Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Jerry Falwell, 1933-2007

Never in my life have I seen such provocation of deeply expressed resentment and disapproval of an individual from so many within such a snippet of time. In less then two hours from the time—1:57-3:31pm—when The New York Times.com announced his death yesterday and asked its readers to comment on “what will be his legacy, and who might take his place as a spokesperson for the religious right?”, Jerry Falwell, who is regarded as the man who ignited the passionate fire of Judaio-Christian fundamentalism in the US and directed it at the kind of partisan political activism which enabled the likes of Ronald Reagan, George H. Bush, and George W. Bush and the Republican Party to win elections into the White House in 1980, 1988, and 2000 respectively, provoked 50 passionate responses from readers. There is no doubt that the number of Americans who miss him will be as many as those who will not.

The rationale that underlay such passionate expressions of resentment can partly be assessed from the fact that Monica Goodling, who is in the center of the unfolding scandal over the firing of nine US attorneys, is a graduate of Regent University, the bastion of Christian fundamentalist faith that Falwell founded and charged with the obligation to educate a cadre of people who will turn America into a society that reflects his brand of Christianity in every sphere.

There was no single one of those comments that have something positive to say about him. When the fact that The New York Times goes out of its way to moderate and edit comments from readers to the forum before they are posted, into your assessment of the flood of negative-only comments on Jerry Falwell, you will quite appreciate that he was indeed, an individual who will not be missed at all by millions of people here in the US. One reader simply said: “Legacy?—Evil often hides in plain sight”. The one that follows him said: “Finally, one of the biggest bigots and hypocrites in American history is dead! I’ll raise a toast in celebration tonight.” But it was the second comment that seems to capture the irony and negativity that all the comments associate with Falwell: “Falwell’s legacy will be bigotry and hatred. How sad that a person with such a powerful voice used it for such negativity and divisiveness.”

Throughout the course of his active life, Falwell was an individual who willingly exploited Christianity and used it to champion the cause of what many believe is racial bigotry in America and elsewhere. He was an ardent advocate of US hegemony in the world. He is one of the few prominent individuals in the world who openly opposed the release of Nelson Mandela from jail. He was a passionate supporter of the apartheid regime in South Africa. But today, not only that Mandela is free, apartheid has been dismantled, and Jerry Falwell is dead!

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