Horrible! Loathsome!

Actually I just escaped looking at something really horrible on the internet. And I was guided to the site by none other than the doyen of respectable media - Newsweek! Brad Stone, in one of his recent articles posted on the magazines web site, wondered aloud who would ever want to view the horrible assasination videos posted on various web sites after the beheadings in Iraq, and then, almost as an afterthought, mentioned one site where these videos are available for download.

Now, understand: I have never had inclinations towards the macabre -- sure, I watched 8mm (starring Nicholas Cage) when they showed it on cable but to actually sit in front of my computer and google "snuff movies" or some other such topic - no, never done it! For some reason though this article provoked me enough to type in www.site-name.com in the address bar and hit enter. Two more clicks and I was actually downloading one of the videos. Mercifully the connection broke after only about 4 seconds of video, just as the killer whips out a machete type weapon out of his jacket front. It was enough... It was more than enough. Those 4 seconds were enough to make my body react viscerally. My breathing had quickened, my heart had started to beat rapidly and I felt horrible in the pit of my stomach. I have seen hollywood movies showing vivid, graphic mutilations but I always knew that that was just make believe. This wasn't. This was a real flesh and blood human being who will be murdered in the next few seconds. So I am just glad I couldn't download the full file; I would have probably thrown up.