Ta Ta Jesse Helms

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Originally Posted by JWBear

And I have been trying to defend myself from an implication that my continuing to speak out against Helms, and feeling no sadness at his death, makes me the same as him.

JW, I know you're not interested in debating this further - in fact, neither am I! But I wanted you to know that I was never trying to imply that you are the "same" as Helms. Of course I don't think that; you are a good man infuriated at the actions of someone who did much to belittle and harm a just cause. I failed in getting my point across if you thought I was trying to say you're "equally bad" or similar, and I'm terribly sorry if that was the case.

I will try to explain my perspective once more before I give up and declare that my brain is only expelling indistinguishable mud, heh. Because I want you to know that, in fact, I'm not trying to compare the two of you as people. Rather, I'm comparing the way that your words might be received. Words like "truly evil" might be received by his peers the way words like "weak, morally sick wretches" were received by ours. When we couch our arguments in (even justifiable) anger and absolutes, our words are often written off by those who need most to hear them. It does not make you the same kind of person at all, JW. But it may mean that if anyone says to people with his ignorance and misconceptions what has been said here, our words may be similarly received as his were by all of us. (Likely you have no intention - or maybe you don't particularly care, and that's certainly your prerogative and I would never think less of you.)

This does not mean that I think you should not express just how angry you are. I would be saddened if ANY of us weren't made angry by the things this man said. I was just trying to put all of our words in context for the bigger fight to change the minds of his surviving peers, which was perhaps brought up too soon in the midst of remembrance of his bile, his gall, his - yes - evil - behavior.