TL;DR if a terrible person dies, is there ever an appropriate time to point out that they were terrible? Or do you just keep your thoughts to yourself?
Those with good memories (or a Locke-stalking obsession) may recall me talking a few years ago about a friend of mine who was raped by a classmate. Turns out the guy died in a motorcycle accident last night. My friend called me up quite upset, because she didn't know how to feel about it and about the town's reaction to his death... which has been to praise and mourn the deceased. I understand that's the nature of things, but I can also understand why it is so upsetting for her. On the article page about the accident many people are talking about his time on the high school Academic Team (which she was also on, and cornered and raped by him twice away from the rest of the group), and in the local community college (which she also attended, but made sure to stay far away from him). According to her, he was always high and she thinks the accident was likely due to him DUI (currently police are investigating conflicting witness reports about who had the right of way). But again, the outpouring of support has been completely positive... and in a town with a lot of proud motorcyclists, the messages that aren't supporting him are at least completely against the girl he crashed into. Meanwhile my friend is not sure how to react to the situation; she knows at least one other girl he assaulted (a 14-year old when he was 18), and believes there a lot more. But how can she point that out?
I told her that she'll likely just need to bite her tongue and ignore any news about him, because speaking about her experiences will just make people turn on her instead. At the same time I think it's unfair that people will support this guy without knowing the truth. Reminds me of a classmate of mine who died in Afghanistan last year; there was a huge outpouring of support, but I knew that he regularly terrorized and beat his mother and younger sisters (no father at home). I thought him getting shipped off to Afghanistan was the best thing possible for the family because they were finally free from him. But once he died, it was all sunshine and puppies.
Bah, I think I know the answer here but it's frustrating anyway. At least my friend doesn't need to worry about him any more and no other girls will be hurt by the guy. I guess that's the best compensation she can have for keeping quiet.
Edited, Nov 27th 2012 8:59am by LockeColeMA