We have a very successful R.I.P. thread, noting the loss of good people around the world.

I think we also need a counterpart - a thread for those whose death makes the world a slightly better place. For the sort of people about whom, when you hear they've died, you say things like "Finally," or "It's about time," or "If I wasn't an atheist I'd say burn in hell, motherfucker, but since I am I'll just have to accept that you're no longer a burden on the world."

A place to celebrate not a person's life, but the simple fact that they're fucking dead.

I'll start it off with one whose death was long overdue.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/30/worl ... -news&_r=0

Manuel Antonio Noriega, the brash former dictator of Panama and sometime ally of the United States whose ties to drug trafficking led to his ouster in 1989 in what was then the largest American military action since the Vietnam War, has died. He was 83.

(NOTE - Thread title edited following excellent suggestion by Chairman Bill).

And a slightly belated one (May 18th):

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/busi ... -dead.html

Roger E. Ailes, who shaped the images that helped elect three Republican presidents and then became a dominant, often-intimidating force in American conservative politics at the helm of Fox News until he was forced out last year in a sexual harassment scandal, died on Thursday morning. He was 77.

Great idea for a thread, though I'd have titled it, "And good fucking riddance"

I look forward to helping populate this thread

chairman bill wrote:Great idea for a thread, though I'd have titled it, "And good fucking riddance"

I look forward to helping populate this thread

Much better title.

chairman bill wrote:Great idea for a thread, though I'd have titled it, "And good fucking riddance"

I look forward to helping populate this thread

Haha don't die on us just yet, Bill.

Will this thread include the names of those in the US who have received the death penalty for their crimes? This thread is all kind of fucked up imo - celebrating death cannot be the way forward.

Weaver wrote:We have a very successful R.I.P. thread, noting the loss of good people around the world.

I think we also need a counterpart - a thread for those whose death makes the world a slightly better place. For the sort of people about whom, when you hear they've died, you say things like "Finally," or "It's about time," or "If I wasn't an atheist I'd say burn in hell, motherfucker, but since I am I'll just have to accept that you're no longer a burden on the world."

A place to celebrate not a person's life, but the simple fact that they're fucking dead.

I'll start it off with one whose death was long overdue.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/30/worl ... -news&_r=0

Noriega was small fry compared to the scoundrels in power in the US government who continually supported him until he became too independent and overreached what his puppet-masters had in mind.

Then he became a pariah.

Funny that.

Is it a coincidence I wonder that both Weaver and Chairman Bill are ex military? Is it necessary to celebrate the death of the enemy in order to take orders to kill/sleep at night?

Keep It Real wrote:Is it a coincidence I wonder that both Weaver and Chairman Bill are ex military? Is it necessary to celebrate the death of the enemy in order to take orders to kill/sleep at night?

Yes, it is. No, it isn't. Neither Noriega nor Ailes were my enemies in any way. But they were both odious creatures who did major harm to those around them, and I'm glad they're no longer polluting the atmosphere by cycling it through their lungs.

Your attempts at pop psychology are inane, ludicrous, and betray an incredible degree of ignorance.

While Noriega was indeed propped up for too long while he was a useful pawn, that does not excuse in any way his campaign of murder, rape and torture - nor does it in any way equate him to those who conducted no such acts, or who supported him before he turned to such violence.

Keep It Real wrote:Will this thread include the names of those in the US who have received the death penalty for their crimes? This thread is all kind of fucked up imo - celebrating death cannot be the way forward.

Neither can making death some sacred, untouchable object that absolves one of their life's work. This thread reminds me of one of my favorite videos, which isn't pretty, but the truth rarely is:



To be glad that someone can't continue harming others (or yourself) isn't bad IMHO, neither is reminding people of the terrible things they did. If you're happy that everyone who's received the death penalty is dead, then go for it I guess. Not a list I'd make since they were already in prison, so couldn't harm people.

H.L. Mencken wrote an outstanding essay when Richard Nixon died.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/

Yeah, the death penalty dig reminds me too much of the constant Only In America nonsense - an assumption that since I'm an American, I must support the death penalty and revel every time someone is executed.

I'm not a death penalty supporter. I would love to see it utterly eliminated. And I speak very personally in this matter - I am very glad that the shitheaded asshole who murdered my granddaughter's mother and half-brother (a little boy I regret not being able to take custody of), while by law eligible for the death penalty, will not be facing it when they finally drag his ass to trial.

Keep It Real wrote:Is it necessary to celebrate the death of the enemy in order to take orders to kill/sleep at night?

No.

Weaver wrote:Yeah, the death penalty dig reminds me too much of the constant Only In America nonsense - an assumption that since I'm an American, I must support the death penalty and revel every time someone is executed.

I'm not a death penalty supporter. I would love to see it utterly eliminated. And I speak very personally in this matter - I am very glad that the shitheaded asshole who murdered my granddaughter's mother and half-brother (a little boy I regret not being able to take custody of), while by law eligible for the death penalty, will not be facing it when they finally drag his ass to trial.

No Weaver, it wasn't a dig at your country, I was just trying to speak your language. I fucking love americans; they're really the nicest, friendliest, most open and honest people I've ever met. I'd try to move there if it wasn't for the lack of free health care and all the guns. The dig I give about this thread is that death should never be celebrated; I don't care whether it's osama bin laden, saddam hussein, colonol gadafi or a terminally ill euthanasia application it's all the same - death is never to be celebrated because it is the termination of the learning experience - a a vacuum where there is no more chance for valor.

Speaking encouragingly of the death penalty is an inept way to try to speak my language - I have never said anything on this forum to indicate I support the death penalty, so I have no clue how anyone would think that speaking approvingly of it is somehow my language.

If you don't want to acknowledge, with or without a degree of satisfaction and/or glee, the death of asshole oxygen thieves like bin Laden, then don't - nobody is forcing you to participate in this thread. But don't put them up on some sort of pedestal either, as some nebulous sort of lost opportunity for increase in the global knowledge or learning base either - because the only thing he was interested in learning was how to harm and kill more innocents.

l never celebrate any ones death either. But some people live more positive lives than others so I may
feel their passing more. When it is someone like Ian Brady who died this year then I felt nothing at all
I try to be emotionally detached with people like him rather than full of hate. I have no problem with
others hating people like him as many already do. But it is not an emotion I wish to invest any time in

Weaver wrote:H.L. Mencken wrote an outstanding essay when Richard Nixon died.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/

Interesting slip, here, but I was glad to be reminded of this essay. From here, it looks like Mencken lived and died a couple of generations too early. One of the commenters in the section below the article suspects that Hunter Thompson blew his head off along about the time he realized that Nixon wasn't any kind of limit to US political darkstars, even though the story is not simple. Whatever happens to Trump, nobody will ever write about him the same way Thompson wrote about Nixon. Whatever else was wrong with Nixon, he was a pro.

Trump! Is he dead yet? Too soon? ...Shit, another premature projection, the doctor (online said the pills he sold me could cure this!) I suppose "could" was more important that I thought, a bit like "style".

Chavez...