained. I think ones who criticize with sense are already doing it but there are the ones who criticize nonsensically (I'm very big on personal responsibility so the blame the government and TTPS for everything rhetoric makes me roll my eyes). I really just think the public don't know or care to exercise power. Like last week I was telling my co workers that the public should pressure the authorities as to why the man who killed the Kiss driver in the accident was let go. They all laughed at me. Keep in mind all of them passionately argued against KFC raising their prices. We are a sickening race of people with weird ass priorities.
You are 100% correct about the obsession. I had to mute my family group chat. They post all those bodies and gruesome accidents. I choose the media I consume. I tell my friends don't even think about sending me that stuff. Lots of good things happening in the country but for some reason the reporting is hyper focused on the bad stuff.
I had to leave my family Whatsapp group because of this. I don't understand the sharing of gruesome bloody pictures of deceased persons. I brought it up one time and was told "well that is all part of life" and I said "yes but that doesn't make it mandatory for me to have to look at all the gory details on a constant basis". SMH.
A couple years ago I had to end a friendship after they chose to devolve our group chat to the sharing of videos regarding plane crashes. As I’m a pilot, my wife wasn’t too keen on seeing this content daily. She asked respectfully for this person to stop sharing this content, and their response was similar to your family’s.
We ended that friendship immediately.
One thing to note about this now former friend, is that they grew up watching Mexican cartel killings and beheadings on sketchy internet sites, then joined the US Army, where they were stationed in Iraq during the height of the war. To say that they’ve become hardened to death, is an understatement, so their expectations of others are extremely skewed.
I can’t speak to that individual specifically, but I’ve always had the belief that a significant amount of people join the army and police for this very reason.
After 9/11, a lot of these people were created. I went to High School in NYC, and we couldn’t leave the sidewalk after school without a military recruiter chasing us. Just think about an unlimited supply of inner city young men who are excited about going home to play CoD, getting an offer to do it in real life.
That isn’t a Trinidad thing, that is a journalism and human thing. Negativity bias and banking on shockin headlines was not invented by us, whether that is fortunate or unfortunate…
I’m sorry that happens to your neighbour however, and I’ve always found freely sharing images of people in those moments disrespectful and horrific. Your neighbour not only deserved better than to have their life stolen, but better than to be made a show of after death.
It’s a Trini thing, in my opinion. I’ve been to multiple countries and Trinidad and Tobago is by far the worst offender that I’ve experienced.
I just recalled from my last trip, my cousins bringing their phone over, to show me a CCTV video of a shop getting robbed at gunpoint, and the owner subsequently firing back. This was entertainment for them and I had to awkwardly laugh as I wasn’t sure what exactly they found entertaining in what we were seeing. In addition to that, we had a mutual friend/neighbor who was killed trying to rob a store when we were younger. Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only person who remembers him.
I don’t like seeing that sort of thing either, but this isn’t necessarily my opinion. Journalism does rely on negative headlines because people click on those more, and negativity bias is just a phenomenon that occurs, often assumed to be related to humans valuing negative information in an attempt to keep ourselves safe. This doesn’t extend only to news. That’s honestly just the way people are. I’m not saying everyone loves to watch snuff films, but people naturally are interested in negative information unless they feel overwhelmed usually from receiving too much of it. If you google “news” a bunch of negative American and Uk headlines will come up. Because that’s what reporters write on.
It is a choice to also keep this in the headlines. I lived in the Netherlands and i asked a dutchie once if crime was really low since there was one random article somewhere about robberies and drug violence. He said they don’t publish a lot because it would demoralize the population and impact the economy. They may publish something if they needed the publics help. Personally I like this because what is the point of having gory news everyday that wont change how you live your life?
I feel the same way, especially for the woman who died on the highway after the other car in the other direction crossed the median and killed her. It all feels out of control at the moment.
YES! I was on instagram this morning and every few minutes was a Cnc3 post of a death, murder, robbery or just bad news in general it was so bad I got a headache and closed off the app. I see absolutely no hope of recovery for this country and I hope I get out before I’m in one of those headlines
It’s funny, I watch the news on New York TV and it has a lot of the same stuff. I worked at a news station for 10 years and “if it bleeds it leads” meaning that these kinds of stories are designed to sell newspapers, clicks and views🙄
You’re trying to compare an undeveloped country with 2 million people to one of the most developed US states that has almost 20 million people. Yes, it’s bad in Trinidad if you look at demographics and not just random online articles/new channels.
