When did we get to be so unkind?

IN THE insensitivity play-offs this week we have Pebbles Hooper versus Amber Roof.

Let's start with Amber's credentials. When her brother Dylann Roof went on a murderous rampage in a black church in Charleston in the United States and put a damper on her wedding, she went to the web for help. Anguished at having to cancel the festivities, Amber reached out for help in paying bills and buying a dream honeymoon.

On the Gofundme website, Amber's pain and suffering over a wrecked wedding day was palpable. The good-hearted Amber was even prepared to put 10 per cent of all money raised to the Emanuel AME Church.

Though it was extraordinary that the relatives of those killed showed more love to her brother than she did, Amber knew where the focus should be - strictly on her.

And now to New Zealand's very own Katie Hopkins - Pebbles Hooper. Her tweet that the tragic accident in Ashburton last week was "natural selection" just drew attention to her position in the shallow end of the DNA pool.

Both women don't seem to realise that people actually died here.

The bride-to-be's blinkered take on the events in Charleston ignores all other pain except her own.

Gossip columnist Pebbles thinks it's okay to be smart-arsed about the deaths of three children and their mum.

When did we get so unkind, let alone asinine? Or is just there is no circuit breaker now between what people think and what is made public?

The 25-year-old Aucklander has since apologised and deleted her Twitter account. At least the public backlash may make her realise ugly can be more than skin deep.