Reading about Jack the Ripper, and one of the favorite suspects is Walter Sickert because he’s a painter who became associated with JTR. A painter-serial killer is a pretty grim combo, but I believe the theory was introduced in the late 70s and discredited.
But it got me thinking how you could live a seemingly normal life, maybe even be a random witness to a crime. But then some hack 100 years later will comb through the files and see if your name was ever the main subject, and if not, suddenly they got 500 pages dedicated to your life and shady behavior. Then it reaches the NYT Best Seller.
Investigators and researchers may dismiss it or even acquit you if the author is convincing enough. But still. Imagine your only legacy is showing up in the search results of murder or terrorist suspects.
remember when Reddit tried to find the Boston marathon bomber and identified the wrong guy
yep they saw the guy it actually was and were like "hmmm, must be this other muslim guy we know went missing. he must have went missing to plan it." what's worse is
CW:Self-Harm
the guy they accused actually comitted suicide months before the marathon and the heartbroken family was suddenly harassed by thousands of redditors
AFAIK this the shark jump moment of the "yay we did it reddit" meme phrase. Before the Boston Bomber, it was said regularly in a Le Reddit Fedora Atheist manor, but after this, we just say "yay we did it reddit" whenever something bad is accomplished.
This pretty much changed the perception of Reddit trying things within the website greatly. Before then, it was a "we're the Internet, we can get shit done". Now it's "we're SO bad at getting shit done".
They did it reddit!