When can you speak ill of the dead?

[internutt]

Quite simply. Speak of the dead according to their deeds as they lived. No point covering up the truth just because they are rotting in a box six feet under.

Who thought of the good deeds Saddam accomplished when he was hanged?

 

[Lullabye]

speak of the dead whenever you want, thats what everyone does anyway.

 

[Ophiuchus]

I think the first comment on the article sums up my views quite well:

I have never subscribed to the belief that death automatically confers sainthood. If a person was obnoxious in life, death did not change that. It is the ultimate hypocrisy to suddenly gush over how wonderful a person was when you couldn't tolerate them in life and, thinking about my own delightful family, usually means you have one eye on their will. Tact and diplomacy may be needed to spare the feelings of family, but a mouth kept firmly shut is probably the best policy although I concede that this could be difficult if it is a celebrity and the rest of the media are jumping on the ratings bandwagon.

Aside from that, there's some good psychology behind why we make inappropriate jokes, particularly about dead people, Google it if you can be bothered.

 

[BolognaBaloney]

Whenever you want, it never bothers me to speak ill of the deceased.

 

[bjj hero]

Jade Goodie on the other hand, as far as I know, never accomplished anything other than "winning" a reality TV show...

I don't think she even won that. Didn't she come 4th or something? She isn't worth the effort to wiki.

 

[Macgyvercas]

when they try to eat your brains

 

[Abedeus]

Who's Jade Goodie?

Also, every comedy show needs dead people jokes.

Okay, seriously though, unless they really did something good for the world (like John Paul II), whenever you want. But then again, if I didn't speak ill of a person when he was alive, I won't speak ill when he's dead. And vice versa - if I did speak ill, it won't matter whether he's dead or alive.

 

[Azraellod]

well, i care little whether people die or not. death in most contexts barely phases me.

i will speak ill of someone whenever i like. if they are now dead and i want to speak ill of them, then that just means that they died while i thought they were annoying. thus, as far as i am concerned, they are only not annoying me because they cant.

 

[Delta-1138]

Since when is it more disrespectful to tell a coffin to fuck off than to tell a guy face to face to have sex with his mother?

 

[hermes]

I'll speak ill of the living to their faces, if they deserve it, so why should I hold back once they're dead?

This... Speak ill of him while living but avoiding when he died; or trying to change someone into be saint because they died is just hypocrisy...

 

[experiment0789]

When can you speak ill of the dead?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN3fYng87SM

Part of it is that people are kind of sensitive to that topic. If you even mention the name of that person,you can get the whole "have respect for the dead" speech. I just recently made a joke about Michael Jackson and I got it.
Just because someone is dead does not mean that their excused from the crimes they committed. You don't mean offensive to them,but why should we pretend that the person was a saint. I know that is not what they want to be remembered for,but it is still something they did.

 

[RobCoxxy]

When they were wankers who didn't achieve anything, which is why I didn't give two shits when Jade Goody died.

Jacko on the other hand made some truly epic music, some good times in a DC hotel room there, the lot of us dancing and singing to "Black and White"... xD

 

[I Stomp on Kittens]

I don't speak ill of the dead. I got so many MJ text messedges and I didn't find them amusing

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

Well I hate Michael Jackson and I really don't care that he's dead, so any time I damn well please.