Web reaction swift and brutal to Anna Nicole death
Minutes after word of the death of stripper-turned-celebrity Anna Nicole Smith last Thursday, the blogosphere began the autopsy of a life lived in the headlines, and the verdict wasn't at all pretty.From different corners of the internet, commentators...
Minutes after word of the death of stripper-turned-celebrity Anna Nicole Smith last Thursday, the blogosphere began the autopsy of a life lived in the headlines, and the verdict wasn't at all pretty.
From different corners of the internet, commentators who once considered Ms Smith worthy only of off-colour jokes purported to seek out the deeper cultural meanings of her death. Most came up brutally short.
Instead many observers revelled in jokes about the size of the former Playboy model's breasts or the extent of her drug problems - topics thought to be fair game in the world of celebrity gossip.
Blog search site Technorati.com showed mentions of Anna Nicole Smith spiked fivefold last Thursday. Still, at little over 44,000 mentions, Ms Smith measures only one-tenth the blog star power of pop music sensation Britney Spears.
The occasion gave free rein to the pseudonymous savagery which passes for informed commentary on the web.
Such cruelty contrasted with the tone of respectful shock used in blanket coverage of her death on cable television.
From different corners of the internet, commentators who once considered Ms Smith worthy only of off-colour jokes purported to seek out the deeper cultural meanings of her death. Most came up brutally short.
Instead many observers revelled in jokes about the size of the former Playboy model's breasts or the extent of her drug problems - topics thought to be fair game in the world of celebrity gossip.
Blog search site Technorati.com showed mentions of Anna Nicole Smith spiked fivefold last Thursday. Still, at little over 44,000 mentions, Ms Smith measures only one-tenth the blog star power of pop music sensation Britney Spears.
The occasion gave free rein to the pseudonymous savagery which passes for informed commentary on the web.
Such cruelty contrasted with the tone of respectful shock used in blanket coverage of her death on cable television.