Empathy missing in puppy tossing

I read with interest David Sarno’s Web Scout article on the puppy-throwing incident [by a Marine in an online video] and the subsequent Internet lynch mobs [“Online, There’s No Due Process,” March 16].

It has certainly always been the case that the anonymous interaction of the Internet brings out the worst in people. It was shocking, in the early days of Net news, to notice how vitriolic people were when the subject wasn’t in the room with them.

The puppy-tossing incident is not a simple crime, however. It demonstrates (what we hope is) a highly aberrant lack of empathy. What one can do to an inoffensive puppy, one can do to wife, child or neighbor. It shocks because the common conception is that empathy exists and is egalitarian in its objects.

Taken in a wider context, though, it does seem kind of funny. On orders, our bombers are happy to attack Afghan weddings, killing innocent people. Whole segments of society are perfectly happy to torture suspects because they’re likely terrorists. Our empathy is certainly specifically directed.

A puppy tossing does seem to pale in comparison, doesn’t it? That’s only because our sins against our neighbors are so great.

I’m not one to rush to vigilante justice on this matter, and I don’t believe others should. In the end, though, after proper investigation, puppy tossing shouldn’t be easily dismissed simply because there are worse things he might have done.

James Blasius

Naperville, Ill.