Laterz, Tammy Faye
Few things in the world fill me with more rage than evangelical Christians, but I've never had a problem with Tammy Faye. She always seemed to be more "I heart Jesus!" than "I hate science and feminists!" and I can't really fault her for that. Plus, she loved the gays, just like I do. She loved them so much, in fact, one of her final wishes was to have a gay minister conduct her private funeral service. I'm too young to remember any of the PTL scandals, and unless I'm mistaken, wasn't most of that her husband's fault? Anyway, the best things about Tammy Faye were her open-armed embrace of camp and the way she understood her place in pop culture. I'm going to forget I ever saw her frail, gaunt body with less than 48 hours left in it on Larry King. I'm going to remember her for what she'd want me to - her eyelashes.Labels: Death
posted by Trashley at 11:07 PM
2 Comments:
I don't get this, actually. Nearly every post I've come across on Tammy Faye has the love-thing going.
Have we all forgotten the scam called PTL? I know she was not a criminally convicted member. That's not my point. But she and her people scammed tens of millions from regular folks in a cash-for-prayer pitch. I find that revolting. And, frankly, unforgivable.
Most posts I've read note that she didn't hate gay people. Am I the only one who isn't so impressed with the character trait of "I don't hate people who have done nothing to me"?! For real! I know, I know...that's exceptional for an evangelical.
Still, the whole scam of cash-for-prayers was central to becoming whatever she was: famous for being famous. Not for actually doing anything, except, of course, scamming millions upon millions from people in the televangelism racket.
Alas.
I've posted a long thing on my own site, http://theorymyculture.wordpress.com, on these very issues.
Thanks for your interesting write-up. And you're on Slate! How fun.
I wouldn't make light of the ability to not be repulsed by people who have done nothing to you since you have such a hard time of it.
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