Jim Carroll: 'The "kicking" of anybody's corpse, long dead or otherwise, is a somewhat depraved act.'

More so than the kicking a live body, who might actually feel it? Legally the reverse is true, in the USA, anyway: You can't libel a dead person.

I don't think you really believe that what you said is ALWAYS true, Jim. "Richard Nixon was an evil, bigoted criminal. He should be dug up so we can kick him properly and bury him again, with a stake through his heart." There, I said it, and I don't feel the least depraved. Not that there's any comparison with MacColl, just a rebuttal of "anybody's" in your quoted premise. (The shadow of Godwin falls over this thread, like all threads.)

While we properly feel our affections should triumph over death, so can our bitterness when we've been wounded or embroiled in a feud. It's not depravity, it's humanity.