Antonin Scalia represented to me the worst kind of tyrant. His decision on the Gore V Bush election issue was obscene. His failed attempts to overthrow Roe V Wade would have set women's reproductive rights back fifty years. His racism was verbalized more than once while on the bench. His prejudice toward gays was blatant.
He interpreted the Constitution strictly, as "a dead document", meaning not to be interpreted in / or adapted to today's societal realities, but only by its original words in its original time period. But his point of view, his decisions were, by my observations, equally if not even more driven by his devout Catholic beliefs. He was just as dedicated to the dead document perspective / literal interpretation of the law as he was to the literal interpretation of the Bible . He was theocratic. He lived in the past on virtually every social issue that came before him. His objective was to maintain the status quo, and suppress societal growth and advancement. If he ever decided in favor of human rights and progressive thought, it was tantamount to a blind squirrel finding a nut now and then...rare. My guess is he bemoaned the fact that he was born too late to serve as a church appointed prosecutor during the Spanish Inquisition.
There's my obituary for him.
"How disrespectful! How dare you speak ill of the dead. What about his family?"
The above is typical of the comments I received in response to comments I posted to facebook. Yes, it's disrespectful. And is intended to be.
Why should I be respectful? Because he's dead? Because his brain ceased to function and his heart has stopped? Because his body is in decomposition? Why should the state of nonexistence garner respect for a person who commanded none from me in life? I've said this before: I'm not John Donne - every man's death does NOT diminish me, and certainly not the demise of a tyrant.
This mentality hearkens back to nonsensical religious superstition. "Do not speak ill of the dead, lest they haunt you from the grave." Thanks. I'll take my chances.
As for his family: I doubt any of them are on my facebook friend list, or are readers of my blog. If they are surfing the net at the hour of their beloved's death, they have bigger issues than worrying about my words of contempt.
No, this phony piousness for the dead that we must supposedly feign even though we despised them in life is hypocrisy... religiously inspired archaic hypocrisy. I don't do hypocrisy. If you didn't honor him in life, but think the end of his bodily functions requires some sanctimonious false respect... take your hypocrisy elsewhere.
I'll have none of it.
