My dear Cory:

I have a friend who has been horribly abused by some awful creature he has been corresponding with by e-mail. This creature arranged to meet him while “in town” and then did not show-or call either! What can one do about this sort of thing-aside from employing Pinkerton’s to rub him out…?

–Appalled

Dear Appalled:

Cory has a lot of empathy for your sweet, innocent friend. While civilization is based on a regard for the feelings of others (manners), most people seem to think that it is based on the Industrial Revolution. This is a terrible error for which we are all paying. The infantile, narcissistic and inconsiderate seize on the horrid spawn of the Industrial Revolution (email and cellular telephones come to mind) and use them to abuse their fellow man. In the case you describe, your friend in good faith made arrangements and no doubt allowed himself to become excited, as one does by the prospect of companionship, sex or romance: three of the few respites from the dismal, rampant corporatism in which we live. Need your scribe point out that such excitement reaches into the deepest part of us, the need for love, connection and acceptance?

Hiding behind electrons is a new low in personal unaccountability. Judging from my mail, it is common, but so is gonorrhea, another social disease. You are right to be appalled, and are to be commended for supporting your friend. What can be done? Your friend may wish to forward the offender’s e-mail address, telephone number and any other identifiers he has to the most rabid telemarketers. Alternatively — Cory shudders to suggest this — remember that one of the most terrifying things on the planet is the motivational speaker: specifically, Anthony Robbins. Most specifically, Anthony Robbins’ hair. Your friend may find a way to expose the offender to that dubious nest and scare him into a near-death experience. It would be worth the price of a pirated videotape, but remember to destroy the original, please.