From this NYT article:
…If the Internet has increased the ease and anonymity of communication, it has also weakened inhibition and decorum.
“When they’re face to face at a funeral, people don’t have the guts to do something like that and write something offensive,”said Justin Rowan, embalmer for the Freyvogel Sons Funeral Home in Pittsburgh.”On the Internet, people might not even know the guy, but they might feel free to write something.”…
…Pamela Tay said she felt ill when she discovered a discussion on MyDeathSpace about her 18-year-old daughter, Kelli Laine, who was killed by a drunken driver in 2001.
“It was Mother’s Day when I came across it, and that is the hardest day of the year for any mother who has lost their child,”Ms. Tay said. “They were joking about her sexually. They were saying it was my fault for letting Kelli go out that night.”
After she complained about the postings, they were taken down, only to re-emerge later.
“It is so incredible to me that people say these things,”Ms. Tay said.
Anyone who participates regularly in the feminist blogosphere surprised by this? No, I didn’t think so.
–Ann Bartow
