Don't laugh at others' misery

The affair between a female professor, surnamed Shi, and her doctoral student surnamed Zou at Xiamen University, Fujian province, has drawn a lot of public attention, especially after Shi filed a lawsuit against people and websites trying to malign her reputation. Many people may find the affair to be out of the ordinary, but they have no right to use the Internet to brand it "outrageous" or "abnormal", says an article in Procuratorial Daily. Excerpts:

The Shi-Zou affair may have soured, but that doesn't mean netizens can pass dirty comments on them. If Shi is right and Zou indeed made their affair public to extract "revenge", she could file a lawsuit to get things straight.

The level of tolerance and understanding in a society is a measure of its social progress. In this respect, Chen Kaige's latest film, Caught in the Web, tells the story of a society with a low tolerance level and distorted public mentality, and unscrupulous reporters, which drives a young girl to death.

Chen's film should be a reminder to people, especially netizens, that they have no right to derive pleasure at the expense of others.

(China Daily 09/04/2012 page9)