Don't Dehumanize the Dead

Last night my partner and I were watching an episode of Ghost Adventures where they visit Missouri State Penitentiary.  This show is problematic for many reasons, but it's fun to make fun of and critique.  However, episodes like this particularly rub me the wrong way because of the way they talk about and portray mental illness, suicide and death in general.

Their use of reenactments to tell the stories of how people died is little more than gross sensationalism to increase their views.  The way I see it, it's disrespectful to the deceased to show their death on TV.  Death is personal and, in many ways, nobody else's business.  Death shouldn't be entertainment.  If they had explicit permission from the family to portray their loved one's death in that way, I might feel better about it, but I'm almost certain the Ghost Adventures crew isn't that courteous.

The ableist language used by the GAC is upsetting as well.  Terms like "insane", "mentally deranged", and "crazy" are frequently used on the show.  There's nothing worse than the GAC going into an abandoned asylum for mental health and yelling slurs at the top of their lungs.
One of Zak Bagans' methods of gathering evidence is verbally antagonizing the dead, which I'm sure is good for views, but is detrimental in terms of showing respect.  His ignorance is also damaging to viewers like myself.  I'm mentally ill and suffer from chronic anxiety and depression.  Seeing people act out killing themselves on screen, and hearing Zak degrade the spirits of people who were also mentally ill is triggering and upsetting.  It's a reminder that I'm not always treated like a person because of chemical imbalances in my brain.

Mental illness is often sensationalized in horror movies and TV shows.  Mentally ill people are shown as scary, dangerous and uncontrollable.  Overall it's dehumanizing and unrealistic.  The media needs to stop feeding into this ableist representation.  We're more often a danger to ourselves than other people, and whatever we have going on in our heads is more frightening to us but still none of your goddamn business.

I have little respect for Zak as a person because of how he's presented himself professionally.  I often wonder why more social workers are not also paranormal investigators.  Having skills working with the living could also be very helpful for working with the dead.