Jerry Falwell's Death and Irony
My fellow participants in the blogosphere and message boards don't seem to appreciate irony, such as how ironic it is to post messages that say "I hate intolerant people like Jerry Falwell so much that I'm jumping up and down with joy because he's dead! I only wish he could've suffered longer! Burn in hell, mother-f**ker!! Aren't I a wonderful, enlightened, tolerant person?!" Yep, you sure are. And clueless. And a danger to yourself and others.
One actually posted "Well, it's not like I wanted him to be tortured to death." Oh. My. God. You want points because you don't want to see your enemies tortured to death? You just want them to die quickly? Now that's some enlightenment and tolerance to be proud of. Wow.
Were people always this stupid, and they just couldn't advertise it as easily, or did the Internet actually make them more stupid?
One actually posted "Well, it's not like I wanted him to be tortured to death." Oh. My. God. You want points because you don't want to see your enemies tortured to death? You just want them to die quickly? Now that's some enlightenment and tolerance to be proud of. Wow.
Were people always this stupid, and they just couldn't advertise it as easily, or did the Internet actually make them more stupid?
posted by KPaffenroth at
2:13 PM
6 Comments:
Kim,
Thanks for a generous answer to this moment. I recently walked through a series of services for the death of a friend who was a notable Witch in Salem, MA where I live, and I saw people attack him after his death. I do not understand such evil responses, and the dishonoring of the dead. How is it that we as Christians stoop to such depths of cruelty?
Well, I think the Rev. Falwell brought a lot on himself, surely. What comes around goes around. But that's really no excuse, especially not for all those people who claim to be so morally superior to him. He was a man with many opinions I disagree with. I will continue to work against those opinions. But gloat over the dead? Ghoulish and crass.
Finally some sound reasoning... "tolerance" has apparently been redefined to mean you can't ever disagree with anyone, but they're free to trash you up and down.
Thanks, Kim!
There's a post I'd like to put up on his death, pointing out a flaw in evangelical reasoning around death and so forth, but I don't want to do it until Rev. Falwell has been dead for at least a week or so. I'm not sure what proper decorum would be in this sort of case, but I'd hate to disrespect the man and his loved ones by saying anything too soon. And I'm not even planning to say anything very critical.
I'm no fan of Jerry Falwell, but he's not the enemy. The real enemy is death.
Yes, I just read another "enlightened" comparison: when someone complained that all the celebrating of his death was tasteless, someone replied, "Well, you'd celebrate Bin Laden's death, wouldn't you?" Well, ideally, no, but let's just grant the point. But do you honestly believe that anyone who disagrees with you is a mass murderer? How self-righteous do you have to be to believe such garbage?
As Tom Lehrer once put it, "I know there are some people who do not love their fellow man and I hate people like that.
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