Death of Jett Travolta Brings Out the Worst in Online Personalities

The death of Jett Travolta, the son of John Travolta and Kelly Preston broke the hearts of many across the nation this week. The death of a child is always a solemn occasion. In real life, people but on brave faces and offer heartfelt condolences to the parents and family.

Since Jett was the child of a celebrity, people somehow feel that the most basic social skills revolving around death, but especially the death of a child, don't apply. I'm talking about traits such as empathy, censorship, and basic kindness. Of course this concept is nothing new in the world online liquid courage, but in the case of a deceased child, you would think common decency would and should prevail. Instead, this sort of behavior has come to be expected online.

Comment sections of news reports about Jett Travolta's death are filled with all sorts of jerks coming out of the woodwork, such as wannabe doctors, would-be psychiatrists and most notably Scientology-haters who think that Jett's parents failed to seek out proper medical care early on due to their religious beliefs. The result is a mountain of negativity and judgments about the death of an innocent child. I've seen celebrities who died of a drug overdose get more posthumous respect than this poor child and his family.

According to reports, 16 year old Jett Travolta died from a seizure allegedly caused by Kawasaki's Disease, a disease he has had since he was little. Critics of Scientology somehow believed that Jett suffered from Autism, and say Jon Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston shunned this idea, because Scientologists don't believe in mental illnesses that traditionally require drugs or psychiatrists as a part of treatment, even if they have been proven to lessen the instance of disease or suffering.