I learned on the Friendly Atheist that Sylvia Brown has died at 77 instead of 88 as she predicted. This was followed up with the expected handwringing over the appropriateness of celebrating someone's death.
Sylvia Brown was evil. She offered nothing of value, except, maybe, to her immediate family. She is dead, YIPEE!!
The question to ask is; "Is the world a better place with her in it or out of it?". For most of us the question is too close to the margins to decide. In her case it is clearly not. She defrauded thousands out of their money and lied to parents about the fate of missing children. The world is better off without her.
I'm not advocating doing the happy dance in front of children who might have cared for the deceased. They are innocent. But any adult who chose to continue a relationship while looking past someones evil deserves no such concern. Her sons are somewhere between 41 and 54. If they continued a relationship with her it was out of greed or indifference to the harm she does to strangers. Fuck their feelings.
A picture that comes up frequently in r/atheism is that of a man carrying his little girl on his back. The caption reads something to the effect of If she remembers me fondly after I'm gone I well consider it a life well lived. I am assuming that the person who made the picture was using his daughter as a proxy for the world in general.
This is why I don't merely defend celebrating her death but advocate it. Most of us care how we will be remembered after we die. When we see others celebrating the death of an evil turd bucket we are reminded that we might want to consider our actions will be remembered after we die.
