Digital platforms are witnessing a disturbing new trend: the monetization of mourning. But this isn’t just a tech issue—it’s a leadership crisis.
By Aubaid Ahmad Akhoon
In the quiet, digital corners of our modern world, a disturbing trend is emerging that challenges the very core of human decency: the exploitation of funeral videos for profit. What was once a sacred, private moment of farewell has, for some, become a commodity. Through the sharing of YouTube links and personal WhatsApp messages, individuals are bypassing legal and moral boundaries to monetize grief. As journalists observing this shift, we must ask ourselves what this says about our societal ethos and the direction in which our collective consciousness is moving.
This practice is more than just a breach of privacy or a violation of copyright laws; it is a profound failure of empathy. When a person’s final moments are reduced to “content” designed to generate clicks and revenue, we witness a dehumanizing detachment. It suggests a society where personal gain is prioritized over the fundamental respect we owe to the dead and the grieving. This exploitation turns the vulnerability of loss into a cold financial transaction, stripping away the solemnity that funerals have held since the dawn of civilization.
The responsibility for this trend does not lie solely with the creators. Social media platforms must face scrutiny for their role in hosting and incentivizing such content. While technology has the power to connect us, it also has the capacity to desensitize us. There is an urgent need for stricter enforcement of guidelines that protect the dignity of individuals during their most vulnerable moments. However, regulation alone is not the answer. We need a collective cultural shift—a return to a digital environment where respect for privacy is a shared value rather than an enforced rule.
Interestingly, this lack of moral compass in the digital age mirrors a broader crisis in leadership and education. The visionary poet and philosopher Allama Iqbal once lamented a generation of leaders who, despite their potential, became mere followers of their time. He noted that those who deserved to lead the modern age often possessed “worn-out brains,” choosing to drift with contemporary trends rather than guiding society with timeless wisdom. Today, we see a similar pattern in our educational systems and intellectual leadership.
Teachers and thinkers, who were once the stewards of ancient wisdom and sharp intellect, are increasingly being pulled toward the allure of modern trends at the expense of deep, transformative guidance. We are trading the “compass” of time-tested values for the “GPS” of current fads. This departure from intellectual stewardship raises a critical question: is our pursuit of the “modern” leaving the younger generation without a moral or intellectual anchor? When education becomes merely the learning of facts rather than the “training of the mind to think,” as Albert Einstein famously suggested, we lose the ability to distinguish between what is profitable and what is right.
Iqbal used the metaphor of the “rubies of Badakhshan” to describe the potential of a student. He argued that the purpose of education is to polish these gems into individuals of great worth. Yet, he warned that if the “sun” (the teacher) has fled from its course, its light becomes useless. In today’s context, when educators and influencers prioritize following the crowd over leading with principle, students become “wandering souls” lost in a sea of information without the light of wisdom to guide them.
This connection between the exploitation of grief and the decline of intellectual leadership is not accidental. Both stem from a thinning of our collective consciousness. As Nelson Mandela noted, education is the most powerful weapon to change the world, but that weapon is only effective if it is used to foster a sense of moral responsibility. If our education and our media do not teach us to respect the sanctity of life and death, they are failing in their most basic mission.
To navigate these challenges, we must use the tools of our age—literature, art, and digital media—to bridge the gaps of empathy. Through mindful writing and honest discourse, we can challenge the “monetization of everything” and advocate for a return to decency. We have the ability to choose what we amplify. Instead of sharing content that exploits, we can share ideas that enlighten.
The path forward requires us to be more than just consumers of content; we must be guardians of values. Whether we are posting on a social network or teaching in a classroom, our actions contribute to the collective consciousness of the world. By choosing to honor the privacy of the grieving and the wisdom of the past, we can build a society that is not just technologically advanced, but humanly enriched. Let us strive for a world where our progress is measured not by the revenue we generate from clicks, but by the compassion we show to one another in our most difficult hours.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of this newspaper. The author can be reached at [email protected]
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