I've heard people cracking MJ jokes since a few hours after it was announced (on TV as well).
I don't believe in "respect for the dead" in the sense many people seem to be using it. If they deserved respect when they were alive, they still deserve it, if not then not. Being dead doesn't make them 'untouchable'.
Consideration for the living who are mourning their dead is another matter. I wouldn't crack jokes about a dead person to or in front of their relatives (and therefore not on public media) out of consideration for those who might find it upsetting (on the other hand I know some families where that would be welcomed, like at an Irish style wake). But then that could be extended to "don't even mention the dead person" or play their songs bcause it might upset someone, it's a very fuzzy line.
Humour is a very common way of dealing with sadness (indeed, it has been argued that all humour is a way of dealing with 'wrongness').
(I remember hearing the joke "What's dead and sounds like a bell?" within a few days of the announcement of Bing Crosby's death. Even those who considered it tasteless still laughed...)
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I don't believe in "respect for the dead" in the sense many people seem to be using it. If they deserved respect when they were alive, they still deserve it, if not then not. Being dead doesn't make them 'untouchable'.
Consideration for the living who are mourning their dead is another matter. I wouldn't crack jokes about a dead person to or in front of their relatives (and therefore not on public media) out of consideration for those who might find it upsetting (on the other hand I know some families where that would be welcomed, like at an Irish style wake). But then that could be extended to "don't even mention the dead person" or play their songs bcause it might upset someone, it's a very fuzzy line.
Humour is a very common way of dealing with sadness (indeed, it has been argued that all humour is a way of dealing with 'wrongness').
(I remember hearing the joke "What's dead and sounds like a bell?" within a few days of the announcement of Bing Crosby's death. Even those who considered it tasteless still laughed...)