I can't but hate that guy. Nor do I have much sympathy for the family who profited off of his showmanship. I do not wish harm on them either. We all know how we should feel. I bet most of us realize that hate is an easy and superficial workaround to fulfilling spirituality/religiosity. So I won't wish whatever bad karma or justice he's accrued upon himself. All I will say is that man had a great opportunity to do something great for his Savior with all the trust and power he accrued with his position, and it was wasted away. I might not have done better in his shoes, but I won't be like him if I ever get that chance.
And if I remember correctly, there wasn't any real irony when Bart originally made that quote. Anyway, your comments struck a chord with me. Let me quote Dr. Martin Luther King and Merriam Webster, so maybe you can see why: Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love. Entry Word: despise Function: verb Text: to dislike strongly....--see HATE
Me neither. I could understand and accept those feelings from a homosexual, atheist, or anyone else's whose very way of life he attacked or villified in the strongest terms imaginable; but I think growing up in the South, and in a fairly religious family, I know waaaaay too many people who felt the same exact way and were still decent enough that I wouldn't dance on their graves. And, frankly, I wonder if doing so would reflect the same lack of empathy or compassion that incubates Falwell's views in the first place. Also, I've always been a little uneasy voicing pleasure in another person's death (sorry if I'm mischaracterizing anyone's actions or comments here), even criminals or brutal dictators, athough I don't consider myself a pacifist.
http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah5356.shtml Larry Flynt: "My mother always told me that no matter how much you dislike a person, when you meet them face to face you will find characteristics about them that you like. Jerry Falwell was a perfect example of that. I hated everything he stood for, but after meeting him in person, years after the trial, Jerry Falwell and I became good friends."
Jerry Falwell and Larry Flynt have alot in comon. They both played to a base emotion in people for personal gain.
Personally, the Falwell-esque idea of hating someone based on irrational judgement, warped convictions, or outright vilification is way different from hating someone for espousing said ideology. The two cannot be compared.
i tend to agree with you. i can understand the latter better than the former. i just think they feed off each other...and they both lead to undesirable places.
How so? If no one denounced Falwell's ideology, if no one stood up to his disgusting brand of "morality" would that somehow make him less of a pompous jerk? Do you think that if people just ignored him it would stop? Maybe. I think Pole and you are both upset that I hate the person. It's really not about him at all. It's about the things he stood for, and the methods he used to preach this hatemongering.
You have no sympathy for the children that lost a father, the grandchildren that lost a grandfather and the wife who lost a husband? Were they supposed to turn their back on him because others disagreed with him? If you father spouted some hateful and moronic crap wouldn't you be sad at his passing though?
You hate the person, but it really isn't about him at all? Anyway, I'm not upset at all, and if it sounds like I'm trying to take the "high road"........well.........knowing me, I'll take the first exit. I just find your comments amusing.
No, you misunderstand - or (more likely) I spoke poorly. I may have sounded hateful towards him, but I could care less about him, his personality, his life, whatever. It's about what he stood for, what he advocated, what he perverted... Don't expect me to dissociate what he stood for in this world from his persona simply because he died. And don't equate my dislike of his endevours or ideologies as tantamount to being "one and the same" with him and his ilk. It's simply not comparable. You inability to grasp the distinciton is amusing.
Jerry Falwell and Strom Thurman I have nothing for either of them but in a sense I feel a level of shame that I did not do more to stop them from doing their. . . evil Perhaps we should have done more to stand up to these guys rather than spitting on their graves when they gone? Maybe this is the lesson we should take from this Rocket River just throwing it out there
Is it really necessary to put Vonnegut's name in the same sentence with this other guy? D&D. Replicant City.
I met Jerry Falwell and discussed things with him. I am pleased to say that I had that opportunity. Perhaps he said things you didn't agree with or that you considered foolish, but he was a good man who cared deeply for the people and the world around him.
