Rick Warren and cruel social media

[poetry_writer]

Read a news story on this and read some of the comments myself to pastor Rick Warren. Hideous and unbelievably cruel things said him concerning the tragic suicide of his son. Not talking a few comments, a LOT of them on various social media sites. Vicious. It shows where our society is today. They think they can and should bash this man who just lost his son. Thoughts on this?

[mnmlz]

As someone that has lost a son, I think the vicious comments are horrible. The circumstances were different (my son was 20 and died in an accident not suicide) but to lose a child is very difficult. I lost my Dad and while that was hard, one expects to outlive parents but not children. I would not have made it through the last six years without the LORD, my husband and friends and family. I cannot imagine having to deal with such a loss in the midst of criticism. Honestly, I am not a fan of Rick Warren but I would certainly not bash him at such a time!

[libby]

Some people have no shame.....I don't get it at all.

[goldensmom]

I also am not a fan of Rick Warren but he and his family need compassion and support during this time of tragic loss. What a sad commentary on our society that so many not only fail to show compassion but that they go so far as to be outright cruel in their words. Apparently a lot of people missed that day in kindergarten where we learned ‘if you can’t say anything nice……’. Condolences to the Warren family and to all other unnamed individuals going through similar circumstances.

[Gregg]

Another not-a-fan of Rick Warren, but I do believe anyone deserves compassion until they prove otherwise. I don't think the Warren family has proven otherwise.

[CathyA]

That's disgusting. People can hide behind anonymity and be real jerks.
I'm not religious, but can still feel incredible sympathy for Warren. It sounds like the poor boy struggled since birth with depression.
Very tragic..........and made worse by jerks.

[Float On]

I haven't read any of the articles yet or comments.
A dear friend's (also a pastor) son jumped from the tall roof of the church on a Sunday morning this last fall. He should of died but didn't and will never walk right but its amazing he can walk with braces and has full brain function. The pressure on pastoral staff and their family is horrible. I was a youth pastor for a large church and ended up having a nervous breakdown - trying to meet everyone's demands and expectations is a different level of hell.

[Alan]

Intolerance, stupidity and cruel behavior seems to be the new normal. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2306165/Margaret-Thatcher-death-parties-The-Lefts-sick-celebration-Brixtons-streets.html

[ApatheticNoMore]

Actually I don't think the Thatcher thing is at all comparable. It's her herself people feel that way about and not her children (plus I think that hatred toward people in actual power or who have been may be entirely legitimate). Few consider it indecent to celebrate the death of Sadamn Hussein afterall. In order to be consistent I suppose that should be outraged at that too, how dare anyone be happy at his death ....

I think the thing with Rick Warren and his son are different, first of all I barely know who Rick Warren is enough to care about him though I might not like him (anyone who writes self-help books is already kinda on my bad list stop right there! :)), and secondly it's not that he died, it's he lost a son. I suspect there's a lot of people who think they are much better parents than him, but they are probably quite confused - though it may hinder it - being a good parent is about a lot more than religious and political ideology. And even for the best of parents, sometimes suicide happens just like any other form of death happens, and as hard to figure out as why a particular person got cancer. Why? Why does the sky rain? because.

[peggy]

Oh I know Alan. Isn't that horrible!
And yes, they are comparable in that each has a grieving family who should be given the space to mourn without such hatred. People can be so cruel, and completely without irony decry the same treatment towards someone they like/agree with. If we make exceptions, like for Thatcher, then we condone the Westborough Baptist church's doings, as they believe they are celebrating a public evil. Comparing her to Saddam Hussein is just ridiculous, although I thought public celebrations in his death were incredibly tacky, no matter how much I may have 'celebrated' in private.

But, I have found that hateful people are generally hateful towards everyone. They are the office gossip, the mean girl in Junior high, the nasty person in the social circle who never has a nice thing to say about anyone. And they are usually nasty to their own family, to their wife/husband/parents, etc... The internet just makes it easier for us to encounter them, and in some cases legitimizes their nastiness.

[catherine]

I can rely on comments made following internet news articles to be horribly depressing examples of the worst of humanity. I never realized people could be so hateful until I started reading comments after news articles. I come to this forum for validation that not everyone on the internet is cruel and ignorant.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Well I imagine those who celebrate Thatchers death do so because they saw a lot of real in person suffering from her policies (or if not then, certainly do now with wave after wave of austerity which they may blame her being the first wave of.). That's why people can hate the powerful (and it's very direct power there, it's being in government, it's not just some vague "intellectual influence"). But I am not a Brit and it is not my battle.

