Posted by so on June 11, 2005, at 20:49:29
In reply to Re: Lou's request to the administration » so, posted by Phillipa on June 11, 2005, at 20:09:37
> Well believe it or not a lot of people do laugh about death. My grandfather used to drive by cemetaries and say "people are dying to go there". No he wasn't dying at the time. Maybe you wouldn't consider this laughing but when i worked in ICU a pt died. l5minutes later we had a makeshift tablecloth on the deathbed and were eating a buffet contributed by all the staff. What about all the people that attend funerals then go to the deceased families house and proceed to laugh, eat, drink and be merry.
To my knowledge, we are not discussing the propriety of joking about death, but rather application and means of conforming with a guideline at this site that reads "Please ... don't joke about death."
I have no problem laughing about death if it is my own death. But I might have a problem with others laughing about my death, or vicariously laughing about a circumstance that could apply to my own death. And I am well familiar with gallows humor as it serves certain professions. It is a different matter, but some people laugh when they kill others, too, and some of those who laugh about killing others do so while in service to me as their fellow citizen. I recall recently watching videography of a killing inside a mosque, and the American who killed the person made the statement "He's not faking it now." I know of no reason I should not believe some people laugh about death, nor do I represent any view in general about the propriety of laughing about death. I am interested here in what is permissible here, and for whom.
poster:so
thread:510946
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20050530/msgs/511226.html