The anonymity of the Internet frees up people to say some cruel and hurtful things. They write words they would never utter in public. I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised by what I've been reading on the passing of Jerry Falwell this morning.
Rev. Falwell himself has said a lot of things that were cruel and hurtful. I am not a Falwell fan. I do not side with the Moral Majority. Let me make that clear. Statements made by Jerry Falwell have personally offended me. He's said despicable things about other faiths, races, women, GLBTs, civil rights and even 9-11. But the death of a human being deserves politeness. Some of the remarks I've read are just beyond bad taste. One blogger wrote: "Only wish he suffered more." "There are no tears in my house tonight... only Champagne," wrote another. Parties and toasts were a common theme. There were way to many descriptions of Tinky Winky dancing on his grave. A comment on Gawker.com read: "I hope he is gang-banged in Hell by Satan, Saddam, Hitler and Liberace". That doesn't even make sense. Last night, in San Francisco, there was what organizers called an "Anti-Memorial" held for Mr. Falwell. That's just hateful.
Must we be tolerant of intolerance? I don't think so. But responding to indignity with indignity, doesn't help the situation in the least. I know people are reacting out of emotion, and I'm not a woman, gay or Jewish. Someone could argue that I have no idea how Jerry Falwell's comments affected them. On an individual basis, I guess that's true. I believe that it's your right to say what you want as well. But I also know that hate affects us all.
Well said. He's dead.. let him go. What happens to him now is not up to us and we should not dance on anyone's grave.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. Answering hate with more hate does nothing to move us forward. When Rosie criticized Trump for being the moral compass for teenage girls, she had an excellent point. Then Trump replied by saying Rosie was fat. Why did Rosie reply with a crack on his hair? Very frustrating.
ReplyDeleteThe weird part was when Trump's hair made a crack about Barbara Walters though.
ReplyDelete:) That's pretty good. But back to the hate thing. The popularity of these Hostel movies is pretty scary I think. Makes me wonder where society is headed.
ReplyDeleteProbably towards slumping sales in Central Europe's hostels.
ReplyDeleteI haven't actually seen the Hostel movies. I'm not so into the idea of torture as entertainment. It's really weird though. People will be outraged at things they see on the news, but then go watch a movie like Hostel on a Fri. night date. But maybe it's what we are seeing on the news that numbs us to the violence we see in movies. Or maybe we choose to look at brutality as entertainment because we can't deal with the reality of the suffering that is happening in the world around us?