Vardan Kushnir was found dead in his home this week after being smashed in the head with a blunt object. Kushnir, the head of the American Language Center, was infamous for sending out millions of emails to Russian internet users with ads for his language courses. And from MosNews.com, the headlines covering the event are nearly as brutal:
Russian-language media, both online and offline, has made little effort to conceal one central thought when dealing with the spammer’s demise: that somehow the late Mr. Kushnir got what he deserved. “The Spammer Had it Coming”, one headline reads. “Spam is Deadly”, “Ignoble Death Becomes Russia’s Top Spammer”, “An Ultimate Solution to the Spam Problem” - 84 Russian-language news captions on Kushnir’s murder, retrieved by the Yandex News search engine within a day of the event, seem to share the general feeling.
[...]
It’s little wonder, then, that Vardan Kushnir became as popular a character among Russian-speaking Internet users, as Lord Voldemort must be among Hogwarts’ fans. And a tale of some anonymous ’Harry Potter’ paying him a private visit on a warm July morning produces quite a predictable sensation among the audience.
How depressing to think of leaving such a legacy behind that an entire country rejoices at your death.
1 Comments:
I wonder if, in a country used to Pravda and Izvestia, journalism tends to be just a little yellower across the board. Everything was partisan because it had to be a party instrument, so I imagine they're more comfortable slipping into pure invective.
Post a Comment
<< Home