Good Morning and Welcome to Hell

[Nephythys]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

I don't find glee in his death. If you'd asked me this morning if he should die, I'd have said no, just that he is a horrible human being.

I am not sad or happy he has died, but I do think the world is improved some small amount by his not being in it. By his reckoning he is in a better place. By the reckoning of a lot of people he is now finding out how how wrong he was. By my reckoning he was wrong but will never know it.

I personally don't buy into the notion that strangers need speak only respectfully or not at all of a person when they've died. The passing of a public figure is a moment in time for considering the life of that person. Falwell's was seriously lacking in merit so far as I'm concerned and I'll say so.

Similarly, when Nixon died it did not change my opinion of him, nor when Carter dies will I suddenly wax nostalgic for what a great president he was. And if Chris Columbus dies tomorrow I'll spend the day talking about just what a horrible director of movies he was.

If, on net, your existence was a negative for the planet (in my opinion) then that is how my obitualizing of you will read.

Fine- and that is a damn sight better than the pure hate people were spitting out.

My last observation-

Larry Flynt On Jerry Falwell: Hustler Lawsuit Revisited On Day Of Rival's Death

LYNCHBURG, Va (May 15, 2007) -- The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the folksy, small-town preacher who used the power of television to found the Moral Majority and turn the Christian right into a mighty force in American politics during the Reagan years, died Tuesday at 73.

One of Falwell's most memorable opponents was Hustler kingpin Larry Flynt, who had a very public legal battle with the Reverend over freedom of speech rights.

At the heart of the case was a satirical ad that ran in Hustler in 1983with the headline "Jerry Falwell Talks About His First Time," in which the magazine described a drunken Falwell having an incestuous encounter with his mother.

Falwell sued Flynt (pictured together on "Larry King Live" in 1997), alleging libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Then this-

My mother always told me that no matter how much you dislike a person, when you meet them face to face you will find characteristics about them that you like. Jerry Falwell was a perfect example of that. I hated everything he stood for, but after meeting him in person, years after the trial, Jerry Falwell and I became good friends. He would visit me in California and we would debate together on college campuses. I always appreciated his sincerity even though I knew what he was selling and he knew what I was selling.

http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah5356.shtml

People are minimized by hatred. Falwell was, as is anyone else. I hate to see people glory in such a horrible thing.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Nephythys

Fine- and that is a damn sight better than the pure hate people were spitting out.

Perhaps, but when someone spends their entire life completely focused on telling people what will happen after they die and what horrible people they are if they don't agree with him on what will happen at that time, then there is bound to be some speculation as to what is happening to him now that he has died.

Because, by his own belief system, if it turns out he was wrong, then he is most definitely in hell now. If he was right then most of the rest of us are already in hell.

By I don't so much dislike the man for the "occasional stupid thing that man said" as his power waned over the last 20 years but rather for the movement he started 40 years ago. The politicization of the evangelical community is, in my opinion, the worst thing to happen the United States since the end of Jim Crow. And he was a primary promoter of that.

Whether he thought the anti-Christ a Jew is just trivia (and, if you buy into the mythology of the Bible then it strikes me as a perfectly tenable belief).

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Nephythys

Fine- and that is a damn sight better than the pure hate people were spitting out.

<snip>

People are minimized by hatred. Falwell was, as is anyone else. I hate to see people glory in such a horrible thing.

Just to clarify... are you seeing examples of hatred here on the LoT? If so, would you mind pointing it out, because I have not seen it.

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

Just to clarify... are you seeing examples of hatred here on the LoT? If so, would you mind pointing it out, because I have not seen it.

I second that, Nephy. Where is the hate here?

[Nephythys]

Ok- one more thing - someone else who said it well-

The Passing Of One Who Is Considered As Evil Should Be Looked Upon As An Opportunity.

The passing of one who is considered as evil should be looked upon as an opportunity to squelch the spread of hatred, not an opportunity to wield it.

We all will die. How we are remembered and regarded after we pass is hardly relevant compared to the actions to be judged by while we are alive. There is never nobility in taking joy in the suffering of others. As flawed and misguided as many of his followers are, many of them are suffering if even for the wrong reasons. To a degree, there should be some expected comfort that at least the words of hatred from his mouth have been silenced. But there should also be a desire to let the hatred rest with him while we put forth the power of what decency can do for the world instead.

With each voice of hatred that is silenced, the voices of decency weigh ever greater. To miss that opportunity is to yield a win to the premise of hatred as the scales of hatred grow where the voices of decency should have.

This is not about asking for respect towards him, as I feel he didn't earn it.

This is not about defending him, as his actions while alive were condemnable.

This is not about asking people to forgive him, as he did not ask for such.

This is not about forgetting those things he has spewed to hurt people, since such wounds are still open.

This is about recognizing that even upon one's death who is considered evil, and upon which such tempting opportunity arises to succumb to taking joy in other's suffering because of return hatred, that we can instead do far more by proving our inner core decency towards humanity and even upon their death and even in the face of such temptation of opportunity, remain better than they.

OP by OPERATIONMINDCRIME

[Strangler Lewis]

The notion of a Jerry Falwell/Larry Flynt travelling circus reminds me of the scene from Woody Allen's "Celebrity," where the orthodox rabbi arrives late to the green room of a Jerry Springer-like show where the hate spewers are standing around talking about their agents. The rabbi's first reaction upon walking in is to look at the spread that's put out and complain, "The skinheads always eat all the bagels."

[ozron]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

I just realized what I wrote above is easily misread as saying that "the end of Jim Crow" was the last worst thing to happen before the politicization of the Evangelical community. Of course, I meant the Jim Crow system was the bad thing and it was ongoing until it ended.

Thanks for clearing THAT up! I was about to block you!

[BarTopDancer]

Can we take this bitter bitch fest to the parking lot or something?

[mousepod]

There's an "anti-memorial" planned for next Tuesday in the Castro.

[Alex]

Though a step removed, I do find that just as tasteless as Phelps funerals for gay people.

There is a distinction between acknowledging that the world has one less bad person in it and having a party to celebrate the death of a hated one (which, even if they don't use the word "party" or "celebrate" is what it is).