The unfortunate rise of “true crime” as a leading podcast genre doesn’t reflect well on our progress as a society. Other than the particular mode of delivery, it’s nothing new: Television shows like “48 Hours” have thrived for decades on the same formula that sold sensationalist newspapers a century or more ago. Some people just like to digest their scary stories with a side of real-life misfortune.
■ We have to take care not to let that numb us to the realities of truly sinister things actually taking place in real time around us, like the unconscionable kidnapping of Ukrainian children by Russia. It’s behavior so vile and so loathsome that it eclipses any story that a podcaster might “rip from the headlines”.
■ More importantly, it is a form of cruelty we can do something to stop -- or, at least, one we can monitor until it can be reversed. The Yale School of Public Health operates the Humanitarian Research Lab, which “generates evidence for operational response and accountability in humanitarian crises”, in part by preserving data in a variety of forms that could help to correct injustices and prosecute those responsible. Literally tens of thousands of children have been abducted by Russia.
■ But the lab needs funding to conduct its work, and that funding might be gone or disrupted by year-end. It’s not even a lot of money, in the scheme of things: About $25 million, or about the cost of six Patriot missiles ($3.9 million apiece for just the missiles, not including the launchers).
■ Russia’s kidnapping of Ukrainian children is true crime of a monstrous variety on an almost unfathomable scale. If we cared more about the actual victims of crime than about the (dubious) entertainment value to be experienced from reading or listening to “true crime” stories, then it would be easy to convince the government to fund the Yale program without a moment’s hesitation -- purely in the interest of justice and human rights.
■ The lab is trying to fundraise on its own, but of all the worthy things a government like ours should be able to afford, high on that list should be an almost trivial amount in the pursuit of reuniting children with their families and ultimately holding war criminals accountable for their savage cruelty.