When a political figure dies, people sometimes celebrate. In the case of Thatcher, they ever took to the streets and sang “Ding dong, the witch is dead!”. They ask, “Why shouldn’t we speak ill of the dead? Why shouldn’t we criticize those who have passed?” These are posed as rhetorical questions, but as with so many rhetorical questions they are excellent lines of intellectual inquiry.
These questions are an opportunity for the application of “Chesterton’s fence”, the rule that we should not destroy something well-established unless we know first what its purpose was.
The rule to not speak of the dead is corollary of the old-fashioned standard of etiquette - that we ought not to speak ill of someone who isn’t present. To speak ill of someone who is not present gives them no chance to defend themselves, and also no chance to resolve the conflict. Without such a chance, the target of our gossip is clearly at a disadvantage.
We can also see the effects of this personally in ourselves and in others who have this habit. When we gossip about others living or not, we can begin to ask “Right now, am I feeling light, calm, joyful? Or am I feeling bitter?”
Our Great Teacher Lord Buddha and many sages before Him told us that we only have three tools with which to interact with the world - our thoughts, speech and action. We may find that applying awareness and restraint to one of these often aligns the other two. In this case, if we control our negative speech, we may find that our unfavorable thoughts and actions are also subdued. Then perhaps we have a chance to think, speak and act in a way that is delightful.
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