Here’s what most concerns me about Robin Williams

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

There’s nothing I can say that can compare to the mourning expressed by those who knew him. Me, I was simply an audience member watching his ascent with everyone else, marveling at his wit and talent.

What concerns me is the notion that some religious right fanatics are going to declare that he’s burning in Hëll because he killed himself and try to picket his funeral.

On behalf of America, may I ask all you idiots to, for once, shut the hëll up.

PAD

35 comments on “Here’s what most concerns me about Robin Williams”

  2. Yes, please, let’s not turn this into some religio-political statement garbage. RIP Mr W.

  4. Unless it’s the Westboro Baptist crew, I doubt anything of that sort will happen. God help them if they do, it’d be a blunder on the scale of protesting the SDCC (which they have done).

    Much more likely are some negative comments of Robin Williams’ politics. Though is suspect more on the right will likely tip their hats to his work entertaining the troops on many occasions.

    1. Sadly, it looks like WBC has already gone into overdrive over this, emphasizing him being an “enabler” due to films like “The Birdcage,” for being an “adulterer” for remarrying after his divorce, and has announced its intent to protest as close to the funeral as “lawfully possible.”

      I think those enterprising souls at SDCC who came up with counter-protests (“Galactus is Nigh”, “Edgar Wright was Right”, etc.) had the right idea about how to deal with these extremist bozos – point out how absurd they look.

  6. Here’s what most concerns *me* about Robin Williams:

    John Ritter. Douglas Adams. George Carlin. Robert Asprin. Robin Williams.

    The list of funny people, truly *funny* people, the people I drop everything else for whenever there’s a new project out, is dwindling. The world is running out of funny.

    I’m down to 3. Weird Al, Lewis Black, and PAD. And then PAD has to go and scare us all with the stroke.

    The world needs more laughs, not less. Can we get a consensus that no more funny people are allowed to die, at least in my lifetime?

    1. No problem.

      Will someone be so kind as to blow away Rev. Wulff? That’ll end his lifetime and take the pressure off.

      PAD

      1. Yeah, saw that. But what else do you expect from that sorry šhìŧbág these days? His sponsors are still fleeing him and he’s losing ratings all over the country. The only thing his tired act has left is making insane statements meant to pander to the lowest filth in his audience and hope that they tune back in to hear more and give him a ratings bump.

  8. My biggest worry about the reaction to Robin Williams’ death isn’t religious idiots (and no, those two words aren’t synonymous) spewing hateful comments, but those who try to diminish or oversimplify what could be a teachable moment about depression and/or mental illness. There are very serious (in this case, terminal) problems that require a lifetime of hard work, therapy, and often medication to handle. (Note that I did *not* say cure. Like addiction, these are problems that must be handled continually through the sufferer’s life, not things where you get to a certain point and never worry about again. As said in BEANWORLD, “It’s not a place, it’s a process.”) And when people with these problems turned to drugs and alcohol to cope/escape (as Williams did), that’s a whole different set of demons to try and handle. My worry is that people will not use this as an opportunity to dicsuss depression and mental illness, but rather dimsiss them as either a sign of weakness (the “suck it up” or “if he were tougher, it wouldn’t be a problem” theories) or treat it like a bad day that can be solved with happy thoughts. (“If he thought of his friends, money, and success, he wouldn’t be depressed.”) There’s a reason it’s called an illness and not a passing mood swing.

    I am very saddened by Robin Williams’ death — I was stunned seeing the headline on CNN last night — but I hope that it can at least lead to an examination of depression and mental problems. Maybe then we could help others avoid Williams’ end.

    1. Well said, James. There are enough cases of depression and/or bipolar disorder in my family (and my wife’s family) that I think I mostly understand what RW must have been going through to an extent, but too many people don’t.

  9. Peter: What concerns me is the notion that some religious right fanatics are going to declare that he’s burning in Hëll because he killed himself and try to picket his funeral.

    Luigi Novi: ?????????

