(April 10, 2016 at 11:00 am)abaris Wrote:(April 10, 2016 at 10:06 am)Brian37 Wrote: And there is a double standard when atheists have loved ones die, even in person we are STILL expected to keep our mouths shut. No and I am tired of that bullshit. If theists get to make statements in mass media about public events, so do skeptics. It is certainly reasonable in face to face personal settings to leave debate out of it, but mass media is not a private in person event.
Frankly, I don't understand what you mean by that. When my mother lay on her death, I sent her a priest because she would have wanted it, and I couldn't say if it reaches her in her coma. Not because it was important for me, but because I knew the importance for her. Definetely not the right time to make an atheist statement. Same at her funeral where her friends and extended family took comfort in the priest being there. You said it yourself, such a thing would have been a dick move.
Also you didn't say what you posted. But in any case, this obviously was a public figure. I didn't know him, nor what he stood for, since the NFL is alien to us here across the pond. I never understood people mourning a public figure's demise anyway, since they are nothing to us, other than some fun or admiration being taken out of our lives. We didn't know them personally, haven't been friends with them, or were in other ways related to them. They are fair game, so to speak. If certain rules are being observed, since they too had family and friends. Trying to make a statement at the moment of their demise can be in bad taste. Not saying, it was, but it can.
Of course, that is your mother, and my mother IS Catholic and I will do the same. I am not talking about doing what the dead want, I am talking about outside that when people try to comfort you personally, that IS a double standard, even when you feel like saying "I love my mom, I miss her, but she's nowhere" we are still expected to say nothing, in the private setting.
I get the mourning of celebrity, I've felt bad over the deaths of famous actors and musicians, even a couple of sports stars. I have no problem with mourning itself, entertainment is needed in life too. What I object to is the double standard in even the private setting, they don't want any skepticism even with public figures. But they had no problem raking Hitchens over the coals, and the irony is he wouldn't have cared one bit.
I am talking about not setting up taboos in national news. You cannot have it both ways. If you are going to make truth claims about even natural disasters, child murders, celebrity deaths then others have the right to question the logic behind those claims, even when it comes to death.
One is a personal face to face situation, the other is a public event.
