pelfdaddy wrote:When I am tempted to rejoice at the death of a particularly useless and injurious piece of shit, I think about infants. You know...those tiny packages of joy and promise that we love to squeeze. It helps me to elevate my thoughts to a level where I prefer to be--even though it is difficult--to recall that the above-referenced piece of shit was once one of these. I actually try to picture them in the crib, sitting in Mommy's lap, suckling, cooing...

There was a time when they were truly innocent. Something happened. That's all.

I have a similar strategy when I am tempted to place too much trust in the authority of an especially bright thinker. I just imagine them as infants also.

Being dead just means the end of other people telling you to shut the fuck up so they can get a word in. What a relief, when you think about it, for both sides of that conversation. We'll just ignore the people who talk to the dead. They're not talking to us, and they're gonna die, too.

What was that old joke? For several hours after death, hair and fingernails continue to grow. Phone calls tend to taper off.

Another one: Why do we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? Because we are not the one involved.

pelfdaddy wrote:I have a similar strategy when I am tempted to place too much trust in the authority of an especially bright thinker. I just imagine them as infants also.

Remaining busy, that's the key to avoiding spending too much time pondering death.

I actually had an experience relevant to this recently I don't know what to make of.

I found out someone I dislike is dying. I didn't care. I wasn't happy they were dying. They've always treated me like shit and I've almost always been the bigger person. I admit my life will be easier when they're gone. Not substantially so though, certainly not to the point of wishing them dead. I don't wish that for their family or friends. Those folks, I do feel for. The person dying though? I feel nothing for.

This is in sharp contrast with every other experience I've had with someone I dislike experiencing great misfortune. I've always felt badly for them upon finding out. Now.... I feel nothing.

Is this an age thing?

Thommo wrote:I don't think what we feel is really at debate, it's about how we act. I would certainly endorse anyone's right to think and feel what they will and say what they like in the privacy of their own home.

But when I see Westboro Baptists picketing some funeral I think they are colossal arseholes. I don't really care how they feel and I'm aware that what they are doing is not illegal and thus "ok" on legal grounds. But I'm not indifferent to it. I don't like the impact they have on the bereaved even though I don't know those people or the deceased.

I was quite happy when that piece of shit Fred Phelps finally expired, even unto rejoicing.

If you're anything like me it could just be a Monday thing. Wait to see how you feel on Thursday.

--//--

I tend to place a greater emphasis on chance than is probably warranted, and for all aspects of life, including our character. This likely gets in the way of any lasting enjoyment I might get from the misfortune of others.

A tweet apposite Rush Limbaugh’s announcement that he has lung cancer.

I'm not sure that satisfaction and rejoicing are quite the same sentiments. I would say that the satisfaction at the downfall of most bad guys is about justice; that something wrong has been righted, a threat has been neutralized etc.

Animavore wrote:I was thinking the other day of this thread, and I thought; isn't nearly every villain in every movie set up so you can cheer their death and feel like they've deserved it?

It feels like they are tapping into something rather ubiquitous in human nature.

I probably have not watched enough movies to say, but I do remember one where the person portrayed as the goody dispatched baddie with a whaling harpoon, even though he knew that the baddy had run out of ammunition, and I was thoroughly disgusted by that. It's actually the only detail I remember. And my revulsion, of course.

Yeah a harpoon is a bit OTT, I guess. Speargun would habe been a better choice.

laklak wrote:Yeah a harpoon is a bit OTT, I guess. Speargun would habe been a better choice.

Captain Ahab might disagree.

felltoearth wrote:A tweet apposite Rush Limbaugh’s announcement that he has lung cancer.

This whole discussion about the ethics of rejoicing at someone's death and the recent announcement of Limbaugh's imminent demise, has led me to ponder on that age old philosophical question:

Suppose there were five people tied to a track and there was a Trolley barreling toward them, would you push Rush Limbaugh off a bridge and then go untie the people before the trolley got to them?

scott1328 wrote:
This whole discussion about the ethics of rejoicing at someone's death and the recent announcement of Limbaugh's imminent demise, has led me to ponder on that age old philosophical question:

Suppose there were five people tied to a track and there was a Trolley barreling toward them, would you push Rush Limbaugh off a bridge and then go untie the people before the trolley got to them?

Surely rhetorical

felltoearth wrote:Surely rhetorical

I promise you, I will push Rush Limbaugh off a bridge every single time I see him on one.