First Principles

THIS is who Kim Jong Il was. People who do this to children are evil, not "mercurial," and they do not deserve the benefit of having their own talking points repeated uncritically by western media. Shame on the AP. Shame.

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s mercurial and enigmatic longtime leader, has died of heart failure. He was 69.

“Mercurial”?  “Enigmatic”?  Are you frickin’ kidding me?  How about “evil”?  How about “crazy”?  How about “murderous” or “terrorist sponsor” or “nuclear arms dealer to the Taliban/Iran/various & sundry Baddies”?

And how about A SINGLE FRICKIN’ WORD ABOUT THE MILLIONS OF STARVED TO DEATH KOREANS ol’ Kim Jr. is responsible for?

This AP article truly is one of the most reprehensible pieces of morally relativistic garbage ever to grace the interwebs.  From the article we know all about how Kim Jong Il loved cognac and cigars.  We hear all about how official state media is in mourning, and people are officially crying over his death.  We read nothing about the legacy of one of the most evil men ever to inhabit the planet in the last century (and he’s got some mighty accomplished company in that regard).

I understand the desire to not speak ill of the dead, or to not revel in the end of a human life.  But when we can’t celebrate (yes, celebrate, damnit) the end of such a horrific figure, then we have lost a very necessary sense of perspective as a culture – a loss which has very little good to say about our own future.