I was looking at my Visitors and Referals pages early this morning cuz I'm goofy that way. 

Yeah, I write for me basically, but hey a person gets curious as to if anyone is reading their stuff from time to time, yanno?

I noticed that on Tuesday, May 11, I had 235 visits to my blog.  That was a huge amount compared to the normal hits I get, so I went to the Referals stats to see where all these people were coming from. 

Over at that other place where my diary used to be anytime my hits jumped like that I'd get nervous.  There was a very mean-spirited clique that loved to tear apart diaries and post them on a forum and make humiliating remarks about the diarist - so needless to say I was a bit paranoid when I saw the huge jump in visitors.

After finding what I found I'd almost rather it have been that reason.

At last count early early this morning I had had 141 Visitors who did a search (MSN, Yahoo, Google, etc) regarding the person who was mentioned in my May 11 entry.   Now, that in and of itself isn't shocking at all.  I'm sure a lot of people did searches for that particular topic.  ---  Yes, I'm being very vague here as to not draw even more hits. -- 

What I found disturbing is that of those 141 hits 101 were searching specificially for a download link to be able to watch the vid of the incident.  I considered the words (excuse me as I slip into code) Vid3o, Watch, d0wnl0ad, Fac3s of D3ath, and leenk.

Now, if you are familiar with the way search engines work, you'll know that if someone does a search without putting exact phrases in quotation marks, then the engines will hit on any page that includes any and all words listed in the search regardless of what order they appear in the page. 

I have to admit that the results can be pretty funny and I used to list some of the more outrageous ones over on my old diary place.

But damn, these 101 hits were looking specifically for someplace in which to view the above vaguely-mentioned clip.

I also found out from a friend of mine that the clip was available on KaZaaaaa the night of the 11th.

I dunno about most folks but I went out of my way NOT to see this clip.

Is it a matter of "This is tragic and I don't believe it, so I must see it with my own eyes" or is it a case of morbid curiosity? 

Either way, it bothers me for some reason.

Well as you have said to me before Sis -- :Not everyone is like you: There are some people who need to see such a tragedy with their own eyes, and there are others for whatever reason are morbidly curious. And that's okay as well.

When my hits reach 1000 I know something bizarre is happening, and like yourself it makes me feel weird.

Hope you are having a great day.

I've gone out of my way to avoid seeing any pictures or video clips too. Every aspect of the whole thing sickens me. Have you thought about maybe blocking your diary from search engines?

I have not seen it, nor do I have any intention of seeing it even if it appears on the television, but I do know people who are normal in every other sense of the word that would try to. Sad. I think the media has desentized people with all they show on TV and in the news today. Unfortunately, even children aren't horrified by the news anymore.

I don't understand why anyone feels the need to see it. Does the description alone not tell everyone how horrific and terrible it was?
It just seems wrong to me.