Suicide by Internet

What are the normal methods of killing oneself?  Slitting a wrist.  Hanging.  Gunshot.  Deliberate drug overdose.  Falling on a sword.  Drawing a weapon on police.  Deliberately driving the wrong way on an interstate highway.  Have I missed any?

But what if you have no intention of killing yourself, yet do something stupid and public, and have your name and face plastered all over the Internet as a Bad Guy unworthy of redemption?  Child molesters--or people merely accused of child molestation--are prime targets and become guilty in the Court of Public Opinion regardless of the facts.  Lock him up and throw away the key!  Hang him by his genitals--or even cut them off!  I give you the case of the Jon Benet Ramsey murder.  The little girl's parents were under so much suspicion that their lives as wage-earning citizens were basically over.  The case has never been solved.  The mother died of cancer before further DNA evidence exonerated the parents...but not before they had already been tried and convicted by the public.  How does one carry on in life with that much of a bull's-eye painted on him/her?

The latest trending story on the Internet is about a Minnesota dentist who paid big bucks to an African safari company for a trophy hunt.  He claims that, for all he knew,  permits were obtained and all was well.  He bagged a male lion and had it beheaded (probably for taxidermy purposes).  I haven't followed the story closely because, frankly, I don't know how anyone could kill an animal as endangered as lions.  Turns out that the lion he killed was a favorite in a preserve...collared and followed regularly.  The lion was even named:  Cecil.   And the dentist's name is now Mudd!

He has issued an apology of sorts--to his patients--because guess what?  This has received so much attention on the Internet that he can no longer conduct business.  I suspect there have been threats on his life.  His website has been taken down.  He's had to refer his patients to other dentists.  He's probably gone into hiding.  He says he had no idea that the creature that he killed was a local favorite...but it doesn't matter.  The animal is still dead, and the Internet is still humming about it.  All of the animal rights people are irate.  Essentially, the guy has committed virtual suicide, and the Internet was the weapon--all in the interest of his hunting hobby.  (Reports say that he paid $50k Euro for the opportunity.)

There are lessons to be learned here.  One is that we aren't alone.  The Internet sees all.  We can no longer assume that what we do isn't viewed by surveillance cameras or reported on Internet sites.  Another is that we are no longer free in the world community to spout our Freedom of Speech rights without drawing the wrath of other countries who don't view us in the same way we view ourselves.  Yet another--and this is a tough nut to crack--is that we, as a nation, have a chip on our shoulder.  I shudder to think about how many Facebook posts I have seen from people who stand their ground, no matter whom they are offending, saying (in essence), if you don't like me, or our country, or our way of doing things, or the way I am raising my kids...or whatever...you can just LEAVE.  I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen, so what is the message?  Don't mess with me?  You don't count?  I'd rather have a trophy lion head than a career?

I'm not judging the guy.  Whether or not he was aware of what he was doing when he killed that lion, life as he knew it is over, thanks to the Internet.  Maybe we'll ALL learn something from it!  The speed and connectivity of social media has changed society before we were ready for it, perhaps, but it is now the lay of the way things are.  May God have mercy on all of us!!