Beat a dog, get google-bombed?
Disgusting news out of Cornell: Alexander H. Atkind, mugshot at right, allegedly beat his roommate’s dog Princess, poured bleach and laundry detergent into her eyes and exposed skull and burned cigarettes into her back. All of that over some chewed up speaker wire. He ended up being arrested for drug possession in a neighboring county, but he had already admitted to his roommate that he had attacked the poor pooch but claimed that Princess was fine. After watching this video, I can’t imagine how he would think that she was fine. The university is outraged but also says since the incident happened off-campus, they can’t talk about him at all.
Of course, he also was “cocky and arrogant” and said he was above the law and he’d torture the dog again ? statements he made, of course, in the presence of his lawyer. He went on about an ACD (adjournment in contemplation of dismissal ? legalspeak for I’m-important-so-I-don’t-get-in-trouble), which seems to have drew the most ire from AutoAdmit.com, a message board for law students, since everyone in those posts were sure to spell out his whole name comma dog torturer. Hooray for Googlebombs?
Let’s, just for a moment here, think about what happens to a guy like this. The story about the abuse ran in the Ithaca Journal on March 16. Cornell blogger Elliot Back picks up on the story that night and pulls up his Facebook profile (birthday: August 31, 1983), his Cornell directory information (cell phone is a 617 number), and jabs at him for:
- being disgusting and having rich doctors for parents
- being in a frat (and you know what that means)
- apparently being into ?Bondage & Discipline, Kinky Fetishes? and currently looking for sex in Ithaca (shh ? don’t tell his girlfriend!)
- getting caught with shrooms, since those are so 1974
I’m not defending the dude (and judging by that kegstand, yeah, he’s a dude), but it’s scary thinking about how quickly one’s life changes as soon as they decide to do some despicable acts on a Labrador-pit bull named Princess. He’s already an Internet celebrity of the worst kind. Check anywhere from MetaEzra to Craigslist R&R (or the front page of Cornell.edu) and you’ve got yourself a problem when it comes time to send out the ol’ r?sum?. If that isn’t enough to make someone want to delete all their Spring Break pictures right now ? or for that matter, all the hazing incidents you see on Facebook and Webshots ? I don’t know what is. Of course, I would hope Spring Break doesn’t involve attacking a four-legged friend or forcing a friend to step in said four-legged friend’s poo.
Okay, enough worrying about him and his Internet identity. Back to Princess. If you want to help her (and offset the $2,000 vet bill her owner human companion has), contact the Tompkins County SPCA at 1640 Hanshaw Road, Ithaca, NY 14850 or at their website.
Comments (10)
10 Comments | Add yours
Leave a Reply
Comments that do not abide by our Comments Policy may be deleted.
Feed for College Ave.
I wish I cared about his identity, but I find telling the bits of the story that come up, with great prejudice, more compelling. Personally, I don’t understand his behavior, even with the large amount of facts that are being compiled about him.
The good thing is he’s not really googlebombed yet. True that I rank #1 in google for all combinations of his name, but it’s not a googlebomb, because the world isn’t linking to me. It’s more of the standard online blog reply; people picking up the story.
He’ll probably be convicted of these and the drugs charges, in which case when he goes to get a job, he’ll have to answer yes to “have you ever been charged with a crime” and give a long explanation. That will hurt him more than this media exposure ever will.
Here is a link to support the google bomb
http://cornell.elliottback.com/archives/2007/03/16/alex-atkind-tortures-dog/
Elliott:
I really wasn’t claiming your blog was part of the googlebomb or orchestrating it. I was more interested in AutoAdmit.com and their concentrated effort to get any search for Cornell+dog, Alex Atkind, etc. up in the ranking. Just see how many posts they have about it already.
And I’m not defending this guy at all. He’s a lowlife and needs to have the book thrown at him. But it’s interesting to me how this event has blown up on the internet and how easily available (and people willingly post it) it is. I know I’m just contributing to it by linking to it, so it’s not helpful. I’m just saying it’s a concern for college students in general. At least the scumbags who think it’s cool to kick dogs in the head.
didn’t the law school blog carry the online dating stuff first anyway?
Check out this tasteless site:
http://grilledsleaze.googlepages.com/home
[...] Elliot Back outed Alex Atkind (aka Alexander H. Atkind, the dog abuser from Cornell) with Facebook photos and college phone numbers. Back isn’t alone. Akind is receiving a google-bomb in a conscious and unconscious effort to smear Atkind’s reputation. [...]
while you people argue about “GOOGLE BOMBS” try not to forget the point,DUH!
607-274-5461 is the DA’s phone number, the more calls they get the better, especially if they come from registered voters in Tompkins County.
“I?m not defending the dude…how quickly one?s life changes as soon as they decide to do some despicable acts on a Labrador-pit bull named Princess.”
Look- it’s not like he was peeing in public, he TORTURED a LIVING THING that was probably yelping in pain. If the punishment should fit the crime, then who gives a shit if he gets googlebomed? He’s 23- there’s no excuse. Besides, the kid has rich parents and even if he goes to jail (fingers crossed) mommy and daddy will make everything better for him. I read that he had been arrested before, and read a statement from his former neighbor saying this punk didn’t give a shit about ruining other people’s property; coupled with the officer’s statement and the comments he himself made- do you really think this prick is ever going to be a positive contributor to society? Why would I, as an employer, ever give this dickhead a chance when there are non violent people out there that I could hire? If you’re not willing to be accountable for your actions- then learn to think before you act like such an asshole-
He made his own bed and he should lay in it- if it were up to a lot of Us Out There, we’d really like to assign a punishment that fits this crime.
This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title a dog, get google-bombed? : College Ave.. Thanks for informative article