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I think Helen Andrewsâs âGreat Feminizationâ thesis applies to men, too, and this is the sort of thing I mean. An obituary is an appreciation of a life, in the sense of its root: âto set a price,â the way an auction house expert looks at a piece. Obituaries are, in a sense, <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/2028121618120085687" color="blue">x.com/EndWokeness/stâŚ</a>
value-neutral, if theyâre to be any good. Or rather theyâre coldly clinical. An obituary of Fidel Castro that didnât use the word âcharismaticâ would be a poor obituary indeed, because that was an important thing about Castroâs life, and if you donât understand that about him
youâll have a hard time understanding his career. Bin Laden, thereâs no denying it, had a certain something, from his height to his taciturn manner, that clearly spoke to many hard men in his culture and faith. It is a very classically Male-Coded thing to be able to
acknowledge a certain something in an enemy. One could add countless examples to this list but you get the point. Obituaries of enemies, appreciations of their life & times, shouldnât be âhe was a doo-doo head creepy loser buttface,â like weâre 3rd grade girls.
Ho Chi Minh, sayâŚAgain, the guy had rizz, and a couple decades worth of French and American statesmen came to learn that to their cost. âThis guyâs sharp and doesnât quit.â Giving such figures the âposterity silent treatmentâ is a very sewing circle sort of thing to doâŚ
Hugo Chavez. Yes, a strongman who beggared his country. But an obituary that didnât stress that he had an avuncular, charismatic personality capable of great charm would have given readers a totally incomplete picture of how he came to hold so much power, and inspire devotion.
Not comparing him with the men above ofc, but: Bill Clinton. When he passes, a critical part of his obituaries will need to be: âThe brother had the rizz,â which he did, in his prime. He was smooth as hell. This is just a fact about Bill Clintonâs life & times!
Maybe the decline of faithâwhich has hit the Right as much as the Left, in its different wayâhas something to do with this. An obituary tells the story of a human life, warts and all, and at its best itâs one of the few sections of the newspaper that isnât dripping in cheap
moralization and linen-sniffing. The judgements on a life will be handed down by a much higher tribunal than you or me, and there are no appellate courts to review. A proper obituary understands that, and leaves that highest of high courts to its work, and contents itself with a
recitation of the facts, cushioned, unlike a legal brief, with local color and atmospherics. Itâs a fundamentally generous form of writing, that takes the human animal as it is. And maybe thatâs why our ungenerous age is starting to misunderstand it.
From the Times of Londonâs first obituary of Napoleon : âOur business is not to apologize for Buonaparte; but so far as may be done within the brief limits of a newspaper, to analyze and faithfully describe him.â âThus terminates in exile and in prison the most extraordinary
life yet known to political history. The vicissitudes of such a life, indeed, are the most valuable lessons which history can furnish..They embrace both extremes of the condition of man in society, and therefore address themselves to all ranks of human beings.â
Some of my favorite books to dip into are the Daily Telegraph collections of obituaries; I highly recommend them. The late 20th century ones especially, as theyâre full of military lives. They showcase the obit as a fundamentally, well, humanist genre. And if anything, over the
last couple of years Iâve come to believe that the NYTs obituaries were getting a bit better (American media used to be very bad at obituaries, they were never as fun as Fleet Street obituaries.) So itâs ironic to see people critiquing NYTs obitsâitâs one of the few areas where
the American legacy media has been getting better over the last few years, so please letâs not discourage them! đ