Nope. It’s like the difference between “I made a mistake” and “Mistakes were made”. It’s not really a big deal, but it is dodging responsibility.
Spoken like someone with no experience of mental illness or addiction.
We need more hard-headed realism in our obituaries. Instead of referring to ‘personal demons’, the obit should’ve mentioned that what’s-his-name is dead because he was weak, and probably not very smart, and all of y’all should take a lesson from it. Maybe throw in the word ‘loser’ somewhere…
Who else was expecting True Blood?
How about saying he struggled with drug addiction for several years?
That’s something of a taboo in obituaries, since there is such a stigma around drug use in general. If someone dies in a botched attempt at autoerotic asphyxiation, do you expect the obituary to spell out the details? Negative qualities are usually downplayed, if they’re even mentioned at all.
What, and spoil my hyperbole?
Was that a compliment?
Spoken like someone who refuses to take responsibility for their mental illness or addiction. :rolleyes:
You must not have been there at Christmas. It was EXACTLY Lothlorien!
I’ve never liked that phrasing much either, as it’s equally applied to those who didn’t struggle at all. Fell right into it, second nature, kept it up faithfully!
“Destroyed his life and damaged the lives of those around him while abusing drugs” would be a better fit in those cases, but seldom seen while truth-in-obituary legislation is still pending.
Thanks for making his point for him. Saying mental illness is the fault of the person who has the illness is just as logical as saying someone chooses to be gay.
May you never be caught in a mental illness, because, if you were, you don’t sound like someone who’d be able to take the fact that you are not completely in control of your mind.
And, don’t take any benzodiazepines for over a week, because you couldn’t stand the addiction.
Oh, and the next time you complain about being sick, I will be very sure to tell you that you are responsible for letting those germs touch you, and not living in an environmentally enclosed bubble.
Which part of “failed” was not clear to you?
The King was only 1/262,144 Noldo.
It’s not disturbing that I know what the 18th power of 2 is off the top of my head, is it?
Colonel Parker?
Which part of “He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named” is unclear to you?
Summon him not.
“Everyone who knew the deceased can recall how he enjoyed his addiction and spent many happy hours in drug-induced revelry.”
The “shall” part. 
Truth in obits, eh? Interesting.
“He was a complete asshole. Most of the people at his funeral won’t be crying, they’ll have tears streaming down their faces from holding their laughter in. See ya, sucker.”
I prefer the more succinct: “Good riddance to bad rubbish.” 
Let’s everyone more quickly get back to the business of caring about themselves.
Maybe ‘struggled with personal demons’ is a truthful kind of useful euphemism for ‘And he lost that struggle, and is now being carried to Hell by those very same demons.’ Whereas ‘struggled with his addiction’ is reserved for people who honestly tried to give it up.
Demons tell people to take drugs all the time in Jack Chick tracts. Then they go, “Haw haw haw!”.