De mortuis nil nisi bonum

[cronus]

Is it OK to speak ill of the dead or is there some reason not to do that beyond the obvious that they can't give a reply?

[samphony]

I don't think it's nice, because often the only ones likely to feel pain are innocent relatives and friends.

[JimC]

If speaking ill of them involves a calm and unemotional dissection of the damage they have caused to others, I am happy for it to be done, pour encourager les autres...

[Clinton Huxley]

my psychic friend says they speak well of you, Scrumple, and look forward to the apocalypse, when you can join them.

[JimC]

my psychic friend says they speak well of you, Scrumple, and look forward to the apocalypse, when you can join them.

[Hermit]

I don't think it's nice, because often the only ones likely to feel pain are innocent relatives and friends.

Too bad for the Schickelgrubers and the Meyers. As regard to the latter, nothing has stopped me from speaking up about the late Hans - be it about his good points or about the bad - and nothing will stop me about mentioning them either now that he has died at the ripe old age of 100 a short time ago.

[cronus]

Must get more complicated if you believe in reincarnation?

[Horwood Beer-Master]

I think it's a little two-faced to stop speaking ill of someone who you spoke ill of when they were alive, just because they're dead.

If what a person did, or how a person was in life was worthy of criticism, their demise does not alter that fact.

See here for further details.

[cronus]

I think it's a little two-faced to stop speaking ill of someone who you spoke ill of when they were alive, just because they're dead.

If what a person did, or how a person was in life was worthy of criticism, their demise does not alter that fact.

See here for further details.

Scale of human catastrophe they personally caused is my measure for speaking ill.

[JimC]

I think it's a little two-faced to stop speaking ill of someone who you spoke ill of when they were alive, just because they're dead.

If what a person did, or how a person was in life was worthy of criticism, their demise does not alter that fact.

See here for further details.

Whether the criticism serves any useful purpose after the target is dead is another matter. In some cases it may, but in many cases it will have lost any relevance.

[Audley Strange]

Ah but in many cases Jim we tend to write hagiography of Icon, which can have serious long term detrimental affects on society. Look at the way this country worships that fact racist substance abuser Winston Churchill.

[JimC]

Ah but in many cases Jim we tend to write hagiography of Icon, which can have serious long term detrimental affects on society. Look at the way this country worships that fact racist substance abuser Winston Churchill.

Well, in cases like that, valid criticism acts as a useful balance, so there is a sensible purpose.

In other cases, there will be little point other than venting spite...

[laklak]

It's human nature to remember the Dearly Departed with less rancor than we felt for them while living. After one uncle died the family breathed a collective sigh of relief, he was an unpleasant, abusive man with few redeeming qualities beyond a decent collection of old junked cars and 78 records. Now, 20 some years later, everybody misses him at Christmas. Oh, Uncle Dickwad would have loved this! No, he wouldn't, he didn't love a fucking thing and he made everyone who had to deal with his ass miserable, so fuck him and lets have another beer.