Pinochet is gone, and I’m almost as happy as when Reagan died. Sure, it might have been better if he had been convicted and sent to the slammer, but it’s also entirely possible that he would have managed to avoid this entirely….

And even more encouraging is the debate the death has prompted, or rather the polarization. The scum, to put it lightly, have come out of hiding. The funeral, carried live on Globovision here, was a particularly rank spectacle, especially when Pinochet’s grandson got up and gave an impromptu speech hailing the accomplishments of the Pig.

The grandson has been duly sacked, but this conceals more than it reveals: it attempts to draw attention away from the fact that such a speech was exactly what the crowd—50,000 strong—was looking for, and was met with cheers, especially in its most disgusting moments. The sacking also covers up the fact that the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces also gave a speech which, while discreet, was more positive than it ought to have been. Evidently, we are told, Pinochet waited until the last minute to act, and then did what he had to do…

Globovision, incidentally, has revealed much about itself as well. Besides referring to Allende’s "suicide," they also used their nightly "question" on Alo Ciudadano to poll viewers about how they would characterize the Pig: I shit you not, 73% deemed this piece of shit "a necessary evil." The next day, on Buenas Noches, Carla Angola went on a long tirade about similarities between Pinochet and Chavez, hoping to have such claims affirmed by the former ambassador of the OAS to Venezuela. Despite not being sympathetic to Chavez at all, he immediately responded that there was "no comparison" because one was from the left and the other from the right, and that Chavez had been "elected, re-elected, and re-elected." Good on him, fuck Carla Angola.  

My title, p.s., comes from a good piece by Ron Jacobs.