Internet Time Machine
The End of Empathy
Maybe people are just shitty. Or maybe it’s the internet’s fault.
This story is part of the Internet Time Machine, a collection about life online in the 2010s.
My brother’s 32nd birthday is today. It’s an especially emotional day for his family because he’s not alive for it. He died of a heroin overdose last February.
This year is even harder than the last. I started weeping at midnight and eventually cried myself to sleep. Today’s symptoms include explosions of sporadic sobbing and an insurmountable feeling of emptiness. My mom posted a gut-wrenching comment on my brother’s Facebook page about the unfairness of it all. Her baby should be here, not gone. “Where is the God that is making us all so sad?” she asked.
In response, someone — a stranger, I assume, another human being — commented with one word: “Junkie.”
Let’s give this whole thing some context: This one word was posted in response to a comment posted by my mother on the Facebook page of her only son on his would-be birthday had he not died at 30 years old of a heroin overdose less than two years ago.
I replied to his comment that it was a rather insensitive thing to say given the circumstances. My husband posted something…
