somebody thought Falwell wasn't anti-gay enough

Did you know that the protesters at Falwell's funeral whom Mark David Uhl was planning to bomb weren't anti-war protesters or anti-fundamentalists or people who thought Falwell was too hardline, but rather the infamous Westboro Baptist Church of Fred Phelps and "God Hates Fags" fame? Falwell's funeral was being crashed by people who thought Jerry Falwell was too friendly to gays!

This, of course, brings up an interesting question-- does this knowledge in any way change or mitigate your opinion of Mark David Uhl? Obviously, it shouldn't, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't at least send flitting across my consciousness the thought that, "Well, it would be nice to be rid of them..." Then I felt a sudden empathy toward the totalitarians in our midst who base their opinion on governmental force on whether they like the victims, and I felt a little sick.

RIP Jerry Falwell

Hopefully someday, when we're not quite at each other's throats as much anymore, someone will be able to make an honest and edifying assessment of Jerry Falwell's impact on this country, which, positive or negative, was certainly significant. Now, however, is a time of high emotion, and despite our opinions on the man (and said impact), should be the time when his family, friends, and followers mourn as they should, and the rest of us show a little class and leave them be. I don't care who the person was, it's cruel to innocent loved ones, as well as utterly tasteless, to say ugly things about a man who just passed on. If you don't have anything nice to say...

Oh, and don't go around dKos, that joint is a real cesspool right now. If there's anything I don't like about communication over the web, it's that it's made our hearts harder. We say things that are much harsher than what we'd actually say to someone in real life and react much more aggressively and pitilessly and vainly, probably because we just see a screen with letters on it instead of an actual person. Combine that with the extreme polarization that causes us to cast political differences as incorrigible moral failures, and you have a very toxic and inhuman atmosphere. Communication can't take place because of the barriers that don't allow us to connect in recognition of each other's goodness and validity as human beings. Whether Falwell himself had any part in the creation and maintenance of such an atmosphere is beside the point right now; the point is that, one day, we are going to have to get past this.

That, mon freres, is the message of Christ, and I suppose talking about Christ's message is the best place to start for that assessment.