Why is it taboo to speak ill of the dead?

Saladfork

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The most likely reason I can think of is because people feel it is in bad taste to insult somebody who can't defend themselves.

What do you guys think?
 

Hal10k

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I've never really seen a problem with it.

Hey everybody:

Kaiser Wilhelm was a jerk.
 

Thaluikhain

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The dead can't defend themselves, I guess. Cause if Random Dead Person X was alive, he/she would rush to the forum to tell me off for criticising them, or something.

But yeah, this thinking pisses me off. Being dead does not erase what you did in life...it means you can't ameliorate it, but that's all.
 

Lizardon

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Because for some reason, the deceased should have our sympathy for ... dying I guess. And so it is seem by some to be unfair to criticise or insult the dead, no matter how true it is.


[small]Finally I come to a thread to post this song and I haven't been ninja'd[/small]
 

Erana

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What we do in memoriam to the dead isn't for them, its for the living.
 

DarkRyter

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Because apparently Ghosts will fuck your shit up.

Ghosts be dead. They have no inhibitions. They'll eat your babies.

All of your babies.
 

Aidinthel

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Because no matter how terrible a person they were, they're dead now. It's over, and there's no point in stirring up bad memories. By continuing whatever feud you had with them after it ceases to have any purpose, you're only making yourself look bad.

Though of course it's really more of a guideline than a completely hard rule, and I think it's mainly intended to apply to personal disputes rather than, say, mass murder. No one cares if you call Hitler an asshole, but stop badmouthing your estranged grandfather, ok?
 

Kae

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Because you must be respectful of the dead, they cannot defend themselves and by speaking ill of them you are likely to make the people that cared about said person upset as most people want to only remember the good stuff, or something like that I think.
[sub]Also they're ghost will come back from the deepest depths of hell to haunt you and make your life miserable... Just saying...[/sub]
 

Vault101

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its unfair...like...like a final slap in the face to somthing horrible
 

Redlin5_v1legacy

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Ghosts man. They're real man. I've seen them man.

[sub][sub]Stalin punched me in a dream for calling him an asshole...[/sub][/sub]
 

Lilani

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Saladfork said:
The most likely reason I can think of is because people feel it is in bad taste to insult somebody who can't defend themselves.

What do you guys think?
I'm sure a long time ago it had a lot to do with ghosts and spirits (a lot of that stuff has stuck in our culture--for example, the reason we say "bless you" after someone sneezes is because back in the medieval times people thought you sneezed when you were expelling a demon from your body).

But now I think it's more or less a thing of respect. Plus it doesn't reflect well on you as a person, it's like the ultimate way of speaking behind someone's back, or kicking them when they are (literally) down.
 

Casual Shinji

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I guess it's seen as kicking someone when they're down.

How much lower can you get than underground, afterall.
 

Sexy Devil

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Standard protocol is that when you die you instantly become a better person than you actually were, unless you were a colossal ass (Hitler, Stalin, etc). So basically it's nostalgia.
 

flaming_squirrel

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This train of thought always brings me back to Jade Goody.

She was a pretty horrible person and the media jumped about in outrage at her blatant racism and lack of any redeeming features, then she gets cancer and suddenly she's seen as the second coming of Jesus, even more so post death.

Wound me up no end.


(was going to say inb4 godwin, but alas too late)
 

Descartes2012

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I'm not sure if the whole "they can't defend themselves" argument works. We speak ill of people without their knowledge all of the time. While these people could possibly defend themselves, they will never get the opportunity to do so.

So it is just about having the theoretical possibility to defend oneself that makes it acceptable? That seems awfully weak to me.
 

ReverendJ

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Thinking back, I remember being severely pissed about the treatment Nixon got when he kicked it. I'm sorry, I had been under the impression thus far that the man was a living parody of the sorry state of American politics, but apparently I had been mistaken...