Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Falwell's dead--it's a good day!

Falwell's dead. The day seems better already.

People I know have said they don't celebrate anyone's death. They may be better people than I or just not as observant; who knows? But I can and do have a visceral hatred for the man for a wide variety of reasons. He lied about my faith, he lied about friends of mine, and he incited hatred, intolerance, and bigotry on virtually every issue he ever discussed. Like Pat Robertson, he was notable for lying to preserve the God of Truth, something that it seems only televangelists and their ilk do quite so well.


By clinging to 18th and 19th century values and bigotries, he set back social progress by and for decades in this country. He was a liar, a thief, a hypocrite, and a man who incited his brainless little followers to new heights of intolerance towards people they found threatening. His "university" is just a breeding ground of more peasants and Christian fascists stamped out in his mold.

What makes Jerry (and Pat Robertson, btw) personally culpable for all of this is their clear knowledge of what the alternatives might be and choosing to do this to maintain their power base and mulct still more millions from the jackasses who they conned into sending them money they could ill-afford. There are two types of evil: the thoughtless kind of evil committed by the ignorant and insensitive and the deep-seated planned evil that is willing to sacrifice people for a personal advantage and simply doesn't care. The former is more common, but the latter is far more dangerous, for it incites mobs, forms Crusades, and promotes further evil, all in the name of "God."

I piss on Jerry Falwell, his family, and his generations. May his brainless and brainwashed followers be treated as they deserve and may his name be forgotten forever by men and gods.

Note: for those who think that it's harsh to wish someone like this dead, let me point out that Jerry thought he was a Christian and that he'd go to a heavenly reward far better than anything on this earthly plane because of it. I have always approved of this belief on his part and have been very keen to see him get that wonderful gift of faith. I am deeply saddened for him and his future eternity that it took decades longer than it should've to arrive. There, I'm wishing him only the best--happy now?
Share/Bookmark

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

it is so sad to read such a hateful rant from you.

John Hedtke said...

And I am not anonymous, either.

A man like Falwell who preached such vile excuses for religion did no services to humanity or Gods. He wished great ill on me, my religion, and my friends.

I would have loved to see him recant his evil publicly, but I had no real hope of this happening... and it didn't, alas. The next best thing was for him to shut up. His departure seems to have been the only way for this to have happened.

Larry Flynt had a really great obituary for Falwell, who (oddly enough) he became friends with. They avoided discussions of morality and would relate as men and grandparents. (Strange how some things work out, I must say!) One of the things that Flynt said was about Falwell's public persona, which he said was distinctly different. Makes me wonder how much of the public persona was real.

Well, Jerry's off talking to his god now, who probably has had a great deal to say to ol' Jerry on the nature of what love and acceptance are really all about. That's good, because no-one else was ever able to make it clear to him that what he was doing was a bad idea. It'd take a far better person than I to feel any sorrow that an evil in my life has died.

And I still say one down, one to go.