We really wanted to stay out of this whole Epinions brouhaha, but being compassionate souls, once we finally saw the RealVideo footage of an iMac being shot to pieces by a neckless "computer expert" with a handgun and an axe to grind, well, we can't keep silent any longer. An ambivalent "thank you" goes out to faithful viewer Mr. Nick, who forwarded us the link-- while the absolute horror of that senseless destruction will haunt our nightmares until our dying day, we can no longer shut our eyes to the fact that such atrocities are committed in this world. Those of you with sensitive constitutions are urged to exercise care in viewing the footage; while the iMac's case may be made of the same polycarbonate material used in bulletproof glass, the iMac itself is not bulletproof by any stretch of the imagination. View at your own risk.

Yes, friends, the iMac featured in this technological snuff film is systematically and brutally executed for such "crimes" as coming in different colors and having a round mouse. You have to wonder about a "computer expert" who, when talking about the lack of a floppy drive, asks, "How am I supposed to back up my files?" Here's a hint, Mongo-- shooting the thing ain't gonna do it. And yet instead of reaching for a Zip drive or a USB floppy, he reached for a handgun. It seems that this genius's original negative iMac review (if he really thinks the best-selling iMac is "Macintosh's Dying Breath," he's the best argument for intelligence-based gun-control laws we've seen to date) prompted the money hounds at Epinions to offer him the chance to shoot up a defenseless iMac for a TV commercial. However, the controversy surrounding the violent footage finally convinced the Epinions team that airing the commercial might not be a wise PR move. Faithful viewer Dan Green sent us a link to a Salon article about the whole mess.

Strangely enough, the widest opposition to airing the commercial seems to center not around the heartless destruction of an innocent iMac for the sake of higher web traffic, but rather around the trivialization of handgun violence. Go figure. For whatever the reason, we're glad that millions of TV watchers won't be subjected to severe psychological trauma associated with seeing an iMac shot full of holes. Believe us, it's worse than when Bambi's mother dies. Where's the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to iMacs when you need them?