Obituary: Rev Jerry Falwell...

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Yes, he's dead. Such a fine upstanding citizen and keen mind is sure to be missed in political and theological spheres alike. Let's take a look at some of his more notable accomplishments:

In 2002, he sparked anger across the Muslim world by calling the Prophet Muhammad a "terrorist". He later apologised.

Shortly after the 11 September 2001 attacks, he said that gays, atheists, civil-rights activists and legal abortions in the US had angered God and "helped this happen".

In 1999, he denounced the BBC TV children's show The Teletubbies, because he believed one character, Tinky Winky, was homosexual.

Mayhenotparticularlyrestinpeace Popcorn's on me!

 

The glee that liberals can express when a political opponent dies never ceases to amaze me. The man was not evil, he just had a different opinion.

Please note this is not directed entirely at Tiamat. I just spent some time reading some left of center blogs and I'm just sickened. I didn't believe in most of what he believed in, but I'm still willing to respect the dead.

RIP Reverend Falwell

 

TGS: I have as much respect for Rev. Falwell as he had for all those people in the world who didn't fit into his narrow-minded definition of "right." I feel this way only because he spent so much effort in being judgmental about others and trying to dictate how others behaved - if he's going to stick his nose where it doesn't belong, he should expect it to be smacked.

 

I'm going to agree with Rallymama here. It's not that he didn't share my opinions; lots of people the world over fall into that category (in fact, no two people ever think exactly alike). It's that the way in which he expressed his opinions was so insulting that I feel no need to show him any of the respect he did not show...well, pretty much anyone else.

The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way—all of them who have tried to secularize America—I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."

You suggest we should honour the memory of the dead more; to me it doesn't look like he's honouring the thousands dead from senseless violence in that quote. Basically, he was more accomplished at the hypocrisy you accuse me of than I could ever be, so I don't think my attitude is entirely reprehensible.

 

Falwell was crazy, or radical. To get an impression how crazy, or how radical exactly, try this.

That doesn't change a bit about his honest sincerity. The man was without a doubt pious. That said, piety isn't a quality in itself. May he finally rest in peace.

 

So if I'm reading this correctly, because he was a miserable bastard it is O.K. to take glee in his death. Maybe I'm old school, but my mother taught me "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

 

She learned the verse wrong I fear. If I recall my lessons rightly, "De mortuis nil nisi bene!" in the latin orginal carried the message to better shut up when you're a poor speaker.

There is a reason why for some 'funeral orator' is an insult.

 

May he rest in peace. While, for the record, I don't think that too likely, I hope with all my heart that, in the end of ends, God is more merciful and forgiving than most of us believe or even think possible. Much more than Jerry Falwell did possible, at least.

Fare thee well, Reverend, now you have gone to the One that reverence is truly due. Fare thee well, judge of men, now that you will be judged by the One who has all power to judge, all wisdom and all mercy. Fare thee well, you who urged perfection, now that you have met the only One who is perfect.

Fare thee well - and may the rest of us fare no worse now that you're gone and your voice silenced.

P.S.: It had to happen on a day I was thinking of how compatible at all was televangelism - and making money off it - with the Biblical doctrine. Talk about weird... I think I may have to think happier thoughts from now on, just in case.

[ May 15, 2007, 22:26: Message edited by: The Shaman ]

 

TGS: "because he was a miserable bastard it is O.K. to take glee in his death."

I don't think the things he said were right, nor do I think the things he said were good. Am I happy he won't say them anymore? Yes, although I would have been equally happy if he'd simply retired. Am I happy he's dead? No, I suppose any human death is regrettable in at least some sense.

"Popcorn's on me" related more to the arguing I knew would ensue from the vastly differing opinions on the man, though I will acknowledge the humour in it was morbid as best.

 

Yes. It absolutely is.

 

The liberals aren't the only ones who express glee when a political opponent dies. There where more then a few conservatives who where openly happy when Paul Wellstone's plane crashed down. Hell, the Constitution Party candidate running against Wellstone said it was a good thing he died because he didn't believe in Jesus.

It's ridiculous to make statements that one side behaves in a certain malicious or underhanded way and then imply that the other side abstains from said crimes because that's never true in politics.

As for myself, I'm not sorry to see Falwell pass on as his entire life seemed to revolve around preventing utility and confusing language games, but I don't wish him dead. I really don't feel a thing about his passing. He wasn't directly involved in politics at the end and wasn't as antagonistic as he once was in his life.

 

Snook, please drop the sanctimony. If it were Al Gore or Hillary Clinton or Sean Penn who died, every conservative blog and partisan from here to breakfast would be dancing the jig, and you know it. Hell, Ann Coulter would have a new book out about it before rigor mortis set in.

This is a fascinating statement, though. I can't decide if you honestly think liberals hold the market on partisan pettiness, or if you're just being disingenuous. If it's the former, you evidently don't spend near as much time at the prominant conservative blogs (like PowerLine, LGF or Michelle Malkin's) as you do the liberal ones. They could give lessons.

To paraphrase Mel Gibson in "The Patriot*" - "if the conduct of your officers [conservative blogs] is the measure of a gentleman, I'll take that as a compliment."


* Yes, Barmy "crap film, mate"...I know.

 

I must be tired, because I think I’m on Snook’s side.

I was going to make a Saddam Hussein analogy, but then I realized that was over the top.

There’s a difference between taking satisfaction in someone’s death, and just being glad that he’s no longer able to spout his venom.

