A close neighbor and friend of the family was killed in a tractor accident on Saturday. I had already heard the whole story and the brutal details a couple days ago, because news travels fast out here in the country. I just happened to be perusing the article about it online from our local newspaper and there at the bottom of the article was the dreaded link to reader comments. It was full of know it all's and sarcastic comments from members of my local community who clearly had no grasp of the gravity of the entire situation. Stuff, like "stupid old man, he should have sold his old tractor and bought a new one with proper protective equipment, I drove a tractor once and I'd never do something like that." The kind of mindless drivel you'd expect to see on a youtube video, but not what I'd figured to see on a local news website especially considering it involved a human being's death and in a place where friends and family of the deceased were sure to see it. As a bit of a self admitted net junky, it really made me think, how much has the internet altered our way of thinking and our empathy for our fellow humans? Just curious if any of you have had a similar experience or more intellectual opinion on the matter. It's really getting under my skin, but no point in starting a flame war or returning insults on my local news feed, the way I see it, my neighbor and his family deserve better than that.