"misanthropy"
There are apparently extremely graphic photos of a girl that was killed in a car wreck in Ladera Ranch, CA circulating around the Internet.
I don't find that surprising in the least. There are many, many websites and forums out there that showcase this kind of thing; "snuff" images... real life gore. I've stumbled across some of them (the sites in general, not these particular pictures) in my excursions into the Internet's seedy underbelly. If you get off on that sort of thing, well... that's your business. I don't... so I avoid them like the plague. I've avoided watching, when I can, videos like the Daniel Pearl beheading, Saddam's hanging, any of those execution videos circulated by those insurgent groups over in Iraq, etc... just because... well, what good is there in ogling death?
Is it the whole rubbernecking effect, like when you see a car accident or flashing lights and slow down to see what happened? Are people obsessed with the "what if that was me" or "that could happen to me" mentality. I'll cop to slowing down to see an accident, but if help is there and injured people are involved I just go along. Viewing other people's misery or death like some sort of voyeur makes me feel dirty. As people that know me know, I'm nearly impossible to offend. And as people that read this blog know, I have no aversion to the offensive and to the just plain wrong.
I will add, though, that injury or pain caused because of the person's stupidity is exempt from this aversion... someone being tasered for being an ass or getting injured by attempting some Jackass-style stunt is fair game.
That said...
What I find completely and utterly despicable is that, in the case of this girl mentioned above, people have gone so far as to send these pictures to members of her family... via email (with taunting messages attached) and via SMS. The girl, Nikki, "suffered massive head trauma"... including the removal of parts of her head. The pictures were supposedly taken by the California Highway Patrol for investigative purposes... and then managed to find their way online. The CHP has yet to determine if the photos were theirs or not. I'd think this would be pretty easy and quick to figure out... so this smacks of some serious CoverYourAss work going down.
Said TheBarge, on Digg, who was brave enough to actually follow links posted to the pictures in question:
"Wow, holy crap. Ok, for anyone thinking about clicking on these, the first link is definitely the worst. The second and third involve lots of blood and some "tissue" on the pavement. The rest aren't quite as bad. Hell I almost couldn't even tell what that was in the first pic until I noticed the hair, and I think teeth/mouth. Yikes."
And people are sending these to her family.
Who does that? And why? What do you gain? Some sick thrill knowing you've upset people that are already grieving?
I just don't understand.
I'm reminded of Penny Arcade's "Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory", but I don't think that even covers the sort of sociopathic behavior that would make someone do something like that.
Consequently, the family now refuses to use the Internet... and are homeschooling some of their children because of the general pervasiveness of the photos and the fact that they might encounter them in places like their locker at school.
* * *
Oh, and isn't this lovely... apparently someone buried a dog alive in Pensacola, Florida.
Deep down I like to tell myself that every day, countless acts of goodness and selflessness occur around the world that never get covered or publicized. But events like these fill me with disgust and make me question the common decency of our species.
I don't find that surprising in the least. There are many, many websites and forums out there that showcase this kind of thing; "snuff" images... real life gore. I've stumbled across some of them (the sites in general, not these particular pictures) in my excursions into the Internet's seedy underbelly. If you get off on that sort of thing, well... that's your business. I don't... so I avoid them like the plague. I've avoided watching, when I can, videos like the Daniel Pearl beheading, Saddam's hanging, any of those execution videos circulated by those insurgent groups over in Iraq, etc... just because... well, what good is there in ogling death?
Is it the whole rubbernecking effect, like when you see a car accident or flashing lights and slow down to see what happened? Are people obsessed with the "what if that was me" or "that could happen to me" mentality. I'll cop to slowing down to see an accident, but if help is there and injured people are involved I just go along. Viewing other people's misery or death like some sort of voyeur makes me feel dirty. As people that know me know, I'm nearly impossible to offend. And as people that read this blog know, I have no aversion to the offensive and to the just plain wrong.
I will add, though, that injury or pain caused because of the person's stupidity is exempt from this aversion... someone being tasered for being an ass or getting injured by attempting some Jackass-style stunt is fair game.
That said...
What I find completely and utterly despicable is that, in the case of this girl mentioned above, people have gone so far as to send these pictures to members of her family... via email (with taunting messages attached) and via SMS. The girl, Nikki, "suffered massive head trauma"... including the removal of parts of her head. The pictures were supposedly taken by the California Highway Patrol for investigative purposes... and then managed to find their way online. The CHP has yet to determine if the photos were theirs or not. I'd think this would be pretty easy and quick to figure out... so this smacks of some serious CoverYourAss work going down.
Said TheBarge, on Digg, who was brave enough to actually follow links posted to the pictures in question:
"Wow, holy crap. Ok, for anyone thinking about clicking on these, the first link is definitely the worst. The second and third involve lots of blood and some "tissue" on the pavement. The rest aren't quite as bad. Hell I almost couldn't even tell what that was in the first pic until I noticed the hair, and I think teeth/mouth. Yikes."
And people are sending these to her family.
Who does that? And why? What do you gain? Some sick thrill knowing you've upset people that are already grieving?
I just don't understand.
I'm reminded of Penny Arcade's "Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory", but I don't think that even covers the sort of sociopathic behavior that would make someone do something like that.
Consequently, the family now refuses to use the Internet... and are homeschooling some of their children because of the general pervasiveness of the photos and the fact that they might encounter them in places like their locker at school.
* * *
Oh, and isn't this lovely... apparently someone buried a dog alive in Pensacola, Florida.
Deep down I like to tell myself that every day, countless acts of goodness and selflessness occur around the world that never get covered or publicized. But events like these fill me with disgust and make me question the common decency of our species.