Talk Elections

Three and a half weeks after the Germanwings crash, the obsequies for the 150 causalities are taking place in Cologne Cathedral today. 1,400 guests are going to participate in the ecumenical service, among them 500 relatives of the victims. Also President Joachim Gauck, Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Speaker of the Bundestag Norbert Lammert, the Speaker of the Bundesrat     
Volker Bouffier, North Rhine-Westphalian Governor Hannelore Kraft, the Andreas Voßkuhle and government officials from France and Spain are expected to attend the obsequies.
(However, I couldn't find any information about if Lubitz's parents are planning to make an appearance; to the crash site they were driven separately.)
The Lufthansa employees are requested not to wear uniforms.

One decision, however, has aroused controversies:
The organizers decided to light 150 candles, one for each victim, i.e. also one for the pilot, who killed/murdered the passengers and the crew member.

How would you decide? Does Lubitz have a moral right for an enlightened candle?

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150 lighted candles in Digne-les-Bains:

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150.

149. You don't memorialise the murderer.

This is a tragedy for everyone involved.

150.

     I agree. He made a conscious choice to take so many other lives along with his own.

150.  The co-pilot's family lost a loved one too.

^^^

Joe's correct, as usual.

149...I don't even understand it the other way.

Dead0man...the murderer's family lost more than anyone else in a way.  They not only lost a son...but everyone is looking at them asking why.  They are being scrutinized by the simfans of the world in order to assign their unusually large doses of blame.

Or do we go DPRK and punish the family to the third degree too?

Can you understand 150 is an act of compassion for the family even though his murderous action deserves no memorial?

Can you understand being a family member of one of the 149 and have the person that murdered your loved one being honored along side of him/her?  Do memorials for similar things tend to have the murderer's name(s) when applicable?

149. I mean come on.

I wouldn't want his name among the honored dead any more than I'd want Mohammed Atta's memorialized in Downtown NY.

It's a candle though.  This memorial will last, what, a few days?  We're not talking about a permanent memorial with all the victims' names on it, which I'll admit is a very different thing.

149. He literally killed those people. It's like going to work and killing yourself in a way that takes the entire building and all of your co-workers and secretaries with you.

This is a candlelight memorial.  Not a permanent memorial.

Perhaps a symbolic compromise.  150 candles.  One left unlit.  It is up to the victims to light his candle.  Which, since they're dead...but symbolic gestures matter to people who found out their son was dead and a mass murderer the same day.