I'm more eager to write this post because this man didn't actually eat his wife. The point of the New York Times story about him, though, is that he's being prosecuted for plotting online to eat his wife along with doing other horrible things to her and to other women he knows.
Something that comes up in this article is that the internet offers a space for fellow cannibals to meet and express shared interests. An expert in internet crime is quoted as saying, "If you were someone mildly interested in cannibalism 30 years ago, it was really hard to find someone in real space to find common cause with [...] whereas online, it’s much easier to find those people," and perhaps be motivated to act on terrible desires.
The thing is, this is true for more than cannibalism. The ability to find validation, support, and common purpose online has helped political movements to build in a way that was impossible thirty years ago. Whether the aim is to overthrow a government, pick a candidate for office, or improve neighborhood schools, the internet allows what might have otherwise been members of a silent majority to find each other.
This can happen with intent, as in joining a discussion forum, or it can happen more casually by reading Facebook comments or a favorite blog. The point is that top-down mass media (like a published opinion poll or talking heads on TV) now have a smaller role in people learning that widely shared opinions are actually widely shared -- or conversely, in keeping that concealed.
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