Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Tinky Winky is somewhere smiling smugly (and being gay)
If you own a TV or radio and happened to turn one of them on yesterday, you probably heard that Jerry Falwell was found dead in his office. You may also recall that last November when we went to visit my parents, we ended up at the table next to him at a diner.
Media around the world picked up the write-up from the Associated Press, giving a brief overview of some of the more controversial (nuttier) things he's said in the last decade:
I'm not going to speak ill of the dead myself. If you've read anything vaguely political I've posted in the last few years, you can guess where I lean on the spectrum. I was talking to a childhood friend just the other day about Lynchburg, and the influence Falwell had over our hometown, and we both agreed that he's the main reason we felt the driving need to flee after high school and only return for short visits.
(Picture taken covertly with cell phone)
That day, the man ordered a 1/4 lb hotdog with everything and a bowl of broccoli cheese soup. Not something a 73-year-old guy on the pudgy side should do, so it's no big secret what helped kill him.
Media around the world picked up the write-up from the Associated Press, giving a brief overview of some of the more controversial (nuttier) things he's said in the last decade:
In 1999, he told an evangelical conference that the Antichrist was a male Jew who was probably already alive. Falwell later apologized for the remark but not for holding the belief. A month later, his National Liberty Journal warned parents that Tinky Winky, the children's TV character, was a gay role model and morally damaging to children. His remarks a few days after Sept. 11, 2001, essentially blaming feminists, gays, and liberals for bringing on the terrorist attacks, drew a rebuke from the White House, and he apologized.Not surprizing at all, the republican presidential candidates are clamoring to say what a great guy Falwell was. John McCain, once viewed as the republican outsider, was courting Falwell and the Christian right, speaking at Liberty University's commencement last year. (Newt Gingrich is scheduled to this year's, this coming Saturday.)
I'm not going to speak ill of the dead myself. If you've read anything vaguely political I've posted in the last few years, you can guess where I lean on the spectrum. I was talking to a childhood friend just the other day about Lynchburg, and the influence Falwell had over our hometown, and we both agreed that he's the main reason we felt the driving need to flee after high school and only return for short visits.
# posted by smacky @ 7:12 AM 
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