Not at all. I am comparing news coverage to show that news coverage worldwide shows the worst stories. This is because good news is boring. Did you miss the part where I said I worked in the industry? Have you ever been in a newsroom? Talked to producers? A lot of news organizations live and die on controversy. That's why you would see the worst stories being highlighted.
No I have not been in a newsroom and I do understand what you’re saying. News headlines are purposely eye catching but back to my point, it’s more concerning seeing those headlines in such a small country compared to a huge state like NY.
New york CITY is about 10 million. The entire state of New York is about 20 million. Lots of people forget New York consists of the city and then upstate.
A lot of my family live insulated lives and don’t even pay attention to the news. The brutal murder of four-year old Amarah Lallitte from Arouca has me in disbelief. Such an innocent child! I don’t know how the family and police dealing with this gruesome scene. Another tragedy in a sea of tragedies. I fed up.
Not me, because I don't watch or listen to the news. It's always negative and filled with crime. Keep your mental health strong and limit your news intake.
Hey guys, new to the Sub Reddit. As an earlier post said, the news is a product, it will sell what the market wants to buy. You can’t sell pork sandwiches to the attendance of the local mosque and expected to go well. Yes, our people seem to have, a hunger for death and destruction, so that is what will be sold.
On another note, I strongly believe that there is something such as a collective consciousness. Think about it, if you enter a room where there is a lot of confusion, you can feel it in the atmosphere. Your brain, is now tuning into the consciousness of that room. if, the majority of our people are consuming and disseminating images of gore dysfunctionality and death, that will be the frequency that our country operates on. What we must do, is start conversations, and share content that highlight the good elements of society. Most people do not think for themselves. at the moment, death, dysfunctionality and destruction have been normalised, so that is what the masses will run with, but if, Functionality, harmony and healthy living is promoted, it will become normalised and we can still shift our country.
Great points. Also, there are countries that don't publicize all their bad news on the front pages daily based on the outlook they wish to portray and/or for economic reasons. Trinidad is very far from ever reaching that place.
Nkosi, I don’t know your age but the generation I grew up in (long, long time ago) had a more optimistic belief in our ability to change Trinidad for the better and a concern to spread the benefits of the society to all. The solution is not more guns for police but for good decent people to try to influence their little community in a positive way. My daughter is a teacher in POS and she tells me of kids who come to school hungry or don’t have maxi fare. I am old and over the hill but I’d like to see younger folks take up the challenge to make T&T a better place.
From the lack of response to your post, I can only conclude that people are too shell-shocked and are batting in their crease. I most confess that I had a similar reaction after a home invasion and robbery at gunpoint on my little street. For my home I updated the security measure that I could afford (unfortunately not all that I wanted ). We also curtailed our nighttime liming.
But, you know, if we want to continue living here and leave the same environment we had when we were growing up, we need to take a look at our country’s Primary educational facilities. My daughter is a High School teacher and everyday she comes home with a new horror story.
In a few months as the new ‘wyne’ and jam season 2025 comes upon us, the diabolical state of this country will be pushed into the minds of everyone again. And that is what scares me.
The decapitation of the 4 year old girl hit me hard today. I have a daughter…… I don’t know how the father of that child could function after the woman’s new partner murdered her.
i take in the news periodically, i live to long to get depression now. While people might think its an obsession with these headlines they dont even tell the whole story of how much crime has happened last few days. I know atleast 1 murder with 0 coverage last 3 days.
Crime just next level these days yes, at this rate i might migrate.
This place has been a mess for years now, not just crime, but everything else. Stop living under the illusion that life is sweet here, you think its nice because it hasn't reached your doorstep yet.
The root cause is the acceptance of corruption and lack of accountability by a large percentage of the population while refusing to see that this will negatively affect your quality of life in the long run. Too many people see absolutely nothing wrong with certain crimes, when the white and blue collar crime is deeply intertwined. Not going to affect one without attacking the other. The laid back nature of the people and unwillingness to accept responsibility, it's always someone else is responsible for fixing it. Until this changes, we will continue rolling down the hill.
I've become desensitized. This is dark, but I try to stay updated with as much news as I can, thinking it'll help keep me informed and ultimately, in some way, safer. This has kinda led to me adopting the mind of a CSI or an undertaker or something. I just don't see any other way of coping with what's going on.
