It's funny when a elementary saying is so appropriate here: If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.
I have strong personal feelings about Helms and his "legacy" However, a man has died. Can we not form some sense of civility here?
I agree with the above.
As do I.
It's amazing how easily differences in political opinions and visions of the USA can translate into personal rancor and outright hatred. For all you (and this is a general "you", not aimed at anyone in particular) know, someone that holds the polar opposite political opinions may be someone you could have a grand conversation with over movies, music, books, sports, or any other nonpolitical topic. Yet many on each side are ready to demonize and vilify those on the opposite side. It's especially ridiculous when one of those people dies. There are few cases when I would say celebrating someone's death is appropriate, but this isn't one.
Jesse Helms loved his country. He had a vision of how things should be that ran contrary to many. Unlike many politicians today who go whichever way the political winds blow or polls direct, you always knew where Helms stood. However, he was a man who used his office to help his constituents to the best of his ability and, as this recent article I found online mentions, he found it in himself to work with Bono on funding to fight AIDS.
I disagreed with Jesse Helms on maybe 95% of the things he stood for, but I won't speak ill of him on the day of his death. He was a strong force in American politics and may he rest in peace.
You've put an awful lot of euphemisms in there. With people like Helms, it goes beyond having a 'difference of opinion' with him. And I'm not going to respect someone simply because I 'know where they stand.'
Believe it or not, I don't actually hate Republicans, and there are very few people I would strongly attack after their death, generally because I recognise there are elements of decency in most people.
Helms was not decent. He built his
entire career on hatred, bigotry and contempt for anyone different from him or anyone weak and vulnerable in society. I don't like seeing someone like that having their reputation whitewashed and sanitized.
