Why Public Beheadings Get Millions Of Views By Frances Larson Analysis

Public beheadings are very gruesome and barbaric, nevertheless people still watch the videos online without feeling any remorse. In her talk: “Why Public Beheadings Get Millions of Views”, Frances Larson explores the historical content and the motives that stimulate people to watch. Although Larson doesn’t build her credibility, her perspective on why public beheadings get so many views, brings up many interesting historical and psychological arguments that mainly appeal to logical and emotional sentiment. Larson barely talks about her background experience, which weakens her credibility a lot, but at the same time with all the historical facts and her knowledge on the subject that she uses; her ethos builds up a little. Larson talks about her experience working in a museum called the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. The museum is well known for its display of shrunken heads from South America. She explains that while working there she came up with the idea for her talk. That’s all we learn about Larson in the talk, but according to the short biography found on the TED talk website: Larson is a graduate from the University of Oxford with a degree in anthropology. In addition,
She analyzes people’s behavioral conduct at the time of a public beheading. Whether people were watching the beheading in person or online their behaviors and emotions were the same. The evidence Larson shows is that: “…the majority of the people who come to see are either enthusiastic or, at best, unmoved. Disgust has been comparatively rare…” Today, when people watch videos of public beheadings they experience the same kind of emotions: “…the action takes place in a distant time and place, which gives the viewer a sense of detachment from what’s happening, a sense of separation.” That leads to people thinking it has nothing to do with them because it has already happened. Larson keeps on going with her appeal to