On the Subject of Gravedancing
I try not to be a petty or small person. I try to avoid schadenfreude - taking joy in the miseries of others - as a general rule.
But upon hearing of the death of Moral Majority founder, pseudo-Christian blowhard and all-around general purpose asshole Jerry Falwell, the first thing that popped into my head was that ballpark classic tune...
Na na...na na na...
Hey, he-eeeeeey...
Good-byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye!
Seriously, I know the guy had friends and family who are grieving right now, and "Send not for whom the bell tolls..." and all that jazz. But I gotta say it - Jerry, on behalf of that segment of the population, far more substantial than you ever could wrap your tiny little mind around, who truly believe in equality, in justice for all, in the basic dignity of all human beings regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity or religion, in the sound philosophy of separation of church and state, in the First Amendment: Jerry, you won't be missed.
Falwell believed he would go to Heaven when he died. Many people are making cracks right now about how surprised he must be to find himself in Hell. I believe in neither Heaven nor Hell, so I can't go there. As an agnostic-type-person (verging on atheism), I believe that we must live our lives and create our social constructs based not on nebulous concepts of future reward or punishment, but on making the best of the real world in which we all live. To that end, I'm...well, I was going to say "pleased," but that's not right, so instead I'll say I'm not at all saddened by the news that there's one less arrogant, small-minded, judgmental bigot in the world today. I want to be "involved in mankind" and to feel that "each man's death diminishes me," but in this case, I just can't. I can't feel diminished by the passing of someone who blamed feminists, gay rights activists and the ACLU for 9/11. I can't mourn someone who wanted to run a modern society based on Bronze Age mythology. I can't feel that we've lost anything substantial in losing someone who saw "gay agenda" conspiracies behind everything that didn't conform to his narrow worldview, even bizzarre acid-trip children's television. In short, though I feel there is great truth and power in John Donne's words, I also believe that a man's passing diminishes mankind only by as much as he added while living - and Falwell added very little, indeed.
Of course, the problem with arrogant, small-minded, judgmental bigots is that they're sort of like the heads of the Hydra. It seems that every time one is lost, two more spring up to take its place. It's not as though Falwell had a monopoly on pseudo-Christian-wackjob nuttiness, not when there's still James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Fred Phelps and plenty of others out there using the Bible to justify their prejudice and hatred. Even so, another song is also running through my head at the moment...
Ding, dong, the witch is dead!
Which old witch? The wicked witch!
Ding, dong, the wicked witch is dead!
