Good Riddance.
July 1st, the nationally (in Denmark) well-known, controversial and provocative right-wing politician Mogens Glistrup died. More here. He was an extreme liberalist in some ways, very conservative in other ways, and a racist. He established Progress Party in 1972, which later died, but not until it spawned the nationalist Danish People's Party, which unfortunately still exist.
July 4th, Jesse Helms died. I doubt he needs much introduction, but The Guardian had an interesting obituary. An extreme conservative, a bigot, a racist, an isolationist, a homophobe, and religiously a Christian fundamentalist, I will not miss him.
The very mixed obituaries and comments on the death of these men reminded me of these stanzas in Hávamál from the Elder Edda:
76.
Cattle die, kindred die,
Every man is mortal:
But the good name never dies
Of one who has done well.
77.
Cattle die, kindred die,
Every man is mortal:
But I know one thing that never dies,
The glory of the great dead.
( from here, English translation by W.H.Auden & P.B.Taylor)
So... good riddance to these men. I will not miss them. If there is an afterlife and they meet a god, I hope she will be kind and generous and understanding. They'll need it.
July 4th, Jesse Helms died. I doubt he needs much introduction, but The Guardian had an interesting obituary. An extreme conservative, a bigot, a racist, an isolationist, a homophobe, and religiously a Christian fundamentalist, I will not miss him.
The very mixed obituaries and comments on the death of these men reminded me of these stanzas in Hávamál from the Elder Edda:
76.
Cattle die, kindred die,
Every man is mortal:
But the good name never dies
Of one who has done well.
77.
Cattle die, kindred die,
Every man is mortal:
But I know one thing that never dies,
The glory of the great dead.
( from here, English translation by W.H.Auden & P.B.Taylor)
So... good riddance to these men. I will not miss them. If there is an afterlife and they meet a god, I hope she will be kind and generous and understanding. They'll need it.