[Yorick]

Originally posted by Absynthe: Same shite, different decade. When I was a child, I was warned away from comic books because they would 'rot your mind'. Jazz music was once thought to be the downfall of western civilization. Any new thing, especially a form of entertainment, always has its' naysayers and prophets of doom. This individual life that was lost is indeed a tragedy. It's a sad situation that led to this persons' suicide. Given the fact that he had other influences in his life; depression, epilepsy, shyness, overweight, blaming this on a voluntary pastime is ridiculous. This form of social interaction may have prolonged his life and provided him the kind of relationships that he apparently had difficulty achieving in person. There will always be individuals who fixate on something, gambling, religion, sports, whatever. The cause lies not in the object of the fixation, but in the individuals mind. Our culture has developed a pathetic fixation on finding blame, we seem to feel the need to have a scapegoat for every tragedy, regardless of how little rationality supports it...

Good points Absynthe. Well said.