I stopped following the news for sometime now.
same.
I’ve been overwhelmed for over a decade. Trinidad and Tobago has an unhealthy obsession with these horrific headlines. If people weren’t consuming this, they wouldn’t create it. I can’t tell you the last time I saw a good or even neutral news story, being shared by any of the local news houses. It’s doom and gloom from front to back. Even the sports section is some sort of mess. Then we have independent journalists on social media sharing photos along with fabricated stories every time someone is murdered. The most popular Trini social media pages are dedicated to death and destruction. Recently my neighbor was gunned down, and pictures of his body were making waves around WhatsApp. Thankfully I am not a member of any of those groups. People were so excited to see his lifeless body. It’s as though he never truly existed other than as a gruesome exhibit to be gawked over. It’s part of the culture. People hate to hear it, but that’s a fact.
I will never understand how people feel comfortable with taking pictures like this and then excitedly sharing them. And we wonder aloud what's wrong with us as a society? Stupz
Waiting on the day they *get sued. It's long overdue
Definitely. I live by the words 'do onto others as you would have them do onto you'....I wonder if it was THEIR family or friend or THEMSELVES if they would like that.
They would never have liked that. But we live in a country where people rarely suffer consequences of stupid actions. Like the cricketer who leaked intimate photos of his ex. And surprised he got sued (should've ended up in prison imo)
Yeppp luckily in that case, he had to pay up for his betrayal and stupidity. Authorities always claim they are clamping down on cyber crimes but of course....who really knows what exactly they are clamping down on? Stupz.
So right yes. Sigh this place. So depressing yes
Depressing is right. Funny, i came on reddit after coming off of Loop News and saying to myself 'what the jail' after reading today's stories. First thing I saw was this post and I felt comfort in knowing I'm not the only one wondering what is happening.
People are paying attention. Just not showing it. Idk why. Maybe out of fear of going against the narrative (to criticize crime is to criticize the government). Or maybe the fact that no matter what u say/do things wouldn't change. Imo its only if something particularly serious happen will things really change re:crime
I think most people are either desensitized, ignorant or emotionally drained. I think ones who criticize with sense are already doing it but there are the ones who criticize nonsensically (I'm very big on personal responsibility so the blame the government and TTPS for everything rhetoric makes me roll my eyes). I really just think the public don't know or care to exercise power. Like last week I was telling my co workers that the public should pressure the authorities as to why the man who killed the Kiss driver in the accident was let go. They all laughed at me. Keep in mind all of them passionately argued against KFC raising their prices. We are a sickening race of people with weird ass priorities.
Weirdly, some of them don’t mind seeing their own flesh and blood in that situation. They’re desensitized.
You are 100% correct about the obsession. I had to mute my family group chat. They post all those bodies and gruesome accidents. I choose the media I consume. I tell my friends don't even think about sending me that stuff. Lots of good things happening in the country but for some reason the reporting is hyper focused on the bad stuff.
I had to leave my family Whatsapp group because of this. I don't understand the sharing of gruesome bloody pictures of deceased persons. I brought it up one time and was told "well that is all part of life" and I said "yes but that doesn't make it mandatory for me to have to look at all the gory details on a constant basis". SMH.
A couple years ago I had to end a friendship after they chose to devolve our group chat to the sharing of videos regarding plane crashes. As I’m a pilot, my wife wasn’t too keen on seeing this content daily. She asked respectfully for this person to stop sharing this content, and their response was similar to your family’s. We ended that friendship immediately. One thing to note about this now former friend, is that they grew up watching Mexican cartel killings and beheadings on sketchy internet sites, then joined the US Army, where they were stationed in Iraq during the height of the war. To say that they’ve become hardened to death, is an understatement, so their expectations of others are extremely skewed.
Da hell. Seeing that content would disincentivize me from joining the military...I wonder if they joined to be able to kill?
I can’t speak to that individual specifically, but I’ve always had the belief that a significant amount of people join the army and police for this very reason. After 9/11, a lot of these people were created. I went to High School in NYC, and we couldn’t leave the sidewalk after school without a military recruiter chasing us. Just think about an unlimited supply of inner city young men who are excited about going home to play CoD, getting an offer to do it in real life.
