Andrew Breitbart died

[Y2HH]

Frankly, I think gloating over death is never appropriate.

 

Exactly.

 

Edit: Welllll, with a select few exceptions.

Edited March 1, 2012 by Y2HH

[SOXOBAMA]

Didn't like him than or now. Feel bad for his family though.

 

The only guy I would ever gloat over would be Rush Limbaugh.

[StrangeSox]

Breitbart was walking near his home in Brentwood, Calif just after midnight Thursday when he collapsed according to his father-in-law Orson Bean. Someone saw Breitbart fall and called 911. Emergency crews tried to revive him and rushed him to the emergency room at UCLA Medical Center, Bean said.

 

Source: Andrew Breitbart Dead at 43 | NBC San Diego

 

Frum on Breitbart, which is pretty much where my opinion lies:

 

And this is where it becomes difficult to honor the Roman injunction to speak no ill of the dead. It’s difficult for me to assess Breitbart’s impact upon American media and American politics as anything other than poisonous. When one of the leading media figures of the day achieves his success by his giddy disdain for truth and fairness—when one of our leading political figures offers to his admirers a politics inflamed by rage and devoid of ideas—how to withhold a profoundly negative judgment on his life and career?

 

Especially when that career was so representative of his times?

 

We live in a time of political and media demagoguery unparalleled since the 19th century. Many of our most important public figures have gained their influence and power by inciting and exploiting the ugliest of passions—by manipulating fears and prejudices—by serving up falsehoods as reported truth. In time these figures will one by one die. What are we to say of this cohort, this group, this generation? That their mothers loved them? That their families are bereaved? That their fans admired them and their employees treated generously by them? Public figures are inescapably judged by their public actions. When those public actions are poisonous, the obituary cannot be pleasant reading.

 

Edited March 1, 2012 by StrangeSox

[Texsox]

Who?

[southsider2k5]

Breitbart was walking near his home in Brentwood, Calif just after midnight Thursday when he collapsed according to his father-in-law Orson Bean. Someone saw Breitbart fall and called 911. Emergency crews tried to revive him and rushed him to the emergency room at UCLA Medical Center, Bean said.

 

Source: Andrew Breitbart Dead at 43 | NBC San Diego

 

Frum on Breitbart, which is pretty much where my opinion lies:

 

Its funny to read the last line, because that is how Breitbart felt about Kennedy.

[farmteam]

Breitbart was walking near his home in Brentwood, Calif just after midnight Thursday when he collapsed according to his father-in-law Orson Bean. Someone saw Breitbart fall and called 911. Emergency crews tried to revive him and rushed him to the emergency room at UCLA Medical Center, Bean said.

 

Source: Andrew Breitbart Dead at 43 | NBC San Diego

 

Frum on Breitbart, which is pretty much where my opinion lies:

 

Thanks for that; it relates pretty well to my opinion as well.

[StrangeSox]

There's a difference between being honest about your feelings instead of a bunch of false decorum and respect and being a raging asshole about it.

[southsider2k5]

There's a difference between being honest about your feelings instead of a bunch of false decorum and respect and being a raging asshole about it.

 

Using big words doesn't make you any less of a raging asshole. It makes you a pretentious raging asshole.

[StrangeSox]

Using big words doesn't make you any less of a raging asshole. It makes you a pretentious raging asshole.

 

Not being a raging asshole makes you not a raging asshole, like Frum's piece. Gloating over someone's death, like Breitbart did with Kennedy, does.

[southsider2k5]

Not being a raging asshole makes you not a raging asshole, like Frum's piece. Gloating over someone's death, like Breitbart did with Kennedy, does.

 

Frum's piece is gloating over Breitbarts death.

[StrangeSox]

I guess if you define any criticism as gloating, sure.

[Soxbadger]

Why does anyone care, I mean really, why do people care what other people have done or said.

 

I dont know who this guy is, never read one of his articles. I dont know who Frum is either. The guy died young, left a family, that is sad.

 

What does the rest matter?

[southsider2k5]

I guess if you define any criticism as gloating, sure.

 

And just like Breitbart, you now have justified it.

[farmteam]

It's still idiots being idiots regardless of the color of brush you all choose to paint it with.

 

The more you defend this type of behavior, the less I'm inclined to believe that you aren't exactly like them, DESPITE you claiming the contrary.

 

So I'm not allowed to defend something I don't agree with? Really?

