Offending the Gods of Cyberspace

I find penny ante deities exceeding tedious. Especially those mortals who're trying exceeding hard to ascend the demigod ranks into the Heavenly Choir of the Beltway. But Democrats are different than Republicans, right?

I have a friend, a VietNam vet, who has an exceedingly hot head. It's an old head, but a good one. Some of you may know him from the boards at Eschaton. He's been posting there for the last four years or so.

He goes by the handle Woody Guthrie's Guitar. He has a couple of blogs, The Well-Armed Lamb and Walled-In Pond. But again, some of his best work has been his zippy one liners, like "NPR = Faux News for folks with more than a high-school education."

He's been consistently far ahead of the curve, calling the crooked moves of Bu$hCo-Cheneyburton ahead of the game. He didn't use a pseudonym when I first met him; I talked him into that, I think, and right now he's probably glad he did. You see, he seems to have said something very politically incorrect that's gotten him banned from the Eschaton boards, his long-time favorite hangout.

Now, in my book Jerry Falwell was a despicable human being. I agree with his detractors on the right like Christopher Hitchens or on the left like WGG. The world would have been a much better place without Jerry Falwell.

Let's leave the final quote on Falwell to The Dark Wraith:

The Reverend Jerry Falwell is dead. His Thomas Road Baptist Church, founded in 1956 in Lynchburg, Virginia, was one of the principal well-springs of politicized evangelicalism that waged war against those who worked for a liberal, open, progressive, tolerant society.

Dr. Falwell will be missed by millions of devout Christians who believed his message to have been authentic and in keeping with a strict, literal interpretation of the Holy Bible. Millions of others, however, firmly held that Falwell was a charlatan who preyed on the lonely, the disaffected, the ignorant, and the lost to advance his personal fortune and power using a hateful interpretation of Christianity that imposed suffering on many while doing nothing to alleviate misery, end poverty, and provide earthly hope.

God, I love an articulate slam of the coffin.

I'm sorry for the pain this causes those of us who empathize with the Falwell family's loss. But look at the damage the Christianists (a very different thing than Christians) have done, and continue to do, to this country and the larger world. If it causes you pain to be made aware of the evil you do, then maybe you shouldn't do evil.

Perhaps if the people causing the pain in the world were feeling it every time they hurt someone, they wouldn't do it.

WGG's comment seems to have gotten him banned from Eschaton. To which I have to say: it's Duncan's place, WGG. He rightfully can do that if he wants. There are other good community blogs that would welcome you. Lambert wasn't too polite to Falwell's memory either.

I suspect Duncan is going the way of Kos. As the Dems get closer to the election, they'll both try to get more "respectable" so they can get the Beltway buzz. Hell, they might get to sit with Michael Moore in Jimmy Carter's box in 2008 when HHHillary gets the nomination.

If they bring enough money to the table.