 

Maybe it's time you took some of your own advice and figured out that "liberals" aren't evil either; they just have a different opinion from yours also.

 

Where's the "glee" in my post, Snook? You implied that Rev. Falwell was worthy of a show of respect simply because he had died, and all I did was explain why that was impossible for me to do. If someone isn't worthy of respect in life, I'm not going to afford that courtesy to a corpse. Also, you say that we should apply the standard of, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" to Re. Falwell. WHY? He certainly never allowed himself to be constrained by such a courtesy.

A friend of mine said it best: "It's really hard to have compassion for a man who was so filled with hate. I feel bad for his family." That sums up how I feel very well.

Who knows, maybe God called Jerry home not to an eternal reward for a job well done, but to a sound whupping because He was tired of having His image besmirched by the idiocy that man was constantly spouting. It's times like this that really test my polydoxian view that yes, Jerry Falwell attained a place in the heaven he believed in - he certainly wouldn't have gotten one under my standards.

 

Splunge, with all due respect:

"I was going to make a Saddam Hussein analogy, but then I realized that was over the top." You mean something like "if you're opposed to the death penalty, then the magnitude of his crimes is not enough to justify the end he met"? If that's the kind of analogy you had in mind, well, that is in fact my view, and what I was trying to suggest when I stated that there's something regrettable about every death.

"There’s a difference between taking satisfaction in someone’s death, and just being glad that he’s no longer able to spout his venom." And again I agree with you here. That is, I think, what a number of us were trying to express, including myself, Rallymama, the Shaman, and Ilmater's Suffering, whereas Death Rabbit and Chandos commented on other aspects of the last few posts.

The statements I've found aggressive here have been TGS's and Drew's - one for each political leaning, if you will. My brain may be fading due to the late hour, but I still think that's an important point: an arrogant and aggressive viewpoint can come from anyone, whether it be liberal or conservative - and Falwell was such a person. As such, whilst we didn't wish him dead, we are not sorry that he is silent, just as much as you probably wish some of the replies to this post had been tempered with a little more compassion and a lot more diplomacy.

 

Methinks I have some responding to do.

@Rally

And he did. He spent his entire life enduring the scorn of people who disagreed with him. Did you ever see the movie "The People vs. Larry Flint"?

@Ragusa

I normally don't agree with 95% of what you have to say, but I do appreciate you understanding my point.

@Shaman

Same as Ragusa

@Tiamat

I did not interpret your original post correctly. To me it seemed like you wanted to have a party because of his death.

@Ilmater

You may be correct. Although I never heard of Wellstone, I was trying to think of a major liberal who has died recently, and I admit I haven't been able to. It is more than possible that my perception may be biased because there have been more major conservatives who have died recently.

@DR

While I admit to having great fun at the Goracle and the Bitch's expense, I can't imagine celebrating their deaths.

I am a huge Malkin fan, I don't remember ever seeing her post with glee about someone's death. If anything I think she has far more RIP posts than anything else. I do not read Powerline or LGF, but thanks for referrals

@Splunge

You may have hit the nail on the head with the Saddam reference. I am positive there was much glee in his death, but then again, I never considered him someone with a different opinion. I considered him evil. There is a huge difference between someone who is convinced you are going to hell and someone who kills you.

@Chandos

I have stated numerous times that "opinions are like *******s, everyone has one". My longest standing complaint with liberalism is I don't think they acknowledge that there are other opinions and instead spend all of their time shouting down the other side. Whereas conservatives acknowledge that there are two sides to an an arguemnt, we just believe the other side is wrong.

@Rally part 2

I understand you feel he was filled with hate and you don't feel he gave people the courtesy of keeping his opinions to himself. To use another old saying "Two wrongs don't make a right". There were plenty of people who had plenty to say about the man while he was alive. Now that he is dead, it is time to let go.

 

I think the world's a better place now that Falwell's left it.

I don't feel anything approaching 'glee', however. More like 'oh, Falwell's dead. Good Riddance. Now back to X-Com'

You cannot possibly be serious. Troll the far-left sites, then troll the far-right sites. Note that they're exactly the same.

Explain why, please.

 

TGS - You mean like many of the comments made by the Fallwell's and Roberston's of the conservative ilk? Lets see...New Orleans was destroyed by Katrina because of a certain lesbian...or that AIDS is God's wrath on gays...or this:

Let's expand on how Falwell, as a conservative, believed that others could hold a different opinion:

And on Martin Luther King:

On women:

And on Jewish people:

Let me ask this, TGS - perhaps you think that conservatives, like Falwell, are so open and "accepting of those who hold a different opinion," but I have to ask you: What exactly is your test for reality regarding that statement? Because it isn't in any reality I can see.

 

Understood. At first it caught me off guard, but now I'm used to it. The occasional shot below the belt still feels uncalled for. That's what I think of the glee in his death. It's tasteless and uncalled for.

Agreed. I believe a thread like this will help that along.

I would think the same would apply for many people, but it's still not right to revel in this death. He had family that loved him. He had followers that cared about him. What about them?

While I oppose homosexuals and abortionists, and while I lack the information on feminism, I don't think I'd see eye to eye with them, I would not go as far as Falwell. I don't blame Gays and Abortionists for 9/11. I blame the extremists that conspired to fly those planes into the towers adn the Pentagon...

While I can't support the groups I mentioned, I don't think they should be actively persecuted. There is a place in the middle, contrary to what some tell me. Evidently both sides had people that wouldn't take a moderate stance...