Senseless Posting of a Tragedy

 Image from www.ocregister.com

In our grandfathers' days an awful attack may be of vicious gossip causing unwanted ruination and havoc upon some one's good name. This form of unkind communication would spread like wildfire using the advanced technology at the time-the telephone. It could be seen that those delighting in the art of ungodly gossip loved the attention they had gained, but had little regard of their subjects of the discussions. There was not much of an social insurance for recovery of their victims other than the truth being revealed after much loss and damage. My learning there is good gossip existing as well.
These may be in the way of hearing how a woman trumpeting against a dreadful cancer, an surprise engagement of a young couple or a boy overcoming a learning disability. Unfortunately the human taste for dark, morbid information and imagery advanced with technology and excelled on the Internet. Gossip may include personal details individuals and families wish not to be published. And the world wide web has rubbed it in our faces such morally illegal data via ill-considerate people highlighting the ugliness of human behavior in tasteless disregard for life. The case of Nikki Castsouras after her fatal, tragic accident tell us how it was done.

You may wish to examine the May 4Th, 2009 copy of Newsweek. It features the article on page 38 written by Jessica Bennett entitled, 'A Tragedy That Won't Fade Away'. Christos and Lesili Castsouras received news so often causing sudden, heart-full pain to parents-the death of their child. Eighteen year old Nikki Catsouras of Orange County, California was killed in a gruesome, auto accident. The results of the accident so horrible the local coroner would not allowed the Catsouras to identify their daughter's body.
Losing their child was enough of an impact would you not say. Lesili and Christos with their other daughters, Danielle, Christiana and Kira had be forced to confront senseless reminders of Nikki's untimely passing. You may say it was an attack against them in surviving the loss of Nikki. Somehow by means of two, California Highway Patrol officers (and 2 CHP dispatchers) nine, digital photos of Nikki's graphic accident scene circulated on the Internet. This became a torment to the family who had done all possible to get the images removed including hiring a tech company, Reputation Defender to track and disable the photos in search engines. The Castsouras have a seemingly win-less battle. The family have no legal bite to get web sites to remove the photos. How could this unjustified circumstance of an grieving household ever be resolved?
The Catsouras had sued the California Highway Patrol Department. This will not force the heart-less, web site operators from taking the photos off their sites. The law suit would aid in sending a powerful message against leaking such images out to the public. This also might depend on us. One of my uncles stated many years ago at a meeting a person can select not to listen to bad gossip. He or she can simply walk away from it shunning peer pressure. Why not? Experts in social behaviors may had suggested listening to negative gossip may contribute to unhealthy emotions and relationships.

www.ocregister.com

We likely so have a choice too with disturbing or very personal images and details coming our way. A person does not have to longingly study these to understand his disapproval of them. And of course it might not be so urgent for a person to send them (e-mail, i-phone, etc) to his cousins or associate. Does it not make sense to avoid doing something that would needlessly offend us or our family? Cyber-aggressors had demonstrated their human nature by posting bloody accident photos on line without the surviving families' consent. What would be the picture of ourselves if we in some manner or another support or view their senseless avocation? The answer here may well depend on how each thinking individual exercise their conscious navigation toward what is bad or good. You may free free to reflect your viewpoints below-if you wish.