At today’s memorial service in Cologne, Germany for those killed in the March 24 Germanwings crash, the pilot (whose name I will not mention) was the object of expressions of sympathy and understanding. While I’m not in favor of a condemnation of anyone at this type of service, it would have been better not to mention him at all.
As technology has advanced over the millennia, those who have wished to take others with them to an untimely death have been able to up their body count and their fame. In the current culture, where the competition for attention and fame (or infamy) is spiraling upward, giving mass killers additional mentions in addition to the notoriety they have already attained will not go unnoticed by others similarly inclined.
Let the pilot’s family and friends mourn him in their own way and let the friends and families of the victims mourn without being asked to acknowledge and include their loved-ones’ killer in their grief.