I just saw this on CNN a couple of minutes ago. I’m sure that quite a few people will be pleased about this…and a smaller amount will be distraught. Kinda weird because I was just in Lynchburg this weekend to visit my alma mater.
Link
Anyone picketing his funeral?
Think the family would be pissed if anyone did?
As far as I know, he’s not a picketer. I think you’re thinking of Fred Phelps.
Not that there’s any love lost between me and Falwell, mind you.
You can absolutely count on Clan Phelps picketing this one. He hated Falwell almost as long as he hated gays (and Falwell referred to him as a “first order nut” several times).
I won’t pretend that I’m a fan of Falwell, but I’m glad he died in something like ease (very quick heart attack) and I feel sympathy for his family as sudden losses like that can be the hardest to deal with.
PS- I was surprised to learn a couple of years ago that he and Larry Flynt had something like a friendship for the last few years of their lives (they of course met during the famous libel suit). When Flynt’s brother was asked what the basis of this friendship he said something to the effect of “Why wouldn’t they be? They’re both hillbillies, they’re both the sons of moonshiners, they’re both self-made and filthy rich, and they’re both obsessed with money and what people do when they have sex.” (Probably a cite available, but that’s the essence of the brother’s comment.)
The pot calls the kettle black…
Anybody else get a sudden craving for champagne?
And there was much rejoicing. 
:smack: Of course.
Sorry all. One religious nut-job is as “good” as the next in my mind.
Meh. At least he appeared in life to have adhered to the same morality he demanded of other people. He was an arrogant, pompous, self-righteous, judgemental ass who contributed absolutely nothing to the betterment of humankind, but he died without (or perhaps before) engaging in the very practices he so loudly condemned.
I had a thought: Perhaps one could say that, in spite of everything else, Jerry Falwell could not be called a hypocrite because he did, in fact, adhere to the moral code he espoused. I think he even forgave and prayed for people who publicly attacked him. How ironic that the man who was the worst of the right-wing religious reactionaries was also the most pure in ideology and practice.
I could be completely wrong about that, of course. There are no doubt Falwell scholars out there who know more than I do about the man, but I got the idea that he at least adhered to his own rigid, warped moral code.
Well, now he does not know for sure, that he was wrong all these years.
That’s pretty much how I see him. Basically he was the best of a very bad lot (that lot not being Fundamentalist Christians but specifically politically organized policy affecting Fundamentalist Christians). He had a sense of humor and people I knew who met him in person said he was a genuinely nice human being. Basically the distinction in Hermann Göring (fat, jovial, nice guy- just with some fucked up views and responsible for very bad things) and Pat Robertson’s Heinrich Himmler (the really really really evil one who you would never hear me say “I’m glad he had a peaceful death” or express sympathies to his family upon his demise).
I take no joy in Falwell’s death at all. Though I will admit that I have a morbid fantasy that currently he’s pissing on himself as Anubis approaches him with one of Ma’at’s feathers, or better yet: he sees the face of God who looks him in the eyes and says NO 72 VIRGINS FOR YOU!.
I’ll also say by way of an obit, I thought Flynt’s Hustler ad parody was one of the crudest and most unnecessarily offensive things he ever published (and yes, I’ll admit I chuckled at it, but then I was a teenager). Attack his theology, his actions, his views, his character, his message- but leave his family alone.
I also understand why the SCotUS ruled the way it did- there was no way anybody took it seriously or that it could hurt Falwell financially or reputationally. And I also understand why Falwell sued, I probably would have as well. However, regardless of your views, who would you rather have as a neighbor (assume you’re bloody rich of course): Falwell or Flynt?
It depends upon whether I could see through our shared fence, I guess.
I would bet on Fred Phelps.
No, really. Never mind that Falwell was anti gay. Heck, even if the Army dislikes gays, Phelps still found a reason to think that the Army was helping gays and so he picketed Army funerals.
Flynt, definitly. I actually use the stuff he peddles, so maybe I could get a good neighbor discount.
I just heard two headlined juxtaposed on the radio. One was Falwell’s death, and the other was another upcoming presidential candidate debate. I wonder how many of the candidates will strain to kiss the great gasbag’s dead ass.
I’m guessing the $15 hooker was an oversight? He did not practice what he preached. He was a hypocrite of the first order.
With All Due Respect to Diane Wakoski:
That was the fastest I ever won a bet: