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Some Questions Are Really Best Left Unasked Online

Henry Blodget is co-founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief at Business Insider – and the talk of Twitter today for a misguided piece originally posted with  the headline “Why Do People Hate Jews?

The post came under fire almost immediately – not only for the headline and seemingly transparent attempt to garner clicks, but also for the ridiculous photo that accompanied it:

 

Unfortunately, it seems Blodget was a little slow on the uptake, misguidedly making light of the post initially:

But then some seriously ticked off responses started heading his way:

The changes to the post followed soon after. Many, many changes, which can be found on the original post and includes a new introduction (that is longer than the original post) and six “updates” (alternately referred to as ‘notes’ and ‘updates’) at the end of the post.

And it also included an inexplicable change in the photo . . . to Natalie Portman.

After that, Blodget was basically floundering and apologizing as the tweets ranging from “I’ll never read Business Insider again” to “go die” (summarizing here, not exact quotes – they’re much worse) came pouring in. Blodget’s responses below sufficiently demonstrate the point – though you can visit his timeline to see the other side of these tweets if you like:

Where did Blodget go wrong? As Washington Post opinion blogger, Erik Wemple, points out in his post criticizing the piece:

Years ago we passed the point at which we should take pride in stimulating conversation on the Internet. If you’re willing to write something dumb or just act in poor taste, you too can have a career as an Web conversation launcher.

What do you think? Do you view the post as pure sensationalism or do you think Blodget had a valid point with his post? Let us know in the comments!

(Man with hands over eyes image from Shutterstock)

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