# Woo-hoo! A celebrity death we can all feel good about! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 24, 2002, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576 "2002-07-24T14:44:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/1 "2002-07-24T14:44:31Z")
And I don’t want to hear any of this “all lives are precious” crapola— HILLSBORO, W.Va. (AP) – White supremacist William Pierce came to this isolated town nearly 20 years ago for the cheap land and its live-and-let-live attitude. He left behind an international organization based on hate. Pierce, the author of “The Turner Diaries” and founder of the right-wing National Alliance, died Tuesday of cancer at his 400-acre compound. He was 68. Pierce’s death is a “tremendous blow to the white supremacy movement,” said Brian Levin, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino. “He was one of the brightest stars intellectually in the hate world but also the most reprehensible,” Levin said. “He encouraged acts of violence and terrorism without facing legal liabilities by actually orchestrating them.” With Pierce’s death, officials with the Southern Poverty Law Center believe the National Alliance will begin to wither, said Mark Potok, editor of the center’s intelligence report on hate groups. “It seems quite likely that the group will be led essentially by committee in the coming months,” Potok said. “The problem for this group is that it is a group that is built around a single man, William Pierce.” Beverly Eads, owner of the Country Roads Cafe, said Pierce was a frequent customer. She described him as a smart man who kept to himself. “When anyone dies, it’s a shame, but it’s too bad he didn’t feel the same way,” she said. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/2 "2002-07-24T14:55:38Z")
::throws confetti:: My ex was from W.Va, and he used to tell me very disturbing stories about this ass. Here’s hoping that he is, at this very moment, becoming intimately acquainted with the concept of “what goes around comes around”. bella ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/3 "2002-07-24T15:00:41Z")
Here is a more in-depth story from [The Charleston Gazette](http://www.wvgazette.com/news/News/2002072328/). Now let’s hope for the complete withering away of the National Alliance. ---
**Author:** ![baltotop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@baltotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/baltotop)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/4 "2002-07-24T15:33:17Z")
😃 One down… More to follow… 😃 I agree that the National Alliance will begin to wither away … I can’t wait. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/5 "2002-07-24T15:43:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*“one of the brightest stars … in the hate world” \*\* What a glorious epitaph ☹ How sad that someone’s life can be summarized like that. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/6 "2002-07-24T15:57:50Z")
I’d piss on him, but I’m afraid he would come back like Freddy Kruger in Nightmare on Elm Street 3. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/7 "2002-07-24T15:58:31Z")
To paraphrase Sonic Youth: The best thing about white supremacists is that they’re biodegradable. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monster)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/8 "2002-07-24T17:30:35Z")
I saw this in my newspaper this morning, and I couldn’t believe they wasted so much space reporting his death. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/9 "2002-07-24T17:30:58Z")
Well hopefully he’s getting the shit kicked out of him in whatever dimension of hell he’s currently residing in. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/10 "2002-07-24T19:18:04Z")
Why do supremacists always show signs of being inferior people? Even if for some weird reason I believed my “race” was better than others, what would be more pathetic than basing my whole identity on that? Maybe David Duke’s head will implode and make for a really good week. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/11 "2002-07-24T19:25:05Z")
I think it is especially telling that this guy was one of the “brightest stars intellectually in the hate world.” That really says something about his compatriots, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/12 "2002-07-24T19:38:08Z")
Alas, William Pierce has departed this plane and is off to Niflheim (I figured the Nordic version of Hell was appropriate.) To celebrate the life of this great, great man, I propose we put on some klezmer music, dance a hora, and have us some pork BBQ and collard greens. If only I knew where his grave will be, just so I can piss on it. ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/13 "2002-07-24T19:45:23Z")
Must keep giving hatemongers more and more publicitiy. … ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/14 "2002-07-24T20:03:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Must keep giving hatemongers more and more publicitiy. Because surely, if we simply ignore them, they will go away on their own. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/15 "2002-07-25T00:18:33Z")
I’m just amused that his obituary was right next to that of Chaim Potok’s. This is pure schadenfreud, but I can just picture the scene at the Pearly Gates: [outraged Pierce]What do you mean _he’s_ getting in and I’m not![/outraged Pierce] Perhaps this evening there’s a little less hate in the world? CJ Thinking wishfully and wistfully ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/16 "2002-07-25T00:53:27Z")
I must admit that I opened this thread feeling skeptical and half-way ready to flame the OP. That being said, hooray! I’ll get this round. Hell, who wants to help me conspire to abuse his corpse? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/17 "2002-07-25T00:59:21Z")
I’m probably the only person on the SDMB who has actually read the Turner Diaries (it was for a class), so I can say with some knowledge: “whew.” In general, I do think all lives are precious. I am against the death penalty. When I saw the thread title, I was sort of horrified - who on earth could be so bad that we should actually rejoice in their passing? But this man was evil. His brain produced the single most horrifying thing I have ever read. Just thinking about that book makes me want to take a shower, or cry that anyone could be so misled. I am not sorry he is no longer in our world. P.S. Chaim Potok died? Oh no! I have his newest book in galley binding. I haven’t gotten to it yet, but it’ll be next, now. Oh, now I am genuinely sad. (Sorry if this double-posted.) ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/18 "2002-07-25T02:00:19Z")
Happy happy, joy joy!! ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/19 "2002-07-25T02:03:42Z")
Well, I’ll be darned. There actually \*is[/is] somebody I’m happy to see dead. Good riddance. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Creant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Miss\_Creant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Creant)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576/20 "2002-07-25T02:24:33Z")
I’ll be sure to say a Mourners Kaddish for him…anyone know how to say _motherfucker_ in Hebrew? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-a-celebrity-death-we-can-all-feel-good-about/120576.md?page=2)