« drstrangelove : Don't mean to piss in your cornflakes, That's precisely what you meant to do, otherwise you would have kept your counsel.
but a dear friend of mine died in a Hang Glider accident, I for one will never think that death is funny, regardless of the circumstances.
If it's done right, death is absolutely hysterical.
The laugh response (from a Freudian point of view, at least) is an expression of fear, and what greater fear is there than death, sometimes called The Great Unknown?
People die every day - it's not tragedy, it's necessary.
I can't speak for your friend the dead hang glider, but personally speaking, when my times comes, I would much prefer that someone draw entertainment from it. Better that than scorn, derision or pity. Or no reaction at all - dying unnoticed and unmourned. Ideal circumstance? I want guffaws - real uncontrolled belly laughs.
The western world is too precious about death and the right to life. It's a right that everyone gives up eventually.
Guess what - I know people who have died too. Everyone I know will die at some point. Some before me, others after. Doesn't mean I have to be a prig about every report of death I read.
So my honest and heartfelt advice to you is to unclench, let go, move on and have a giggle about the funny things in life.
It's not irreverent and it doesn't taint anyone's memory.
It will help you get on with living though.
(Now that's how you piss on someone's cornflakes).]]>