Death Takes a Holiday

12/04/20 • 32 min

When one thinks of vacations, images of beaches and Disney World come to mind. But there are those who seek a darker path. Dark tourism, as it is called, is a growing industry. It caters to those interested in sites where great calamities, historical atrocities and horrific crimes have taken place, such as Auschwitz and Pompeii and even the Manson and Jack the Ripper murders. Jeffrey Podoshen, a professor of marketing at Franklin and Marshall College, has done extensive research on dark tourism. On this episode of The Human Condition with Lisa Gregory, part two of a three-part series discussing Podoshen's research, he talks about why so many are intrigued by these darker places. He also talks about where we draw the line between selfies at Auschwitz and commemorating and respecting these places and embracing the lessons for humanity that many of them hold.

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The Allure of the Macabre

Death Metal and Black Metal music, violent video games, graphic horror movies and even infant onesies decorated with skulls. Society is becoming more and more fixated on death as our world becomes ever more unpredictable and chaotic. Jeffrey Podoshen, a professor of marketing at Franklin and Marshall College, is one of the world's leading scholars on this very topic - death consumption. On this episode of The Human Condition with Lisa Gregory, part one of a three-part series discussing Podoshen's research not only on death consumption but on dark tourism, consumer behavior and materialism, he talks about our growing obsession with the macabre, and why it may not necessarily be a bad thing. After all, "Learning about death is learning about life," says Podoshen.

Next Episode

Keeping Up with the Joneses

From the ancient Egyptians to surprisingly even the Amish, we humans are driven by the appearance of having more and doing better than those around us. The middle class of modern day is especially drawn to the idea of keeping up or surpassing the Joneses. So, why are we so enamored with the idea of more and better? And, what impact is it having on our society? On this final episode of a three-part series exploring the research of Jeffrey Podoshen, a professor of marketing at Franklin and Marshall College, he talks about the allure of material things and the role marketing plays in convincing us that our value as human beings can be gauged by the material items we acquire. Even to our own detriment.