By Senior Editor – Kris Smith (@croncast)

I have been loathe to write this post due to the nature of the subject matter but feel I must for a few reasons.

Over the last week and especially the past few days many of you have probably become aware of Roger Avary the twitterer.

You know, the guy that is tweeting from the big house as he serves 1 year in prison to pay his debt to society for vehicular manslaughter.

There is debate as to whether it is really Avary tweeting to share his prison experience or if it is one of his friends. I’m sure that will shake out in the future and we can either roil in disgust and awe that he shared this experience or be flattened when we find out that it was a sham. Either way, at this point it doesn’t matter.

What does matter is that the story of a convicted man is being played out on Twitter. Even if it is simply his likeness being played by a friend and the tweets are fabricated it is no less engrossing. It is also provoking us to ask if we would do the same in his position?

The emotions that are moved by this situation are plenty. More people than will every admit have driven while intoxicated. Everyone can imagine themselves in the shoes of the grieving family that lost a loved one in the tragedy that landed Avary in prison. And finally, Americans love prison shows on television and crime novels. Think Shawshank Redemption but now on Twitter in real-time.

It is like a prison house diary released one sentence at a time. The inherent drama of a man in peril moves the story along as he seeks to fit into a new culture that he himself has only written about in movie scripts.

My personal abhorrence to Mr. Avary’s crime forced me to immediately unfollow his Twitter account after deciding to follow. However his story – this story, that is going on right now is significant for the changes that it represents in our culture. It is a base desire to be curious about that which we don’t yet know. And as those outside the prison walls can now see in through real-time updates we should strive to teach from it, not just be entertained by it.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0