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Comment by sliverstorm | Hacker News Reader

The things Nixon did are widely known, good and bad. You don't really have to rehash them every time you speak of the man.

Not to mention, as an obit., it was an appropriate time to focus on the man himself (despite the dramatic break from typical rose-tinted obit. style)

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The things Nixon did are widely RECORDED, good and bad. This is not the same thing, and younger people won't know.

Hell, he was president from 1969 to 1974, right? That's literally over 40 years ago. Most people wouldn't be able to tell you that much about politics in general, nor the specifics of what Nixon did.

Most people don't go out of their way to research political history, unfortunately.

And if we never speak of the thing's he's done, they'll fade from public consciousness and any lessons from it will be lost.

I'm not advocating "hiding" the things he's done as if they cannot be spoken of. But if you can never assume a modicum of background in your readers, you waste all your time on review.

TFA was published in 1994 - 20 years ago. We can't expect the author to update it for today's audience, especially given that he's been dead for almost 10 years.

Perhaps I'm a bit more "soft" than you, but I'd rather obituaries or stories about the deceased be polite rather than an eloquent version of "Ding-dong! The Witch is Dead!" lest we forget there are actual evil people in the world whose bad actions vastly overshadow those of corrupt politicians.

Says you.

Exhibit A: Mexico. A country with vast potential being held back by their corrupt politicians.

No need to be eloquent!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ding-Dong!_The_Witch_Is_Dead#De...

There are more brutally "evil" people out there, who are morehands-on in the things they do, but they don't overshadow the corrupt people at the top of the US government, who are responsible for enabling, if not causing, millions of deaths yearly, and being a roadblock to progress.

I agree that we should be "polite" in the sense that they shouldn't fling insults around like a monkey flings shit, but I don't think we should stick to euphemisms and lies by omission, just for the sake of not "sullying his/her memory".

Speak softly, cleanly, and frankly, but don't be "polite".

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