Rush Limbaugh died of lung cancer yesterday. My Twitter and Facebook feeds were full of people who were giddy about his death. They didn’t like him. They thought he was a terrible person. They were glad he was dead. They made jokes. It was a great day. This is not a defense of Rush Limbaugh. I didn’t like him. I will admit that back in the early 90;s when I spent all day in my car delivering papers in downtown Cincinnati I would sometimes listen to his show. I found that music all day didn’t work for me so I rotated through various talk radio shows until the comedy radio show I liked started. Sometimes I would land on Rush. I didn’t agree with him and spent time yelling at the radio. I stopped listening the day he called homeless people human debris. I know he promoted a lot of terrible views and there is a good reason for people not to like him. My question is – Is it really ever OK to celebrate someone’s death?
I have mixed feelings on this. I think it was generally considered acceptable to celebrate the death of Bin Laden. I think celebrating the death of Hitler was OK. They were terrible people who were behind atrocities and the deaths of a lot of people. Charles Manson? Jeffrey Dahmer? Ted Bundy? I think most people would be OK with celebrating the death of a serial killer. What about other members of the Manson family? People who did bad things but seemed to change once they were no longer under Manson’s influence? Still a celebration? Do we celebrate the death of people who committed other terrible crimes short of murder? Does it depend on the circumstance or how close the crime was to you? Is it really a good thing to celebrate the death of someone because they promoted hateful ideas on the radio? And celebrate publicly? In some cases, seemingly stalk pages online so you can comment on other people’s comments to make sure they know you hated him and are glad he is dead?
I’m not claiming any high ground here. I’m just saying that I am not a fan of seeing post after post of people giddy about the death of anyone. In this case, I also think about the fact that I have family members who post hate filled posts on Facebook. Terrible, racist stuff. I have unfollowed them so I don’t see it and I am embarrassed that they are part of my family. I would hate to see people celebrating if they died because of this. I’m sure there are people in Limbaugh’s family in the same boat. They hated what he said and promoted on air, but he was family and people are saying we should all be glad he is dead. It just doesn’t seem right.
Do you think it is OK to celebrate the death of Rush?
Is it ever OK to celebrate anyone’s death?
The World's Common Tater 
It is interesting you write this. I thought of the same thing yesterday seeing jubilation at his death. I detested what he said and truly disliked him. Having said that, I can not bring myself to celebrate anyone’s death. I believe in karma and I believe celebrating someone’s death is bad karma. However, I could not feel bad that he died.
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Yeah, I think there’s a big difference in “I’m not sad” and being genuinely happy and celebrating someone’s death
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Honestly, I feel like this man did more damage to our country than any single person in modern history. He was the precursor to Fox News and fake news and the mainstreaming of hate speech. He was still on the air spewing lies and hate a couple weeks ago. So, while I didn’t celebrate his death, I cannot deny being very glad about his voice being silenced on the airwaves.
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While I do not mourn his passing, I find it hard to celebrate his death – or anybody’s. If the person was terrible, I find it more fulfilling to celebrate (or commemorate) the people who countered them. So my reaction to Limbaugh’s death is to think about Barbara Jordan, John Lewis, Larry Kramer, and others who worked to make life better for all people.
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I appreciate this post. My 27 year old texted me yesterday morning, saying “Rush Limbaugh died!” and I chose not to respond. I did not like him as a person, hated all the crap he spewed, and am disgusted that he was given the Medal of Freedom by our former President, but, like you, it didn’t sit well with me to express glee that he died. But also I do not mourn his passing.
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I think silence is better than what I’ve been seeing.
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I don’t think we should celebrate anyone’s death. But this goes to my thoughts that we hold people to too high a standard. Until we are all perfect, I say we just be respectful
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I was not a fan of Rush. I don’t think it is right to celebrate anyone’s death. Even in extreme cases, such as Hitler, one might say, I am glad he is dead. That is different than being gleeful. For those who do celebrate a death, it seems they bring themselves down a level. What purpose does it serve? Perhaps one cannot help but feel joyful inside, but seems to me it would be more respectful to not express that emotion. Thanks for a thoughtful post.
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Never. Celebrating just puts you in the same hateful caliber, not to mention all of the most evil people have family that isn’t. You can despise someone sure..but celebrating anyone’s death is morbid.
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A human being is dead. A husband is dead. A son is dead. A father (?) is dead. Why people choose to celebrate the death of a human being because they don’t like his politics is beyond me. And that goes too for Bin laden. all of that excessive celebrating. Yes, we were happy, but the celebrating was inappropriate.
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I don’t celebrate it per se, but I don’t mourn his death either. I have commented on a few posts, but I didn’t feel compelled to post about it. The less “air” time he receives, living or dead, is better for me.
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