Tales of Obsession

Over at Psychotic Letters from Men - a site dedicated to exposing examples of ex-boyfriends (and less) who just can't accept the relationship (and less) ended because they were the broken tool in the box - comes this particular cracker, and the hugely entertaining but also disturbing aftermath that I recommend as casual reading when you have a spare hour.

Short version: Ben and Loren went out together, Loren got tired of Ben after 2 years of him being too full of himself. Ben became heartbroken and made a video to win her back.

But what a video. In it, we see just what Loren is missing - about 18 stone of self-loving and horribly vain, insecure steroid-packed beefcake who loves to pull skids in his lardarse truck and drive his quadbike into lakes for no apparent reason.

This is the point where it went from a personal quest to an internet meme. Muddying the waters by pitching it as a preview to a film he will star in, as well as submitting himself as the actor for the upcoming Captain America movie, his YouTube videos attracted well over a million hits, and almost as much criticism. So much so that he made several faux user accounts just so he could delude himself that he had an adoring fanbase by posting up fawning praise to himself on a daily basis.

All very funny. But the thing is with YouTube, other users invariably get the urge to take something such as this and do a spoof video of it. One guy who called himself Sanchez did just that, and then things turned a little more sinister.

This post on Cracked.com follows what happened next, with the desperate torrent of abuse, badly worded (and absurd) legal challenges and claims of prosecution from 'America's Homeland Security' division reproduced for all to see. If you want to see an example of how a person's over-patriotism and racial/religious intolerance can bubble to the surface (yes, Ben is that unfortunate mix of 'good old American boy' and a devout Christian, although we dont get to see that can of worms open itself for an attack or two) and show its ugliness, scoot on over to page 5, where it really starts to get bad.