Ding, Dong, the Warlock's Dead

Josh Claybourn has got himself in a bit of hot water over this post noting the demise of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who has a Separated at Birth resemblance to Lord of the Rings evil wizard Saurman. He went on to do an Israeli remix of some Tolkein script on Saurman's demise.

Josh and Bene have been trading barbs over the issue; there must be some soft of bad blood between two of my better blog buddies. However, Bene wasn't the only person offended; Rev. Mike is one of the other offendees. I wasn't offended; I even approvingly linked to the initial piece, albeit with a bit less glee in his passing.

I think one of the questions that comes to mind, and what probably is offending some of my blog brothers, is whether it is appropriate to take joy in someone else's death, even if it is a terrorist mastermind. Another example recently was Kathy Shaidle's headline on the death of Lord of the Dance lyricist Sydney Bertram Carter-"We've missed our chance to kill him" (thanks to Get Religion for the link, although you're dissing my praise girl Ms. Zschech). That song was lame, but not quite a capital offense.

This makes blogging a bit hard; the humor that makes things flow a bit better doesn't work as well when war and death is the topic. The shoot-from-the-lip attitude that makes for a good blog becomes a bit tacky when we're dealing with death. Josh is a bit over-the-top pointed and opinionated, and this isn't the first time that he's ticked people off. He even ticked me off a couple of years ago when he used some rap lyrics verbatim.

Where you draw the line between humor and propriety is a fine art. Draw it too tight and you have dry, unreadable prose. Draw it too loose and you become too irreverent. I'm largely in Josh's camp on this one, but I can also see where others would think he went over the line.

Bene, keep being your sensitive, reflective self; you're a good check on our more juvenile natures. Josh, keep shooting from the lip and using your humor. We need both types to make things interesting and informative.

[Update 11AM 3/26-I did a little editing of the first paragraph to better reflect Josh's intent after getting an e-mail from him.]

[Update 10PM 3/26-For the more sensative amoung us, I was trying to be a bit tongue-in-cheek with the title, more making fun of the sentiment rather than agreeing with it]

Comments

[Robert Bauer]

I seem to remember hearing that after Ayatollah Khomeini died, several radio stations played "Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead," which annoyed the heck out of the Iranians...

[MarcV]

Oh great, dredge up that "ugliness" from two years ago! Rap lyrics are still as bad as ever, though.

The blogosphere is one big bulletin board, and what might entertain some can offend others. It's a tough balancing act since the blogosphere is IN and OF the world, while we as Christians are IN but not to be OF the world.

We should not be perceived to take joy in anyone's death. We can appreciate that someone who has worked for evil can no longer do so, and let God sort it out.

[Bene Diction]

Thanks Mark.
It's odd being perceived as sensitive, I might start to get used to it.:^)
There has been quite a bit of bible thumping, lumping and labelling and kerfuffle.
I suspect many bloggers are too individualistic to sit still for that. Nor should it be about personalities. When it goes there, thankfully the blogosphere will remain self-correcting.
This isn't about sides either, and it is refreshing to see mature bloggers step up and say so. Blog on!