“Let the dead rest.” Wise words from an age of civility long gone, for the rise of Twitter has banished any respect for the dead or the grief of survivors in the wake of political and social clout. None rebuff the idea that all people have committed sins and are not wholly good. Some should be punished or remembered with disdain after their passing. Except for a few extreme cases, such issues with the dead should be held off for a time to give the family of the dead time to mourn their loss in peace.
If actual sins were committed, criticism should be withheld for a respectable amount of time. Bringing up such criticism at the moment of death neither serves nor aids anyone. All that is accomplished is added pain and suffering to the departed’s loved ones. However, the Twitter mob has no such class or civility; they immediately banded together to retroactively cancel the recently passed William Hurt at the moment of his death. They recently piled onto Betty White as soon as the news dropped despite the many years of evidence that contradicted Twitter’s accusations of her.
These heinous comments that have been hurled at Hurt are derived from accusations made by actress and Hurt’s ex-girlfriend Marlee Matlin in a 2009 interview. She said:
“I always had fresh bruises every day, and if I had a split lip, or if… I mean, there were a lot of things that happened that were not pleasant. I was always afraid… of him, but I loved him. Or maybe I thought I did. But look, I was 19, he was 35.”
Hurt responded the next day with:
“My own recollection is that we both apologized, and both did a great deal to heal our lives. Of course, I did and do apologize for any pain I caused, and I know we have both grown. I wish Marlee and her family nothing but good.”
If true, these actions were terrible and should have been addressed at the time. Still, they are in no way severe enough to attack a dead man and harm a grieving family after so many years. The issue appears to have been laid to rest long ago, so it should not hold sway over the minds of those grieving. Twitter weirdos do not understand this; however, taking to their platform to say:
Time and time again, we will constantly see that these Twitter weirdos do not value life, they do not value love, they do not value a family’s right to mourn in peace. They will just jump on any opportunity they have to cancel someone even after they are dead. It is merely another head to mount on the wall in the hall of canceled celebrity trophies; real people mean nothing to them. They are vipers and piranha that should not be given the time of day. Hollywood and the broader world should not listen to them; they should be ignored or mocked.