Late last night I felt myself becoming violently ill. Not because I ate something out of the trash or that I had some interesting new virus/bacteria that has spawned from the rampant use of anti-bacterial soap.

No…it was because of an article that I stumbled across while perusing the Interhighway.

Perhaps you are familiar with the plight of a woman named Jaycee Dugard. If you are not, Google the name and read for yourself.

Anyway, a columnist for the Orange County Register took a moment to write a little article that dealt with her. And by ‘dealt with her’ I mean that he wrote an article that is meant to tell her all of the things that she missed over the last 18 years while she was in captivity. And it was meant to be funny.

Just take a look.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/world-won-most-2555260-never-one
And if you do read the article, be sure to peruse the comments afterwards. They are priceless.

Now, I am a person that gets a little worked up over things from time to time. If something is fantastic or if it is stupid, I will comment. If something is amusing or a staggeringly obvious sight that needs commented on, I will.

But when something is tragic or horrifying, I would never make light of the situation. And anybody who does make light of tragedy is the lowest form of human, even below Sciento……no, I won’t go that far.

Allow me to post for you the email that I actually sent to the author of this article……..

Your article on Jaycee Dugard was one of the most horrific and offensive things that I have ever read. How could you even think using this topic as a chance to look back on the past 18 years of sports was an even remotely intelligent idea? I felt sick to my stomach reading every single word of your article.

Did you even consider what the family went through? Did you even consider that making light of their ordeal would be a poor decision and that this poor woman will possibly going through years of therapy just to deal with what she went through? Did you even consider that sports are merely a diversion for people and not the most important thing in life and to relate what has happened over the past 18 years to being kidnapped and held against your will was maybe it might have been in poor taste to do so? Did you even think, even for a second, that this family and woman will never be the same and that sports are just a silly series of games that we watch? And did you even consider how reading an article like this might have felt to you had it been your daughter?

You, sir, are a disgrace to everything in the history of all printed words. You are a joke and a horrible, horrible person who will now find yourself with a very special place in a very special part of Hell.

****************************************************

Okay, so maybe that was a bit overly dramatic. Or maybe not. Who can tell. But I was severely disgusted that a hack like this gets paid to write for a living and that this article was even considered as real journalism.

The man should be fined, suspended or even flat out fired. Plain and simple. This was a disgraceful article that should have never been printed in any form, outside of his own twisted and sick mind. And the editors that allowed this drivel to come out should be reprimanded as well. For them to take a look at this and say ‘hey, this seems pretty good’ only compounds the ineptitude of the entire article. Most likely, he and his editor should be canned on the spot. Then let him and his editor read later about all the things he missed in journalism while they were scrounging for a job with this black could hanging over them.

I know that I have written things that not everybody has agreed with and that some of those things made some people very angry. But never once in my life have I ever used a horrific event such as the Jaycee Dugard capture and violation as a moment to find a way for comedy to come forth.

I know that we have this little thing called ‘freedom of speech’ but when the OC Register’s own website states in the comments section that ‘People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked’ and then allows this article to be posted should take a look at their own words as well.

If he had just done a post about the last 18 years of sports and related it to a high school senior, that would have been perfectly acceptable. But to do this in relation to what a woman missed because she was kidnapped was in the poorest of tastes.

He has since done a quick interview where he expressed shock that people were so offended and then quickly turned around and posted an apology for the article. But when you just spoke in an interview that you still deem your piece valid, does the apology really carry much weight?

Sorry for the downer to start the day but I’ll try to come back with something more lighthearted later.

This is Pete…

Over and out.