I Was at a Funeral of An Audiophile...

Judge not that thee be not judged. Too late for that, Douglas. Your tone is trite and catty in this post.

Didn't MLK say something about being judged by the content of your character rather than the color of your skin -- or the price of your sound system?

There is a subtext here concerning the attainment of audiophilehood. Has the deceased made the grade? Is he just a crass pretender? Doesn't his stupid family understand that he is not a real audiophile like me? I mean, for crissakes, he didn't buy the right stuff at the right price from the right sources. He probably didn't read the right mags.
And yet these simpletons think he's a bona fide audiophile. More's the pity. R.I.P.

What a bunch of stinky and illogical poo is being hurled at poor Doug here.

Can you guys read? All Doug did was make a pretty much totally objective observation, that this gentleman's system was definitely not "state of the art" by any reasonable standard. Rather than kicking him for it, it seems fairly obvious to me that he respects the man for being satisfied with it and for not putting too much emphasis on material things. I could be wrong about that, but he certainly is not snottily, derisively dismissing the man as a human being over his inferior stereo!

So, you guys who believe it was "mean" to make this objective observation apparently believe that the system in question is indeed "state of the art"? Will you be trading in your systems for Denon receivers and Klipsch Best Buy speakers then? Or do you agree that the system is plainly not "state of the art" (meaning in the category of the very best audio systems available) but just think it's not "nice" to say so? But Doug just said that to us, here, who ought to know what he's talking about, not to the man's family!

So, there was clearly no moral judgment going on here, not of behavior or beliefs much less total holistic judgment of the man.

(I am wondering if part of the reason Doug is getting blasted is his stated Christian affiliation. Given all the snide rhetoric of hypocritical "judgment", that strikes me as likely. It seems the one thing that people who hate Christianity *think* they understand about it is that "you're not supposed to judge", but they really don't understand the doctrines at all. Of course Christianity requires judgments about many things to be made; if not, it would be a bag full of meaningless moral relativism. What's forbidden is judgment of a soul itself, in whole, which is not our domain. Doug pretty clearly wasn't doing anything like that yet some here want to believe he was. For example, I have corresponded privately with one individual who chimed in here with guns blazing at Doug who expressed to me his disgust with all "organized religion". Of course, he didn't include that tidbit here when he decided to make himself an expert on Christian morality. You know who you are, and here's my quote for you, courtesy of Cardinal Neumann: "Lovers of sin are poor judges of the Gospel.")

How many times has each of us uttered stupid words or thoughts only to think later "What the heck was I thinking?". It is all part of being a human being. Nobody is immune from the occasional egotistical, critical, haughty or mean thought. Fortunately we don't always verbalize them. Criticizing others is often a method by which we try to make our own selves look good.

It sounded to me like Doug felt superior because he didn't like the non traditional music played and his system is a real audiophile system.

One man's sin may be another's gospel.

Doug: "the man loved his gear and the music".."..."had a passion for it"...."and was very proud of it".."as much as the family marveled how he loved his stereo, they knew he loved them much more"..."but he kept family as prioroty" A very nicely done eulogy! Father Doug