If someone builds a multimillion-dollar
Fortune teaching folks to scorn and fear
People who are different from them,
Is that person one we should revere?

And if that person uses racist language
That white supremacists all love to use
And ties himself to Christian nationalists
With whom he shares extreme, repulsive views

And calls our many immigrants invaders,
Thus stirring up contempt, disdain, and dread,
And also says he has a preference
For the days when gays were ****** till dead

And normalizes bigotry and hatred,
Should that person then be idolized?
It seems to me that there would be more reasons
For him to be distrusted and despised.

If that person lacks the decency
To care about the people whom he slights
And says that violence is very often
Necessary to protect our rights

And later he becomes the hapless victim
Of the violence that he promoted,
It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy:
To die from views to which one is devoted.

They say the dead should not be talked about
With words of malice; we should be forgiving.
But should someone be glorified in death
If he was reprehensible while living?

-by Bob B (9-16-25)