Holy Crap

[filkertom]

Jerry Falwell dead at 73.

If you know me at all, you know how I feel about this man and his words and his work. But that doesn't matter for the moment. A man is dead. May he find whatever rest he sought.

Mr. Falwell, at this point you will find out if you were right. For your sake, good luck.

Comments

[ladyoceanstar.livejournal.com]

You're a better person than I. I can give him no sympathy at all.

[solarbird]

As one of the millions of people whose lives he spent his entire career trying to destroy, I have to say fuck sympathy. I'm quite glad he's dead. His death makes today better, because he's one less powerful and influential person trying to make millions of lives, including mine, much, much worse.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Wow. An old man died.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

ep. Exactly. An old man died. And he gets exactly that much human sympathy from me. But he does get that much.

[fair-witness.livejournal.com]

As a friend of mine might say, that's bound to be an interesting exit interview.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

*snort*choke* That's the kindest way of phrasing it I can think of.

[sophia9847.livejournal.com]

Good on ya, Tom--Very classy. Hopefully most other "wacky liberals" can show the same restraint and respect.

And that's about all I can say on this topic and remain polite toward the newly dead, so I think I'll take my own advice. :-)

[ericcoleman]

I do find it interesting that the most right wing person on my friends list said the nasty things ...

[maiac.livejournal.com]

I am such a bad person. My reaction was, "Karl Rove will do anything to get the U.S. Attorneys purge out of the headlines."

[jenrose]

How, um, tragic.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

May his family and those who loved him find comfort.

May his fate (if any) be tempered with mercy.

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Mercy for him would be to receive MERELY justice.

I'm sorry, but there are some deaths that improve the world.

[mbumby.livejournal.com]

Amen.

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

No matter how much I disliked the man and what he stood for, he was someone's father and someone's husband. My condolences go out to them.

[louisadkins.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a man is dead. A man who sowed discontent and hate. I will honestly admit to being happy that he can no longer directly spread negative emotions and feelings, and I would hope that he finds what rest he earned. I do feel sorry for anyone who held him as a personal loved one, but that's about as much as I can extend on it, at the moment.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

May God treat him as kindly as he treated everybody he affected. That is the best blessing and curse I can think of. If it rebounds upon me, 'twon't be any worse than I deserve either.

Strength and light to his loved ones; it's not easy to be family members of a celebrity of any kind, especially at the end.

[wildcard9.livejournal.com]

God has finally called him home, and 3 decades too late in my opinion. The religious political group (something that should NEVER be mixed in America), the (im)moral majority, has caused a LOT of problems in this country since Falwell founded it just under 30 years ago. Too bad he was not called home before he formed that group, thus starting the domino effect that is causing LOTS of problems today.

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

I am truly sorry he won't live to see the next decade or two. I suspect that some of his friends, in years to come, will take some comfort in the fact that he didn't.

[darrenzieger.livejournal.com]

For my reaction to this, I'll defer to Roy Zimmerman (whom some of you may remember as the creative force behind the Foremen).

"Jerry Falwell's God" (YouTube) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyE5wjc4XOw).

[marahsk.livejournal.com]

People who don't believe you should speak ill of the dead should hope that said dead strove to do something positive that one might speak about.

Dying doesn't make someone a better person, and sometimes the best that can be said of the dead is that at least they won't have the chance to do more things that one might speak ill about.

Usually I at least feel sympathy for whoever might have loved the person and be mourning, but sometimes I just wonder what sort of person could have loved someone who worked so tirelessly to make the world a worse place.

Tom Digby wrote something once

[capplor.livejournal.com]

about the truly evil, and the worst punishment you can inflict is to enlighten them on their actions and the consequences. And THEN once they've sufficiently understood, forgive them.

Re: Tom Digby wrote something once

[kestrels-nest.livejournal.com]

There's a reason "May you understand what you have done" is considered a curse.

[chaosdancer.livejournal.com]

You know, I used to think he was better than the rest of the pack, because at least he didn't seem to be a hypocrite. He wasn't the one you'd catch with prostitutes, in gay bars, or performing fake healings. But I guess you really have to be measured on what you leave behind, not just on your personal habits. In that regard, he has a lot to answer for. Maybe he should have been a bit more hypocritical; we might have been better off.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

A Neal Stephenson character, in Cryptonomicon, made an interesting observation about our society's view of hypocrisy.

The general sentiment was something like this: hypocrisy--avowing certain standards and then failing to consistently live up to them--has been raised (lowered) to one of the worst moral offenses, or at least one of the most vilified. (In my personal opinion, it gets even worse if there is plenty of evidence to suggest that any failures are actually rare in practice: it simply implies that He/She Really Did Know Better, Dammit.)

(Of course, there are two varieties of behavior that get called hypocrisy: (I) honestly believing that one should adhere to standard X and occasionally failing, and (II) dishonestly avowing adherence to X and failing to act that way. Telling the difference between the two is often impossible in practice, however.)

Anyway, while I find hypocrisy annoying and frustrating, I have to acknowledge that, overall, I prefer that people have standards that they not live up to, than fail to set them at all. So I'm trying to reprioritize, I guess, how I view it...and give more weight to a person's deeds (and their avowed reasons for them) than to how they compare to standars that they may have avowed.

