Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish: People Who Died

I’m not much of a sentimentalist.  I can’t afford to be.  I’m a historian.  After a quarter-century of studying the human past at a professional level, I can’t help but believe that people aren’t the solution to the world’s problems.  They’re the cause.

However, that is a broad condition.  Individuals, of course, vary greatly.  Some people are truly wonderful.  And there are plenty of nice publications out there heaping posthumous praise upon those who have recently earned their wings.

But let’s be honest.  Some people are just miserable bastards.  Or maybe they’re fun and charming while doing shitty things.   And some folks really are great, but god damn it, they just creep me out, and I’m ready to move on.

There’s no getting around it; the world is simply better off without some people.   And I’m probably one of them.

But just whose passing should we nod in approval at?  Sometimes it’s obvious.   And sometimes we can disagree, ie. I’m just plain wrong.  Either way, now that  2018 is winding down, let’s quickly review some of the people whose absence, in my humble, subjective opinion, makes for a slight improvement.

James “Whitey” Bulger (89): Gangster, rat, inspiration to spent filmmakers and mafioso apologists.

Ion Ficior (90): Meastro of a Romanian forced labor camp, responsible for the deaths of at least 103 people.

Luis Possada Carilles (90): Cuban exile, CIA operative, terrorist bomber, mass murderer

Frank Avruch (89): Played Bozo the Clown on TV.   *shiver*

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (81): Anti-apartheid activist, wife/divorcee of Nelson Mandela, mother of the nation, torture victim.  Also a corrupt, violent kleptocrat, and overseer of a Reign of Terror in which countless victims were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered, including 14 year old Stompie Sepei, for which she was convicted.

Kim Jong-pil (92): Spy master, dictator’s assistant, kidnapper, murderer

Joseph Jackson (89): Fucker-upper of Michael and La Toya

Efrain Rios Montt (91): Guatemalan dictator, mass murder

Edgar Ray Killen (74): KKK leader/murderer of Civil Rights workers in Mississippi

Prince Henrik (83): Spoiled Danish royalty, forever complaining and whining

Roelof “Pik” Botha (86): South African politician, staunch defender of apartheid, and proof positive that “liberal” and “conservative” are relative terms (he was a “liberal”).

Ernest Medina (81): Mass murderer who oversaw and partook in the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War.

Richard DeVoss (92): Founder of Amway pyramid scheme, spawner of Betsy.

Happy New Year.  Here’s to not dying in 2019.  Unless, you know, that’s an improvement.