Random Thoughts

Something wicked this way comes…

My first reaction to the news that someone had hacked Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account was “Of course.” Honestly, at this point I would not be surprised at anything, no matter how illegal, immoral or cruel, the haters might do to this woman and her family.

That gawker.com would post the hacking results made perfect sense. They’re hand in glove with amoral folks like “perez hilton” and the like, pathetic souls whose daily lives are focused upon slander, gossip and depraved innuendo. Hurting other people brings them joy; disgust and pity are all I can muster for such individuals. I am not going to link to them here. It bothers me to give them any traffic, and I really do not want pingbacks from their ilk.

When I encounter such hatred (and unfortunately I have more than once on the Internet) I wonder what led to it in the first place. It might be simplistic of me, but I wonder what kind of childhood these people had. I have children of my own and I’d feel like ten kinds of a failure if one of them grew up to spend his or her life trying to cause discomfort, emotional pain, or outright ruin to other people’s reputations. I suppose there’s a story behind the ugliness that spawns such behavior. Charles Manson was a terribly neglected and abused baby, and look how he turned out.

Sometimes it helps to understand where human monsters come from, but it does not ever excuse their actions.

Michelle Malkin has a possible explanation for the Palin hacking. I find it believable. There are quite a few people out there with no moral boundaries to speak of, far too much time on their hands, and access to the Internet. I’ve seen the result from time to time, and it looks a lot like what “rubico” claims to have done.

Then again, maybe “rubico” is just blowing smoke.

Sometimes it’s very hard to know where reality begins and ends on the Internet. People post things all the time that they would never dare say in person to anyone. At least, I hope they wouldn’t say them in person. In the case of the Gawker, perhaps they would. Come to think of it, recently we’ve seen people say things about Mrs. Palin and her family which indicate they have no fear of repercussions and little or no conscience.

They apparently don’t care how their venomous behavior might reflect on Obama’s campaign either, that it might drive potential voters away from their candidate. Perhaps that’s because they really are not interested in helping Obama score a win, or caring much about the election at all, really. They’re all about hatred, and only about hatred.

Evil doesn’t have much to do with logic. It simply wants to destroy.

There’s a fight going on here beyond the political, and the closer we get to the election, the more I think all involved (including both parties’ candidates) are in some ways pawns in a much bigger battle.

When we lose sight of the humanity of others around us, when hurting others becomes “fun,” we’ve chosen a side in the battle. And it’s not the side I ever want to be on.

Something to meditate upon in these hate-filled times: Psalm 55.