Monday, April 6, 2009

Faith In Humanity (And My Lack There Of)

I am a regular reader of /Film (http://www.slashfilm.com). Today, they ran a story (link to original story) about a guy in his twenties that shot himself during a "Watchmen" screening. I didn't particularly think that the story warranted being on a film enthusiast site, but what do I know. I saw that there were over 60 comments on the story. I was a little worried what comments people could be leaving. I clicked through and read the comments. They left me with a disgusting feeling in my stomach, and tears running down my cheeks. Again, a kid has just killed himself. The headline of the story read: "24 Year Old Man Kills Himself During Watchmen Screening." Here are some of the comments:

"am i evil being that i could not stop laughing when i read that headline?"
- user gooso

"Haha"
- user Andrew Buckley

"damn that movie blew but come on man"
- unknown user

"So they employees had to clean up human bean juice? Eww...."
- user Homero Arellano

Recently, I've been trying not to swear, but what the fuck is wrong with you people? Supposedly, the thing that makes us inherently human is our ability to empathize, so should I waste time calling the comments inhumane when they are coming from non-humans? I just feel sick. I don't know what to think right now. One user, an employee at the theater, actually spoke up and I thank him for it:

"I work at that Regal and most of these comments are outrageously offensive. The fact that this story is posted and that people are making fucking jokes and laughing makes me sick to my stomach. This is a real story, that affected countless people and will forever change a place that my friends and I call our second home. The picture that accompanies this article completely disgusts me and is unbelievably disrespectful. If you don't have a heart, at least fake it for the sake of the rest of humanity.

My thoughts are with that man, his family and friends, the witnesses to this tragic event, and to all my fellow co-workers."
- user Static178

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Tuesday's With Eliza

Here's one of those pseudo-artificial intelligence programs. This one could use some work, but then again, so could I.