Falwell Is Dead

by tristero

I’m sure many members, if not all, of his family will weep for him. So will many others who genuinely loved him, even if they were mistaken to do so. It is possible that somewhere in his career he actually did some good – providing shelter for the homeless, for example – even if I don’t know about it.

But I can’t mourn him, or extend even anything but the most token of condolences to those who do. For Falwell devoted his life to stoking the fires of one of the most dangerous political movements of his time, christianism, and he did so by cynically appropriating and exploiting religious symbols held sacred by millions upon millions of people. That he may himself also have been devout makes that exploitation all the more outrageous, even blasphemous. For long before he died, the coffers of his tax deductible companies were overflowing with cash, money he earned by behaving as uncharitably as he possibly could to some of the most abject members of his society. And whether or not he was personally rich – I don’t know one way or the other about his own wealth, nor care – he became undeservedly influential. The amount of misery he and his colleagues caused is uncalculable: rolling back the rights of women; blaming perfectly innocent Americans for 9/11 simply because he didn’t personally approve of who they happened to fuck; fleecing the lower middle class to subsidize his lust for power and his propagation of ignorance; and so much more.

But I can’t celebrate his death either because I know there are other christianists out there, just as bad as Falwell if not worse. His death is not that important in a world where the president of the United States himself is so extreme that he actually curries favor with lunatics like James Dobson.

In other words. the hard struggles needed to reverse the gains christianists have made against the better parts of the United States’ government and culture lies ahead of us. There is far too much to do to waste time on Falwell one way or the other.