Good manners dictate that one should not speak negatively of the dead, but rather remember them by highlighting positive aspects. Unfortunately, the journalist Heikki Heiskanen, who prepared the item on the death of French actress Brigitte Bardot for yesterday’s main news broadcast of Finland’s public broadcaster Yle, did not understand this.
In his brief obituary, he quickly went through the things for which the deceased is remembered. In that context, he said—word for word—that “Bardot, who drifted to the political far right, caused scandals with her harsh statements about Muslims, immigration, and sexual and gender minorities, but that side is not being remembered in France today…”
I do not mean that Bardot’s positions and views, or the reactions they provoked, should not have been mentioned. Rather, I note that this should have been done while respecting the deceased, or at least neutrally, and not—as was now the case—at the very least tactlessly and by pushing one’s own opinions.
I say this because the journalist, through the words “far right”, “harsh”, and “scandal,” created a negative frame of reference for the deceased’s views, and thus sought to stigmatize Bardot’s positions—views that are justified and that year after year are gaining increasing support among Europeans.
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The damage has of course already been done, but for future reference I urge Heiskanen and other media journalists to read the Wikipedia article written on the subject before drafting an obituary. It states that an obituary “gives a general overview of a person’s life stages and seeks to place in proper proportion the person’s significance in the field or fields in which they carried out their most important life’s work. Obituaries are usually written in a respectful tone.”
An example of such an obituary can be found in Uutissuomalainen’s article on Bardot’s death, which stated—on the same topics I have addressed—factually and with respect for the deceased that “over the years, Bardot made statements in which she criticized France’s immigration policy and opposed the Muslim tradition of ritual slaughter.” It was also noted that one of Bardot’s spouses was a former adviser to the National Front party, which led to suspicions that she supported the party, even though the deceased had said that she had never belonged to any political party.
This matter would of course have no significance otherwise than as a demonstration of Yle’s and its journalist’s lack of respect, were it not for the fact that the company’s operations are funded by the entire population. For this reason, especially the kind of promotion of a journalist’s own political stance seen in Heiskanen’s obituary amounted to nothing less than grossly inappropriate trampling on the grave of the deceased.
Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Deep Roots of Violence and Disregard for Human Dignity in History
Ego at the Altar
Impact of Diversity in Films
The original blogpost in Finnish:
Ylen toimittaja tyrkytti mielipiteitään Brigitte Bardot´n nekrologissa