    Huh? Has someone actually gone and done this?

    Who was it? Westboro? (Looks through Google) Yep. Figures. Well, I doubt your plea will fall on anything other than deaf ears, Peter. These are people who picket the signs of dead U.S. soldiers, so basic decency isn’t going to rear its head for a celebrity comedian.

    1. Let them. They’ll only make themselves look either foolish or simply like the monsters they are. Anyone seeing that will not wish to identify with these horrific a-holes.

    2. Can’t speak for the whole world, but to my knowledge, no one who could qualify as a “religious right fanatic” has done this. In fact, most of the Christian conservatives I know are genuinely moved and saddened by the loss of this beloved man. One of them, a pastor, posted a quote from CS Lewis stating the exact opposite of the notion that PAD is apparently concerned about.

      So, maybe we should wait until people start acting badly before we get bent out of shape about it?

  10. It’s shameful that anybody will turn this mans death into a political statement.
    But it’s going to happen and we can’t stop it like
    James Lynch says “it’s not my biggest worry”

    In my opinion he was the funniest man that ever lived, he tired so hard to make everybody laugh and succeeded.

    I’ll remember him for his great movies, hilarious interviews and I’ll also remember how a man so full of life can succumb to a mental illness like depression.

    1. “It’s shameful that anybody will turn this mans death into a political statement.”

      Yup. It’s really sad and shameful.

  11. There hasn’t been any precedent for picketing funerals just because the deceased committed suicide (any group that took on that particular grudge would have an awful lot of work to do) so I don’t see that at a problem.

    As other people have mentioned, WBC is indeed threatening to picket the funeral but that’s because it’s what they do for a living. They provoke people and then sue for damages if they get attacked. If he’d died of an overdose, the result would have been the same.

    1. At least one of the defectors has claimed that the actual reason they do this is to get people to reject God, thus increasing their own chances of getting into Heaven.

      If there is a God, I doubt He/She/It wants much to do with them.

  13. Why didn’t he reach out? Reach out if your in depression, your not alone, even if you think you are… mandozee

    1. The problem with that logic is that it presupposes that the person wants help, wants to be stopped. He was married at the time of his death. Most likely he didn’t tell her or others of his intent because he wanted to see it through, because he didn’t WANT to be stopped.

      That’s how nasty depression can be.

    2. mandozee, chronic depression is so difficult to deal with that reaching out is a terrible and difficult effort… and when one thinks that the response is going to be discouraging (e.g., “But you’re rich! You’re funny! You’re signed up to make movies! You’ve got a great family!”), that possibility is enough to dissuade one. Depression is debilitating… it stops one from helping oneself.

  15. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that; the occasional jerks coming out of the woodwork are quite enough as it is.

    The only thing I can say about his death is that for years, Dead Poets Society was required viewing for me shortly before the teaching year began. I’d fallen out of the habit, but clearly need to restart it. Now.

    And with Lauren Bacall too, this is now turning into a really crappy week in what was already a hugely crappy year for deaths. RIP, Mr. Williams.

  16. Just read on a french website that Robin Williams’s daughter closed her Twitter account after receiving too many hateful messages.

    Words fail me, but I have two for those people :

    Worthless Bášŧárdš !

  17. Peter – That’s just not the way it works. Begging for civility from people like that is like waving a red flag in front of a bull.

  18. Well… It’s happening.

    “Westboro Church to picket funeral of Robin Williams, calling it ‘carcass worship fest’”

    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/16/westboro-church-to-picket-funeral-of-robin-williams-calling-it-carcass-worship-fest/

    “Members of controversial Westboro Baptist Church have announced plans to picket the funeral of the late actor/comedian Robin Williams, according to Syracuse.com.”

    “The notorious church made the announcement with a tweet on their Twitter page, calling the funeral a “carcass worship fest,” and posting a photo (since removed) to their Instagram account of a follower holding a sign reading “Robin in Hëll.””

Comments are closed.