Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Good Mourning



Dead today at 73.

Let's look at some highlights of his career.

On The 700 Club, talking about the terrorist attacks on 9/11 Falwell said "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.'"

I will not mourn his passing.

Jerry Falwell's National Liberty Journal had published a "Parents Alert: Tinky Winky Comes Out of the Closet," alarming parents that the Teletubby, Tinky Winky was presented as a gay role model because:
-"He is purple -- the gay-pride color"
-"his antenna is shaped like a triangle -- the gay-pride symbol"
-Tinky Winky, who is played by a male with a male voice, carries a red bag described by Falwell as a "purse"

I will not mourn his passing.

Jerry Falwell supported Apartheid - a system of racial segregation in South Africa.

I will not mourn his passing.

He called Nobel Peace Prize winner and Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu a phony.

I will not mourn his passing.

He was the public face of the Moral Majority which sought to cram an extreme religious agenda down the throats of America.

I will not mourn his passing.

5 comments:

Lady Prisspott said...

You're too kind. Why can't we celebrate his passing as an end to the evil he spewed, the hatred he conciously and unappologetically fostered and the suffering it caused in countless lives. How many people are maimed or dead becuase his rhetoric of hatred made some gay basher feel justified that they were doing his gods work? How many gay and lesbian peoples lives were ruined because his hatred caused their families to reject them or lead them to seek harmful "christian" therapies. Did the world celebrate the triumph over Nazi Germany and the death of Hitler? We still have a US holiday called VE Day. To quote Elphaba, "No one mourns the wicked"

Anonymous said...

And lets not forget:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustler_Magazine_v._Falwell

--KY

Just-Chuck said...

Thanks, KY! For the rest of you, the above link from KY tells of Falwell's lost law suit against Flynt of Hustler for libel and emotional distress over a fake ad that parodied Campari's ad campaign. The suit resulted in a Supreme Court ruling "that a public figure could not recover damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress based on a satire, because under the First Amendment, an obvious satire or parody of a public figure remains protected speech, even if it causes emotional distress to that person."

Lady Prisspott said...

This was a sweet lawsuit he was involved in too.

In 1984, Falwell was ordered to pay gay activist Jerry Sloan $5,000 after losing a court battle. During a TV debate in Sacramento, California, Falwell denied calling the gay-oriented Metropolitan Community Churches "brute beasts" and "a vile and Satanic system" that will "one day be utterly annihilated and there will be a celebration in heaven."

When Sloan insisted he had a tape, Falwell promised $5,000 if he could produce it. Sloan did, Falwell refused to pay, and Sloan successfully sued. Falwell appealed, with his attorney charging that the judge in the case was prejudiced. He lost again and was made to pay an additional $2,875 in sanctions and court fees.

Anonymous said...

Ding Dong the prick is dead!! I was thinking of sending wilted flowers --but me thinks a TeleTubby is in order!!