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    I meant that in two ways. One, I've heard secondhand that it's a pain to get Facebook to take an account down, probably to avoid pranks.

Right, that's why I said that a copy or link to an obituary should be sufficient to get them to take a page down.

I get what you're saying, but in a way, I see the continuation of a page as something of a ghost, you know?

I get what you're saying about virtual visitation and the aspect of community, but then again, that's a huge step. Physical graves add barriers of distance as well as physical decomposition to the continued existence of people. I'd kind of like to get an anthropological perspective on this, if theadvancedapes wouldn't mind. With celebrity, it's kinds of known that their public persona is fair game for that kind of legacy, but for people that are not celebrities, is this kind of continuation healthy or even warranted? Not to sound cold, but celebrity is larger than the person that inhabits it and their myth or story is what is being mourned rather than the actual person, is it not?

I don't think that being less empathetic necessarily a bad thing as it takes all kinds. I will say though, that a little empathy goes a long way, especially professionally. Expectations are brutal. People want ruthlessness and empathy without really considering the kind of strength of will that it takes for either of those things. People love to reduce people to caricatures all the time. I mean, to some I'm a cold-hearted bastard and to others, I'm the cuddliest guy ever and neither one of those groups tends to see or look for the other side. Perception is a fantastic tool, but we should always be aware of how we're being perceived, if only to manage expectations. Also, check this out.

Edited multiple times for drunkeness