Why Not Speak Ill Of The Dead?, Asks Dick Cavett

In a remembrance of Art Linkletter, Cavett writes, “Someone, I guarantee, will react to this with the pre-recorded, ‘How can you speak disrespectfully of the dead?’ Truth is, I have always found it remarkably easy. Why anyone, by dying, should thereby be declared beyond criticism, innocent of wrongdoing, suddenly filled with virtue and above reproach escapes me.” (Sure enough, readers join in with mixed comments on Linkletter and his legacy.)