As a thing that happens in the world, an empty funeral is a sad thing. Zoom out folks.
Instead, reactions were more like those to a viral video: how dare you pay attention to someone who clearly doesn't deserve it? I did not manage to complete all responses I started typing out because of, well, feelings, but that strangely helped to justify the handful of hours I spend on this particular project every year...
Whereas for the person doing this, it is a (hopefully fun) hobby, and totally within their right to do so. But to say they do it for others? No. After all, nobody notices, there is no meaningful impact whatsoever. Which, to be honest, is a sad realization.
You see, the last funeral I went to, was a good friend of my mother. We had to travel throughout the country. I didn't see her much past years, and she wasn't a friend of mine, but I liked her. Why did I go? To support my mother, and because she was a kind person as far as I knew her, and to support the family (her kids especially). In a lone funeral though, none of these factors apply.
There's another aspect when I zoom out: why funeral? Why not a different way to leave earth? There are much less impactful methods. Especially Amsterdam is a crowded city. The friend of my mother, for example, went to a natuurbegrafenis (natural burial?) which fits her character very much. It was beautiful.
In the article it's stated that the project was started by some poets.
The world would be a cold(er), dark(er) place if we took a critically rational knife to every tiny instance of emotional reasoning.
I'm probably as rationalist as they come with regards to death, but if we're being critical we should also ask if we're questioning someone's community gesture in earnest or if we're just building another quick soapbox from which to broadcast our personal philosophy. Or (if there's even a distinction), to justify our own self interest when affronted by what could appear to be a selfless gesture.
The fact of matter is nobody would've known about this if it weren't in the media. That alone tells us these poets don't have reach/impact. I'm all for poetry and art (there's plethora of both which I've enjoyed). I'm also all for this project from a personal PoV, as an experiment, it is a free society where this is (apparently?) allowed.
But... do not pretend like it has reach/impact, cause it clearly hasn't. And do not tell me that I have to appreciate it when I clearly disagree with the principle of having a funeral in the first place.
All of this can be summed up in one acronym: LARPing. Perhaps without the LA, so just roleplaying would suffice.
> The world would be a cold(er), dark(er) place if we took a critically rational knife to every tiny instance of emotional reasoning.
There are loads of methods to make an impact on society on living beings, and there's only so much time.
Speaking of time..