Fuck that. When somebody posts a Reagan tribute that says something like that, go right ahead and disagree. This thread wasn’t started by a hagiographer, though, was it? This thread skipped the part where somebody else did something you disagree with, and jumped right to the “YEEEHAAAA!” What is so hard to understand about this? Nobody said every American should be weeping and rending their clothes. Nobody said you have to say you’re sorry, or even that you have to be sorry. Just don’t act like such a bunch of fucking barbarians, for Christ’s sake. The bar isn’t set that high.
Besides which, if you really are trying to change minds, talking about the party you’re having or celebrating in gigantic type isn’t exactly the most brilliant way to go about it.
Just to make this clear: I don’t see anything immoral about being relieved or even happy at the death of someone you find morally repugnant. This applies equally across the board. I may be scum, but I’m not a hypocrite. I’m not going to get offended at people for doing something that I have no moral qualms about doing myself. Yeah, I’m glad Reagan is dead. So what? Me being happy didn’t make him die any sooner, and me being sad wouldn’t have kept him alive any longer.
I’d also like to state for posterity that, if I die while still an active member of this board, anyone who doesn’t like me has my blessing to open a Pit thread about me on the same day. Spit on my memory, dance on my grave, piss on my bones. I won’t care; I’ll be dead.
Gazing into my crystal ball, I can see that leaving this thread open would probably result in a whole mess of warnings and possibly a banning or two. So I’m gonna close it.
I strongly disliked much of what Reagan did as president, though much of it is debatable. One of his worst, IMO, was the decimation of the mental health care system. I witnessed then, and continue to see, some of the most plainly incapacitated people marginalized even more. I approved of his determination to cut waste in governement, because there’s plenty. But too much of it came at the price of tossing badly impaired people onto the streets where they didn’t belong, couldn’t cope and became the problem of local governments–unfunded, of course.
Iran Contra, etc.? Usual political sleaze, IMO. Seems like just about every administration is haunted by it. Maybe I’m becoming inured, which is scary. Oddly enough, I think the most damaging, lasting Reagan legacy will be his canny mastery of media. He just brought JFK’s ground breaking oratorical flair and telegenic qualities to fruition. Reagan was never just what appeared on the surface. He spent money like it was water, deliberately co-opted the religious right to his cause–bedamned to actual conservative values–while merrily confounding the media he courted. It was a brauvura performance, and heartfelt. It just wasn’t all that well thought out for lasting consequences. A long term thinker he wasn’t.
I don’t think he was a great president. I think he was a significant president, but not actually all that beneficial in terms of legacy. But I certainly wouldn’t wish the horrors of his Alzheimer’s decline and death on him, or his family. I hope he and his family have finally found peace.
I am no fan of Reagans, but the man has just died. And regardless of how you felt about his policies, let’s not reduce ourselves to dancing in the streets over a death. I would like to think we are all beyond that.
