Burying Andrew Heiskell
21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
Andrew Heiskell, former chairman and CEO of TIME, Inc., died on Sunday, July 6, 2003.
The nauseating mixture of piety and warmongering instituted by Henry Luce continued under Heiskell in the Vietnam years, and continues today online, with a pious quotation from Mel Gibson and a cover headline, "Peace is Hell."
A search for a Heiskell eulogy at TIME.com yields the following "quote of the week":
"The Holy Ghost was working through me on this film, and I was just directing traffic." — Mel Gibson
Recent TIME traffic included covers on Ben Franklin, Crusaders, and Harry Potter.
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How Mel would direct this traffic is not clear.
He would do well to pray, not to the ghost he calls holy, but to the ghost of T. S. Matthews, which may be summoned by clicking on the "jazz priest" link in yesterday's entry, "Happy Trails." Matthews, who succeeded Luce as editor of TIME, can be trusted to dispose of Heiskell's immortal soul with intelligence and taste, in accordance with the company policy of Jesus quoted above.
Should Militant Mel require more spiritual guidance, he might consult my entry of May 27, 2003, which seems appropriate on this, the birthday of storyteller Robert A. Heinlein, author of Job: A Comedy of Justice.