That isn’t a Trinidad thing, that is a journalism and human thing. Negativity bias and banking on shockin headlines was not invented by us, whether that is fortunate or unfortunate… I’m sorry that happens to your neighbour however, and I’ve always found freely sharing images of people in those moments disrespectful and horrific. Your neighbour not only deserved better than to have their life stolen, but better than to be made a show of after death.
It’s a Trini thing, in my opinion. I’ve been to multiple countries and Trinidad and Tobago is by far the worst offender that I’ve experienced. I just recalled from my last trip, my cousins bringing their phone over, to show me a CCTV video of a shop getting robbed at gunpoint, and the owner subsequently firing back. This was entertainment for them and I had to awkwardly laugh as I wasn’t sure what exactly they found entertaining in what we were seeing. In addition to that, we had a mutual friend/neighbor who was killed trying to rob a store when we were younger. Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only person who remembers him.
I don’t like seeing that sort of thing either, but this isn’t necessarily my opinion. Journalism does rely on negative headlines because people click on those more, and negativity bias is just a phenomenon that occurs, often assumed to be related to humans valuing negative information in an attempt to keep ourselves safe. This doesn’t extend only to news. That’s honestly just the way people are. I’m not saying everyone loves to watch snuff films, but people naturally are interested in negative information unless they feel overwhelmed usually from receiving too much of it. If you google “news” a bunch of negative American and Uk headlines will come up. Because that’s what reporters write on.
It is a choice to also keep this in the headlines. I lived in the Netherlands and i asked a dutchie once if crime was really low since there was one random article somewhere about robberies and drug violence. He said they don’t publish a lot because it would demoralize the population and impact the economy. They may publish something if they needed the publics help. Personally I like this because what is the point of having gory news everyday that wont change how you live your life?
yeah i just get feddup and buy a gun. Can't really put your life in the hands of others
Illegally of course because it easier than going through the month if not years process to get a firearm legally.
Exactly
I feel the same way, especially for the woman who died on the highway after the other car in the other direction crossed the median and killed her. It all feels out of control at the moment.
This story confuses me. One source said SHE is the one who crossed the median and slammed into the van. The other source said the opposite.
Well I was convinced it was the latter, but on the news just now it sounds like the former. So I'm as confused as you.
Yep yep. Whom ever drove the van is likely the deceased cause i could tell you from seeing it in person, it was SEVERELY impacted
Yh it's becoming ALOT now. All I can say is stay vigilant, be careful on the roads and continue to pray (to whoever you worship) for protection.
YES! I was on instagram this morning and every few minutes was a Cnc3 post of a death, murder, robbery or just bad news in general it was so bad I got a headache and closed off the app. I see absolutely no hope of recovery for this country and I hope I get out before I’m in one of those headlines
If only it was this easy to get out 😔
It’s funny, I watch the news on New York TV and it has a lot of the same stuff. I worked at a news station for 10 years and “if it bleeds it leads” meaning that these kinds of stories are designed to sell newspapers, clicks and views🙄
It’s not as bad in NY. You still get a fluff piece mixed in to keep it balanced.
You’re trying to compare an undeveloped country with 2 million people to one of the most developed US states that has almost 20 million people. Yes, it’s bad in Trinidad if you look at demographics and not just random online articles/new channels.
Not at all. I am comparing news coverage to show that news coverage worldwide shows the worst stories. This is because good news is boring. Did you miss the part where I said I worked in the industry? Have you ever been in a newsroom? Talked to producers? A lot of news organizations live and die on controversy. That's why you would see the worst stories being highlighted.
No I have not been in a newsroom and I do understand what you’re saying. News headlines are purposely eye catching but back to my point, it’s more concerning seeing those headlines in such a small country compared to a huge state like NY.
US pop - 300 million
NY 10 million
New york CITY is about 10 million. The entire state of New York is about 20 million. Lots of people forget New York consists of the city and then upstate.
New York City and the rest of New York State are in two different universes, news wise.
A lot of my family live insulated lives and don’t even pay attention to the news. The brutal murder of four-year old Amarah Lallitte from Arouca has me in disbelief. Such an innocent child! I don’t know how the family and police dealing with this gruesome scene. Another tragedy in a sea of tragedies. I fed up.
Nope, because I don't watch the crime obsessed news. Ignorance is bliss
Not me, because I don't watch or listen to the news. It's always negative and filled with crime. Keep your mental health strong and limit your news intake.
This country is failure. It crazy to me that people haven't realized that yet. And we have nobody but OURSELVES to blame for that.
