We talk a lot about how the Internet is changing things, how it’s making us more connected than ever before, but it’s been such a gradual shift over the past 15 years that it’s hard to get a sense of it.
And then things like the Aurora shooting happen, and you see shooting victims posting pictures of their injuries online.
Last night, Christopher Rapoza, a New York City man who who happened to be in the Colorado screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” where the attack took place, was grazed by a bullet fired by a stranger. A decade ago, only doctors would have seen the worst of his injuries. Only his family and friend would have seen his blood-soaked clothes.
But in 2012, a Batman movie buff is online, and once you’re online, you share things about your life, things that make you unique, that you think your online friends (who aren’t your “friends” exactly, but definitely are something) will find interesting.
Rapoza, a member of Reddit, decided to share pictures of his wounds on the social news site Reddit. (Warning: The images, below, are quite graphic.)
Elsewhere on the site, victims of the shooting shared eyewitness accounts, and Aurora residents shared reports gleaned from a police scanner.
As hard as it is to look at these, it’s worth it. It’s a chilling reminder that, under all 24-hour news coverage, and the snarky reactions about other people’s improper reactions, this was a real thing that happened to real people.
