My spam filter caught this message, thanks to the CAPS and odd punctuation, but I rather suspect this was actually a legitimate e-mail to me from an "annyomous" AOL user:

 
        NO OFFENCE BUT YOUR SICK TO GO OFF AND BUY FREAKING BABY KITTENS IN A 
JAR . JUST FOR AMUSMENT. I HOPE ONE DAY YOU GET STUFFED IN A JAR . 
                            I THINK YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT IF YOU LIKE CATS 
THAT MUCH AND ARE  *ALLERGIC*   THEN GO TAKE SOME DANG PILLS. CAUSE IF YOU ARE 
THAT SELF CENTER THEN I THINK YOU DONT EVEN DESERVED A LIFE TAKING LIFE  FOR 
AWAY . OH BY THE WAY IM A *ALLERGIC* TO GRASS BUT THAT DOESNT STOP ME FROM 
PLAYING SOCCER FOR 3 DIFFERENT TEAMS. BUT WHAT IF THE KITTEN CHOKE THE CANT BREATH 
REALLY SO THEY DIE THEN 
                                                              SINCERELY, 
ANNYOMOUS 

That's so cool! I don't think I've ever gotten a genuine all-CAPS AOL hate-mail before! :-)

I can only assume the message is in response to this entry about the Bonsai Kitten phenomenon. Yet another person who doesn't get the joke.

I once heard someone say that kittens were the west's equivalent of Hindu "holy cows". Considering the extreme reactions the Bonsai Kitten joke provokes in otherwise intelligent (or not so intelligent, as the case may be) people, I think the comparison may be quite appropriate.

Everybody loves kittens and hurting them is EVIL.

However, I can't help wondering how many of the people who hate Bonsai Kitten do so not because of the content, but because the site tricked them and made them feel foolish. Publicly shaming people is a really good way to make enemies.

Even my Bonsai Kitten diary entry got me in some hot water; it offended someone dear to me who had fallen for the hoax. He felt I was making fun of him personally, which was not the plan, but something I should have realised could happen. I apologised (and am still sorry), we patched things up. But having experienced only one person's reaction, I shudder to think how much misguided anger must have been directed at the creators of the original (hilarious) Bonsai Kitten site.

Incidentally, the site is unresponsive at the moment. It's probably been attacked again.