De mortuis nihil nisi bonum

"Of the dead, say nothing but good."

This long-time advice sprang to mind yesterday as the news of Rush Limbaugh's death from lung cancer at age 70 made the news.

I was surprised at the level of venom I found on my Facebook news feed, most of which said plenty of bad things about Limbaugh. 

I once had a sales route that ran through southeastern Arizona and towns and people are few and far between out there. The only radio station I could get for hours at a time featured Rush Limbaugh's show and I sometimes had to settle for that as a way to pass the long driving time between stops. I was not a fan of his politics but the sheer act of listening to him made me realize that he was a master of radio and of how to keep his listeners on edge, aggravated, and entertained. That was in 2001, BTW, before social media.

It's no exaggeration to say that Limbaugh primed much of the nation for what social media and cable TV has become.

Of course, Limbaugh managed to speak ill of so many for so long that perhaps people felt he had left himself open for "some of the same." I assume Limbaugh, in whatever form, might laugh about all the fuss, or simply shrug and point to his huge personal fortune (though he really can't take it with him). I doubt that the dead take much notice of social media.

The sheer volume of nasty comments (and I am making no judgments on the legitimacy of those) speaks more about how social media has granted permission for people to be as nasty as they wish, with few, if any, personal implications. After all, a nasty comment yesterday morning is soon lost among the cesspool of social media, where outrage and hatred and snarkiness never rest.

I suppose it is quite human to experience a bit of triumph when someone they dislike dies, but it is not an attractive phenomenon. I also suppose some posters have a creepy feeling even as they hit send, the creepiness prompted by what they know should be a higher standard.

But the past decade and more have loosened our tongues, reduced our sense of shame, and weaponized one of the things Americans hold most dear: free expression.