I’m sure by now you are aware of the passing of the Duke of Edinburgh.
I’m not going to eulogise him here. There are others better qualified to do so. I will be slightly redundant and point out that a real man has passed, a real husband, father, and grandfather. The notional grandfather of a nation, the real grandfather of a family, and the two are entwined. I say I’m being redundant because I believe my friends on BW.com know this instinctively.
You might think from much of what has sprung up online that he was some fictional villain. I know I shouldn’t be shocked or surprised that some folk of certain political positions feel the need to spew their toxic bile at a time of real grief, yet it has hit home. It has also brought something into clear focus for me.
I’m no stranger to political loathing. I was not upset at the passing Sir Edward Heath, a man I regarded as a genuine traitor. I was not sad at the death of Martin McGuinness, who was an enemy openly declared. When Tony B Liar and John Major leave this veil of tears, I won’t shed any tears for them. However, it would never occur to me to go online and intrude upon the grief of those who have different opinions on these people. I have noticed this is very much one of those right/left things. We’re happy to heap abuse on our active “enemies”, but it’s rare to see a “rightist” get excited over the death of an opponent.
5 replies on “Just what drives these people?”
In some ways I grieve the death of a foe. I’d rather lose a foe.by them becoming an ally. And for those who stay a foe, attacks during the grieving process are rude at best. Leave it for later
Well said.
I’m going to miss the old bugger. He was one my favourites.
This seems to be part of the character of some on the left, a need to share their opinions on a topic no matter the mundane or vile nature of them.
It appears those that share such opinions have a great capacity for othering those with which they disagree and by association dehumanizing any connected to that person. Such actions truely show the nature of their character … or utter lack thereof.
Spot on. All part of the tremendous amount of projetion that seems to come from that quarter.
Completely agree. Prince Philip’s passing affected me more than I thought it would. Possibly because his marriage to the Queen has been the most stable thing in the UK for my whole life. Very sad to see him go.
You can’t like everyone in the world, and political people often drive you to despair. But at least we know that a death is still a death and families of those we distrust completely, are always affected with sadness. There is no benefit to any sort of hate at a time such as this.