My general attitude is that it’s polite to set out a little time after someone loathsome dies before you say bad things about them. This is a matter of personal taste. I may think “good riddance” to myself, but I’m just going to refrain from saying it for a day or two, or maybe until they’ve been laid to rest. I make exceptions for notorious dictators and criminals. It’s not usually the case that I’m glad that someone is dead, either. Even when I’m sorry or generally indifferent about someone’s death, I try to refrain from badmouthing them for a period of time.
Obviously, a lot of progressives have less tact. I think, though, that one must consider what it means to live a life that causes such hatred. But enough of that, lest I violate my own rule.
I hope Andrew Breitbart’s loved ones will be spared too much vitriol over the next few days. After that? We will discuss vitriol quite a lot.
Breaking: Folks are tweeting obnoxious things.
More Breaking, folx are repeating the obnoxious things the other side are tweating aand using them as evidence for how awful the other side is and for how good and pure their side is.
That’s why there’s little profit in classlessness.
You’re sure about that?
Please.
There is plenty of profit in classlessness.
Bet on it.
The guy died.
It wasn’t a “punishment,” it was just a weak valve in his heart or something. Nice people die young too.
He was a prick.
So?
None of us are getting out of here alive; it’s just a matter of when the clock runs down.
AG
43 and dead of a heart attack? That’s rather young.
Wasn’t Breitbart quite the drunk? Perhaps he had other habits too, the kind that make a man’s heart stop working rather suddenly?
it would be irresponsible not to speculate.
I just looked at some pictures of the deceased.
Breitbart was barely 2 years older than me when he died.
He looked like he was 15 years older: grey hair, overweight, gin blossoms, bloated face. His blood pressure must have been through the roof.
He was a noted drug abuser. As I said to someone on the Twitter machine, think Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas, plus probably coke and E at the least. And it’s been rumored that he’s like Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham.
he wears sensible shoes?
Haha! No!! You don’t remember the terrible withdrawals that he was going through at one point in the movie? How much of a complete asshole he was?
Washington Examiner? My guess is they found sock puppet accounts. I follow a lot of liberals on the Twitter machine and the most I see is “Good riddance!” Heck, I’m seeing more people questioning whether the announcement of his death is some kind of hoax. I say his network of websites falls apart with in 2 years, or else they’re taken over by NRO(or something similar).
Yeah heres their story listing tweets pf liberals “celebrating” Braitbarts death
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/liberals-celebrate-death-andre
w-breitbart/403471
One can hope he was good to the people in his life. Meanwhile, it would appear he missed his shot at redemption for how he lived his public life, which is sad for him. (And I don’t mean redemption in a particularly religious sense.)
Particularly when it has to do with Shirley Sherrod, who I know will not say anything publicly except through the courts.
Lots of old adages being thrown about the great orange zone, but my favorite always has been, g*d don’t love ugly/and he ain’t too particular about pretty.
The amount of corrosive vitriol and outright lies that man spewed killed his ass.
re: Shirley Sherrod, see the post just below this. Sherrod has already put out a statement.
While I persoanally agree with your sentiments, I think Booman took the right approach. There will be time for a critical analysis of who Breitbart was and what he stood for. Now is not the time. I feel the same way about Whitney Houston. I found out about her death while watching Don Lemmon on CNN and I found myself cursing at the tv because Lemon was delving into her years of drug abuse etc. I thought ok this woman’s body is not even cold yet and someone (a brotha) is on tv bad mouthing her already? I say let the family grieve in peace and there will be plenty of time for that discussion later.
When it comes to the death of someone I personally dislike, I guess I tend to fall in line with the Shirley Sherrod point of view.
But that’s just me.
Andrew Breitbart, and his memory, deserve every bit of scorn and vitriol we are seeing.
Similarly, Ted Bundy deserved to be executed in the electric chair by the State of Florida.
But the moral question is not about them, but about us. To abstain from giving these people what they deserve is an act of mercy. Should we give them what they deserve, or should we show them more mercy than they deserve?
Showing mercy is good for you.
It’s strange to me that some people appear to be treating this as final justice for some unique Wicked Witch who, once gone, will not come again. The fact is, he was a relatively low level amphibian in a densely scum-filled pond, and someone else will shortly move into the ecological niche he left behind. The only sad thing was that he didn’t have a chance at a Lee Atwater-type redemption as death approached, but in truth, most of them don’t, no matter how long they love.
…all others think they are bulletproof.
Like Richard Pryor once quipped, death was quite a surprise to his ass.
And there is this: http://www.americablog.com/2012/03/andrew-breitbart-on-ted-kennedys.html?m=1
How do you mourn sociopaths and your enemies? I have no idea. I do know that Breitbart would have been whacked in many countries around the world for the stunts he pulled here. Too soon I guess to point that out but it is true.
I feel bad for his family and young kids. That is about it.
they can’t harm you any more and for you to wish them harm only harms you and the living.
By all means analyse the political positions and processes he adopted – in an impersonal sort of way – if there is anything to learn from the exercise.
More likely his legacy is best left to those who loved him and the lessons to be learned are not for us.
anyone need a reminder of what Andrew Breitbart said the day Ted Kennedy died? he called him “a special pile of human excrement”. His fans and supporters applauded this.
So I don’t feel any shame or reluctance when I say that the best part of Andrew Breitbart ran down his mother’s leg, that his kids are better off without him to teach them how to hate, that America’s better off without his brand of demagoguery, and that I hope he’s burning in Hell right now.
I appreciate your efforts to remain a classy guy. Lord knows it’s difficult, especially in the political world and on the webs. Thanks Booman.
I doubt Andrew himself would have asked for nothing less than disdain. He was never happier than when he could make the opportunity to spew.
I think we’re going about this all wrong.
We never have to write or talk or think about Andrew Breitbart ever again. this is a wonderful thing.
I’m starting…now.
The spoken words can not be taken back, we should think twice before saying anything about anyone.
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