The Writing Maven

William Chapman was 23. He was mentally ill. He died in a tiger enclosure. His family asked for privacy. The President of the United States made content out of it. Honestly, I don’t know where to start with this one. Every time I think we’ve hit the bottom, someone kicks a hole in the floor and proves me wrong. A 23-year-old man is dead. His name was William Chapman. His family is devastated, and I mean that for real, not in the way a PR statement says it. They asked people to stop sharing the video of his final moments because it was causing them “severe distress at an exceptionally vulnerable time.” They described him as a bright, warm, engaging young man who was struggling with serious mental illness and had been prescribed strong medication. That’s the context. At the center of this is a human being, not content. So what did the President of the United States do? He posted the video to his 13 million followers on Truth Social, with the caption “Don’t ever mess with nature! Presiden...