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July 05, 2008

What's The Point?

I've noticed over the last few years, that when a prominent political figure from the right dies, many gay bloggers start with their choruses of Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead. Whether the deceased be anti-gay, racist, pro-guns, or whatever, post after post of virtual cabbage-patching fills my feed reader celebrating their deaths.

Honestly, it makes me very sad.

I get why people do it. I get being fed up and angry with the state of our world. I hate the ridiculousness of anti-gay vitriol that seems to fuel our political climate while more pressing issue are pushed aside and ignored. Hey, I'm fed up too. I think everyone would be better off if they just minded their own fucking business.

But what's the point of dancing on someone's grave? What does it do other than prove that we can be just as equally hateful and spiteful as those who have been hateful and spiteful to us?

Like I said, it makes me sad. For us.

Comments (5)
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Comments

Jessie Helms held up funding for HIV research in the early 1980s. He supported Central American death squads. He also helped prevent legislation against tobacco companies. His actions resulted in the deaths in many thousands of people.

Posted by: homer | July 5, 2008 11:02 PM

Amen.

It's not, as Homer points out, that Jesse Helms was a positive force for us or even a nice guy, but I always have a twinge of sadness whenever, say, a Helms or a Falwell go into the great Void without actually changing their minds and speaking publicly about how they were, y'know, wrong about gays, people of other faiths, races, etc. People listen to them -- if they ever had done, it could have changed minds.

For every Helms that passes on, there's a Dobson or Bauer waiting in the wings to take his place.

Dancing on graves is just spiteful. It's the action of someone who's lost the battle for hearts and minds, but needs one last jab when no one's looking.

It turns these guys into martyrs and confirms to their rabid followers that we were as bothered by everything they said as they hoped we were. It's a signal that those tactics work, and that they should keep right on doing them.

Posted by: Chris | July 6, 2008 07:16 AM

Call it speaking truth to power when many in mainstream media have been whitewashing (see what I did there?) his legacy. I think this remembrance from USA Today referenced by A Bitch may go a long way toward explaining the enmity that a lot of people (myself included) feel toward the man. His actions while alive were despicable; dying does not absolve him of their consequences. I do not think history will be kind to him, which is as it should be.

That said, perhaps it is indeed unseemly to express pleasure in the passing of another life, but I understand it. (You knew I was judgmental anyway, didn't you, hon?)