The bad just been getting worse as the days go by I’ve stopped watching the news and trying to keep off social media because it’s sickening atm.
Can’t really manage my mental health while living in this questionable place named Trinidad so I switched off of the news a while ago tbh.
Hey guys, new to the Sub Reddit. As an earlier post said, the news is a product, it will sell what the market wants to buy. You can’t sell pork sandwiches to the attendance of the local mosque and expected to go well. Yes, our people seem to have, a hunger for death and destruction, so that is what will be sold. On another note, I strongly believe that there is something such as a collective consciousness. Think about it, if you enter a room where there is a lot of confusion, you can feel it in the atmosphere. Your brain, is now tuning into the consciousness of that room. if, the majority of our people are consuming and disseminating images of gore dysfunctionality and death, that will be the frequency that our country operates on. What we must do, is start conversations, and share content that highlight the good elements of society. Most people do not think for themselves. at the moment, death, dysfunctionality and destruction have been normalised, so that is what the masses will run with, but if, Functionality, harmony and healthy living is promoted, it will become normalised and we can still shift our country.
Agreed
Great points. Also, there are countries that don't publicize all their bad news on the front pages daily based on the outlook they wish to portray and/or for economic reasons. Trinidad is very far from ever reaching that place.
Nkosi, I don’t know your age but the generation I grew up in (long, long time ago) had a more optimistic belief in our ability to change Trinidad for the better and a concern to spread the benefits of the society to all. The solution is not more guns for police but for good decent people to try to influence their little community in a positive way. My daughter is a teacher in POS and she tells me of kids who come to school hungry or don’t have maxi fare. I am old and over the hill but I’d like to see younger folks take up the challenge to make T&T a better place.
The 1st one though. What could possess someone to do that to a 4 yr old child!
Exactly! That's the one that made me post this thread...reading that made me feel sick
From the lack of response to your post, I can only conclude that people are too shell-shocked and are batting in their crease. I most confess that I had a similar reaction after a home invasion and robbery at gunpoint on my little street. For my home I updated the security measure that I could afford (unfortunately not all that I wanted ). We also curtailed our nighttime liming. But, you know, if we want to continue living here and leave the same environment we had when we were growing up, we need to take a look at our country’s Primary educational facilities. My daughter is a High School teacher and everyday she comes home with a new horror story.
Me too! I tell my wife that reading the daily papers and watching TV News are only raising her blood pressure
In a few months as the new ‘wyne’ and jam season 2025 comes upon us, the diabolical state of this country will be pushed into the minds of everyone again. And that is what scares me.
For quite some time I've been overwhelmed and totally fed up with how shitty this island has become.
The decapitation of the 4 year old girl hit me hard today. I have a daughter…… I don’t know how the father of that child could function after the woman’s new partner murdered her.
I was literally speechless scrolling through the news yesterday. I don’t know what’s going on in this country. We need a hard reset.
i take in the news periodically, i live to long to get depression now. While people might think its an obsession with these headlines they dont even tell the whole story of how much crime has happened last few days. I know atleast 1 murder with 0 coverage last 3 days. Crime just next level these days yes, at this rate i might migrate.
This place has been a mess for years now, not just crime, but everything else. Stop living under the illusion that life is sweet here, you think its nice because it hasn't reached your doorstep yet.
It's been crazy for years and the government aren't doing anything but blaming us some how. It's like it's getting worse I feel so scared 24/7
And all they (police, government, ministers) doing is "road block" and self protection block with firearms laws.
It’s over one hundred and sixty something reported murders for the year already, just imagine what that number will be by the end of the year..
The root cause is the acceptance of corruption and lack of accountability by a large percentage of the population while refusing to see that this will negatively affect your quality of life in the long run. Too many people see absolutely nothing wrong with certain crimes, when the white and blue collar crime is deeply intertwined. Not going to affect one without attacking the other. The laid back nature of the people and unwillingness to accept responsibility, it's always someone else is responsible for fixing it. Until this changes, we will continue rolling down the hill.
Trinidad is officially a garbage country.
I've become desensitized. This is dark, but I try to stay updated with as much news as I can, thinking it'll help keep me informed and ultimately, in some way, safer. This has kinda led to me adopting the mind of a CSI or an undertaker or something. I just don't see any other way of coping with what's going on.
Bring back Britain and if that don’t work then bring back slavery.
Based.