[jp1]

I can rely on comments made following internet news articles to be horribly depressing examples of the worst of humanity. I never realized people could be so hateful until I started reading comments after news articles. I come to this forum for validation that not everyone on the internet is cruel and ignorant.

I've stopped reading comments on general news sites for just this reason. Even seemingly innocuous stories generate remarkable levels of hatred. I remember reading a story on yahoo about Glenn, the guy who blogs about living in a small motor home and at least half the commenters were extremely negative with comments like "uncle Glenn lives in a a van down by the river."

[LDAHL]

Intolerance, stupidity and cruel behavior seems to be the new normal. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2306165/Margaret-Thatcher-death-parties-The-Lefts-sick-celebration-Brixtons-streets.html

I had the impression of jackals snarling at a dead lion. Johnney Rotten's assessment of "loathsome" seems about right to me here. But one of the functions of free speech is to identify who the idiots are. I can think of no greater tribute to Mrs. Thatcher's life and achievements than the hatred she inspired in this sort of mind.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Seems to me mostly that Americans don't understand Brit culture. Yep, that's what it mostly seems to me. Have you ever seen the Brit policians at each other on CSPAN? Wow, they go at it. Still it occurs to me those who could fully understand Thatcher even there are definitely no longer young, the young were scarcely or were not even born and are more angry at the situation today (which is legit but isn't really a direct line to Thatcher). If hatred in death marks greatness, man that Osama .... ok sorry man that Hugo Chavez .... so great ...

[IshbelRobertson]

Whilst I was completely at odds with many of Mrs thatcher's government policies, particularly the introduction of the poll tax in Scotland, I have to say I find the venemous outpourings by the younger generation, incomprehensible. Many of them weren't even alive when she was in power.

Where has the simple courtesy afforded to the dead gone?

[Maxamillion]

I find it disturbing that anyone would celebrate someone's death and make horrible statements aimed at the suffering family. Comments on internet articles make me want to weep for humanity sometimes.

[Dhiana]

I think people are exactly the same as they always have been.
History has shown us the cruelty of men, women and children from the beginning. From Genghis Khan with a club to human sacrifices in Meso-America to witch hunts. The cruel things that were said and done then usually stayed within a limited area of the planet. Now we can hear all the bad actions and all the comments because everyone's voice now carries throughout the world.

It may seem like there is more but there are some things that just weren't talked about before such as rape, pedophilia, wife beatings, child abuse, even husband beatings. That doesn't mean it hasn't been happening for 1000s of years. At least now we can do something about it!

We really need to keep things into perspective and really see how much peace we live in now. If a majority of people were that absolutely horrible to each other there would be nothing but horrors and bloodshed upon each other everywhere. There isn't. It is still happening but with a small percent of the population.
Let the idiots and trolls vent their frustrations on the internet.

And where did the idea of not speaking ill of the dead originate? Is it from people long ago who believed the ghost would come and get them? What happened with Rick Warren and his son is sad and of course a lot of idiots say a lot of stupid things.

How will we learn anything if we don't examine the past. Is what Thatcher did right? Or is history proving her actions cruel? If we don't speak ill of Hitler it will be guaranteed to happen again.

No one is perfect but thankfully a majority of us on the planet are decent people :)

[LDAHL]

Seems to me mostly that Americans don't understand Brit culture. Yep, that's what it mostly seems to me.

I don't think anyone will be mistaking these people for Gladstone and Disraeli anytime soon.

[Gregg]

I can rely on comments made following internet news articles to be horribly depressing examples of the worst of humanity. I never realized people could be so hateful until I started reading comments after news articles. I come to this forum for validation that not everyone on the internet is cruel and ignorant.

Like jp1 and others, I almost never read the comments at the end of web articles any more. I don't need the negative energy. One of the best parts about our little community here is that in spite of how diverse we are there almost always seems to be a shared sense of right and wrong and relative agreement regarding compassionate and civil behavior. Part of that is affording simple respect to others even if you disagree with them and part seems to come from living in such a way that there is nothing to be gained from cruelty. It makes you wonder how that could be so easily lost by so many people.

[bUU]

Where has the simple courtesy afforded to the dead gone?
I'm actually more concerned about the ill treatment of the living by the living, than the ill treatment of the dead. I'm confident that the dead are far above concerns about what random people are saying about them.