This idea of respecting somebody just because they died has always baffled me. Can we speak badly about them up until the exact moment they die and then we must stop? What about the act of dying is so heroic that it wipes out a lifetime of other than honorable actions?
Read my reply. I've added a qualifyer. I understand that I stated my case poorly to begin with. The fact of the matter is that there are some deaths that are clearly not worthy of negative and spiteful comment. Rather no comment at all. This was one of those.
Now Yasser, Saddams people, OBL, Castro, those kind of people are open game.
Sadly I feel that his "art" wasn't seperated from his "person" in these comments. People figure "If he rapped about bad stuff.......then he did bad stuff"
I think it really depends on the person - like, if it's Arafat or Hitler, yes, you stand a good chance of being able to vent.
On the other hand, if a person wants to post a "tribute" thread, usually the "if you don't like it don't read it" rule applies - it's usually meant for a tribute to be sent to families or fans of the deceased. I remember specifically a thread that was a meant to be a tribute to a freeper's friend who was killed in an accident, and it was absoLUTEly trashed by people who just showed up to make crude comments about a dead person they didn't even know (motorcycles enrage some folks evidently). I just don't think it's right to mock someone's grief, or to mock the dead. Ask people's grannies, they'll usually say the same thing. And I'm not even that old...
I was raised up specifically not to speak ill of the dead - perhaps that's just southern, or old fashioned, but it brings BAD mojo on the person doing it usually. Unless it's Arafat, and I broke my rule on that one. I hope I don't get bad luck from it... :P