 

Maybe I didn't make that clear last time -- I'm not painting with ANY color. I'm merely using the exact facts in front of us; do partisan politics paint those facts? Of course they do, but they don't paint my analysis of it. Reverse Kennedy and Breitbart's roles in this, and I'd say the exact same thing. Would I be less likely to jump into that debate? Perhaps, but that still doesn't change how I see this.

[StrangeSox]

And just like Breitbart, you now have justified it.

 

I don't agree with your claim that any criticism of the someone who died is off-limits. You have to ignore that criticism comes in all forms and some of it is fair and valid and some of it is unfair and mean-spirited to come to that conclusion.

 

Breitbart attempted to justify his insults and gloating over Kennedy's death, but that does not mean he succeeded. Writing an article that is honest about the man's history without disparaging and insulting him for partisan political joy is not in the same category. An article that discussed Kennedy's passing but also discussed negative aspects would not be in the same category.

Edited March 1, 2012 by StrangeSox

[Reddy]

You're allowed to not be sad when a douchebag dies.

[farmteam]

Frum's piece is gloating over Breitbarts death.

 

Really? Maybe this distinction lies in the different places we come from, but it seemed to me he was asking "Wow, if an obituary is the highlight of the best aspects of a person's life, and I think that person was a complete and total dickhead, how do I balance honesty with dignity for death?" That's sounds like a struggle to find a good answer to a tough question; not a veiled attack on Breitbart, which is what you suggest. But again, maybe that distinction is grounded in contexts on which we would not agree.

[Reddy]

I don't agree with your claim that any criticism of the someone who died is off-limits.

 

lol exactly. Hey SS2k5 Osama and Il say hi.

[StrangeSox]

You're allowed to not be sad when a douchebag dies.

 

But you don't have to be a douchebag about it yourself.

[Reddy]

But you don't have to be a douchebag about it yourself.

Sure, but that doesn't preclude the former from being true

[southsider2k5]

I don't agree with your claim that any criticism of the someone who died is off-limits. You have to ignore that criticism comes in all forms and some of it is fair and valid and some of it is unfair and mean-spirited to come to that conclusion.

 

Breitbart attempted to justify his insults and gloating over Kennedy's death, but that does not mean he succeeded. Writing an article that is honest about the man's history without disparaging and insulting him for partisan political joy is not in the same category. An article that discussed Kennedy's passing but also discussed negative aspects would not be in the same category.

 

I don't call that Frum article "criticism". It is way past that, into gloating and raging asshole-ism. "Honest" in this case has everything to do with which side of the aisle you stand on, and the ability to justify doing the same thing without feeling any guilt for it.

 

To me, they were both poisonous.

[farmteam]

I don't agree with your claim that any criticism of the someone who died is off-limits. You have to ignore that criticism comes in all forms and some of it is fair and valid and some of it is unfair and mean-spirited to come to that conclusion.

 

If I understand Y2HH and SS2K5's posts correctly, they would say that verbalizing "fair and valid" criticism is inherently mean spirited if the person just died (and feel free to correct me if I misinterpreted ya'll). I'm just saying that, while I agree with that staying silent out of respect for the loved ones is appropriate, I can certainly understand if some people choose to answer the question of, "How do I properly show respect for the death of a person who, in life, I thought was a terrible individual?" with "Well, he relinquished that right to respect when he denied another that same right."

[Texsox]

At some point there is a retrospect of the person's career and impact which may, or may not, be flattering. The timing is everything. The day they die is probably too soon unless you are Bin Laden

[StrangeSox]

"Honest" in this case has everything to do with which side of the aisle you stand on, and the ability to justify doing the same thing without feeling any guilt for it.

 

That's simply untrue, highlighted by the fact that we're talking about David Frum.

[EvilMonkey]

If I understand Y2HH and SS2K5's posts correctly, they would say that verbalizing "fair and valid" criticism is inherently mean spirited if the person just died (and feel free to correct me if I misinterpreted ya'll). I'm just saying that, while I agree with that staying silent out of respect for the loved ones is appropriate, I can certainly understand if some people choose to answer the question of, "How do I properly show respect for the death of a person who, in life, I thought was a terrible individual?" with "Well, he relinquished that right to respect when he denied another that same right."

You can just shut up instead of satisfying your urge to denigrate the person even in death. Is there really a balancing need to bring someone down in death because you don't like their political views? Is there this cosmic need to balance out the far right fawning with some far left vitriol? Can you really 'justify' it because the target was previously an ass to someone else who had died? Maybe the family of Ted Kennedy has a free pass, but everyone else? no.