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

Every time I remembered seeing him, he seemed smug and secure. To my knowledge he was never confronted with the people who argued against him.

The moment I remember was seeing him, right after Reagan's election I think, making a statement that the Moral Majority was largely responsible for his victory and he'd better listen to what they had to say. When the interviewer said this seemed like a threat, he backpedaled and said he was hoping to work with Reagan.

I believe what James Thurber said: "All men should try to learn, before they die/What they are running from, and to, and why." I think the tragedy of Jerry Falwell is that he never learned, or even tried to learn.

[madmanotl.livejournal.com]

I am among many who disliked what he did and I am glad his work is over and that he can no longer poison the minds of many.

I also know that he thought he was doing the right thing and that he was very successful. In that sense, I do respect what he accomplished even though it went against everything I believe in.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

I believe in a loving and forgiving God, so I accept the possibility that even a lying malignancy like Jerry Falwell could be admitted to Heaven.

I also believe that if he is indeed there, he's EXTREMELY surprised by who else is.
(Reply)

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

I just realized something...

Why are we trying to be "nice" over a guy who didn't like us and was convinced we were already damned to Hell anyway?

Isn't that kinda like giving up D&D for a month in rememberance of the jock who kept beating you up for being a gaming nerd?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

This has come up here before, and it's coming up all over the blogosphere now, so I'm going to give the most serious, straightforward explanation of my thinking on the matter that I can. To do so, I'm going to have to imply some bad things about Mr. Falwell. I hope I will explain why I'm trying to not do so.

Mr. Falwell believed differently than I on two particular fronts. The first is in the existence of God; the second is in the dominion of God.

The first caused him to say things that were, to me, appalling, and to encourage hatred and repression of a great many people solely on the basis of what he believed about them.

The second caused him to work to elect legislators and enact legislation that would enable formal, legal enforcement of that hatred and repression. Without question, I and most of my close friends would have been targets of his goals, because he cast very wide nets. The basis for his bigotry and hatred was people who went against the dictates of his religion, and he (like so many others) never got the whole First Amendment thing about religion not being made into law.

I disagreed pretty much completely with his beliefs, and have over the years worked against his attempts to enact them. I have strong feelings in my heart about him that I will not voice today.

I will not voice them for three reasons, one self-serving and two not.

• While I completely disagreed with his beliefs, my chosen method of dealing with that sort of thing is to let well enough alone. If he had not worked so hard to impose his religion upon myself and my friends, to make his beliefs the law of the land, I would've blissfully gone on without caring about him. It disgusted me to hear him speak, but more because of his political power than anything.
• Whatever I or anyone else may say about him, he was a human being. He had family; he had friends. They feel loss at his demise, and they deserve sympathy and condolence on that basis. He does as well, because he too is Part Of The Tribe.
• He never got that he was Part Of The Tribe. He thought there were several tribes, and that his was the best, and moreover that his deserved to lead -- and, if necessary, put down -- the others. Assuming he knew anything about me, if our situations were reversed he would have nothing good to say about me, and would in fact take joy in my passing.
  
  I take no joy in his passing, although I cannot help but hope that some segment of his beliefs die with him. I take no joy in anyone's death. But I can take some relief, for whatever reason. And it is not being "nice" to refrain from bad-mouthing the freshly dead... it is being polite. Gloating over someone's death does no one any good.
  
  It is doing my best to be a better person than I believe he would've been with me.

An old man died. Some will celebrate his life; some will celebrate his death. I will let out a long exhale, and do my best to move on.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

I believe in reincarnation. No rest for the wicked or the good. (This is called in one or another South Asian language, "samsara".)

[kenalepha.livejournal.com]

I also believe we are on this wheel for more than one spin. I did not like the man, I can only hope he does come back as one of those people who he despised and looked down on, and that somewhere in the back of his mind he regrets what he said and did in this life.
I do feel sorry for those he left behind who are sad at his passing, I happen to think they may be misguided but I can feel sorry for them.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

You're more generous than I am, Tom.

I've never understood why death should make someone worthy of more respect than they deserved when they were alive, and Jerry Falwell deserved none of my respect. He was a judgmental asshole; now he's a dead judgmental asshole. At least he can do no further harm.

And no, I don't believe he's going to get what he deserves now, because I don't believe in any sort of life after death.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

Some might make the argument that simply ceasing to exist is exactly what Falwell deserves, because hey, won't HE be surprised?

Less generous sorts, and I count myself among them, might suggest that it's more than he deserves.

[kestrels-nest.livejournal.com]

I am content to let justice work its way with him, in whatever fashion it does. I may not rejoice in his death, but I do rejoice that he can do no further harm. And if he is reincarnated, I can wish him no worse than to come back as a member of a misunderstood, despised and reviled minority.

[dadandgirl.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Tom, for being the first person I saw to express sympathy instead of glee. This is the third post I've read on the subject, and I was tempted to turn off the computer in disgust before I saw yours.

No matter what I thought of his beliefs, his politics or his role in society, a man is dead. I refuse to take delight in his passing. He is somebody's son, somebody's father, somebody's husband - those people are going through a loss that I know too well, and I mourn for them.

If the world is better without a certain person in it, it will be better whether we dance on his grave or console his family. Be the better person.