Funeral Blogging Thoughts

LaShawn Barber had a post on the King funeral in which she gave her thoughts on this whole affair:

Nothing is “sacred” or off-limits anymore. In my mind, funerals should be dignified and respectful services to honor the life of the deceased and help family and friends say goodbye, not political events. But the King family turned it into one, and bloggers became participants in the sideshow by adding to the partisanship. In my opinion, bloggers were just as disrespectful as the family and the politicians.

First of all, LaShawn is technically black (though I’m sure some of our liberal friends will try and disqualify her) and she doesn’t think this was done right.

I’ll have to take issue with her somewhat in that I believe bloggers as a whole really didn’t add anything that would have been here anyway. It was being debated on the old media shows the day it happened. The partisanship had already happened. There was no way to avoid the disrespect. It was a big issue that was worth being addressed. If commenting on the funeral at all is problematic then LaShawn’s comment is a problem as well.

I’d say there was some stuff I found disturbing. The idea of “Live Blogging” the funeral stands out as something that seemed a little tasteless. Live Blogging is good for Sports Events and traditional political events, not funerals. Rating speakers or prattling about sound or the way someone’s dress looks seems totally inappropriate for the occassion.

As well, I think there’s a case to be made for no cameras at funerals, no reporters at funerals. Give the media a headcount and that’s all they’ll need for their story. Everyone knows politicians are clowns and all you need for them to start playing their part is for their to be a circus around.

Sadly, the days seem over when our nation can come together for a moment of bi-partisan mourning and remember a great person. The Democrats have political points to score, dontcha know, but the good news is that to them, all truly GREAT Americans are part of their party.

—–