Sometimes you just just shake your head and wonder about people.
Yesterday I received a phone call and several e-mails from people in the Interboro community.
They wanted to alert me to something that has been going on in the wake of the tragedy there in which two young girls were killed by an Acela train.
It seems someone hacked into Facebook pages that were set up to honor the memory of Gina Gentile and Vanessa Dorwart. They posted horrific sentiments, and even some worse images, if that is imginable.
They apparently did the same to a page that honored William Bradley V, the young man who was killed a month before when he was struck while riding his bike home from school.
I am not totally unfamiliar with this kind of sentiment. Every day on our Web site comments are posted on stories that simply defy belief.
We take them down as fast as we can. Very often they are posted right back again. We ban the commenters. They simply sign on under other names or e-mail accounts.
A lot of the comments posted on the stories we did on the suicides would fall into this category.
I can only imagine the kind of hurt those comments heaped on families already suffering about the worst that life has to offer.
And I can only shake my head and wonder what kind of people would do such a thing.
There are many things I like about the online world. Unfeeling people who get their kicks by posting vicious comments under the veil of anonymity are not among them.
I realize there are people who disagree with a lot of what we do here at the newspaper every day.
But we always put our name to what we write. Don’t like it? Call me and we can talk about it.
But to use the safety of the anonymous cyber-world to deliver such cruel ephitets isn’t journalism. It isn’t even taking part in a healthy dialog.
It’s just evil. Unfortunately, it’s also now part of my job. I sometimes feel like the Marshal Dillon, trying to ride herd on the Wild Wild West.
I have nothing by empathy toward the families in Interboro who have been suffering now for these past few weeks.
It is my hope that our coverage has not heaped more suffering on them.
Clearly that is not a unanimous opinion. Some people simply can’t stop themselves from adding to their hurt.
It’s part of the world we live in. It’s not pretty, but it’s out there.
Call it a brave new world.
Actually, there’s very little brave about it.
Yesterday I received a phone call and several e-mails from people in the Interboro community.
They wanted to alert me to something that has been going on in the wake of the tragedy there in which two young girls were killed by an Acela train.
It seems someone hacked into Facebook pages that were set up to honor the memory of Gina Gentile and Vanessa Dorwart. They posted horrific sentiments, and even some worse images, if that is imginable.
They apparently did the same to a page that honored William Bradley V, the young man who was killed a month before when he was struck while riding his bike home from school.
I am not totally unfamiliar with this kind of sentiment. Every day on our Web site comments are posted on stories that simply defy belief.
We take them down as fast as we can. Very often they are posted right back again. We ban the commenters. They simply sign on under other names or e-mail accounts.
A lot of the comments posted on the stories we did on the suicides would fall into this category.
I can only imagine the kind of hurt those comments heaped on families already suffering about the worst that life has to offer.
And I can only shake my head and wonder what kind of people would do such a thing.
There are many things I like about the online world. Unfeeling people who get their kicks by posting vicious comments under the veil of anonymity are not among them.
I realize there are people who disagree with a lot of what we do here at the newspaper every day.
But we always put our name to what we write. Don’t like it? Call me and we can talk about it.
But to use the safety of the anonymous cyber-world to deliver such cruel ephitets isn’t journalism. It isn’t even taking part in a healthy dialog.
It’s just evil. Unfortunately, it’s also now part of my job. I sometimes feel like the Marshal Dillon, trying to ride herd on the Wild Wild West.
I have nothing by empathy toward the families in Interboro who have been suffering now for these past few weeks.
It is my hope that our coverage has not heaped more suffering on them.
Clearly that is not a unanimous opinion. Some people simply can’t stop themselves from adding to their hurt.
It’s part of the world we live in. It’s not pretty, but it’s out there.
Call it a brave new world.
Actually, there’s very little brave about it.
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