ding, dong, wait a second, who's dead?

so perez hilton announced on August 17th that Fidel Castro is dead. apparently rumors are flying in miami, however nothing has been confirmed yet. or denied. so this leaves me with two very important questions:

1. IS he dead?

well, it IS a little suspicious that no one has seen or heard from him in quite some time. on the other hand, he's old. he could just be senile. not dead. on the other hand, it is also a bit suspicious how under-wraps these rumors seem to be. the fact that everyone is NOT talking about it makes me kind of feel like maybe they're true. but i guess we'll find out eventually. so on to question 2...

2. who cares?

or let me rephrase: why is everyone so fucking thrilled? i mean, i'm sorry, but when Ronald Reagan died and i couldn't muster up a sympathetic face, i got looked at like i have no respect for the dead. and yet just reading the comments on perez's latest post about it (or talking to pretty much anybody, it seems) shows that "respect for the dead" is an honor reserved only for those who lean closer to facism than to communism.

first of all, fidel castro dying is not even that big of an event. sure, i would have liked to visit cuba before he died and it sucks i didn't make it to that point on my checklist, but i mean the man is 81 years old! or maybe he's dead at almost-81. either way, it hardly seems that surprising that he might die. and last i checked, his death wasn't about to mean a change in government for cuba, so... i mean i get it. its symbolic. but it seems like maybe its a bit rude to celebrate the symbolism of someone's death when i'll bet at least 75% of the people celebrating don't know what its symbolic OF.

second of all, i'm sick of people FROM cuba trying to argue that i don't know what i'm talking about when let's face it: you didn't leave oppression in cuba and get to freedom in america, you left oppression in cuba and got to someone else's oppression in america and got happy it wasn't you. and i'm sick of everyone else talking shit about fidel just for the sake of hating communism. the cold war is over. you're late.

so i mean, i never met fidel castro, although i've heard he is(was?) very charming in person. but if you disagree with his politics, just ask yourself this: did i celebrate ronald reagan's death? if the answer is "no" then you really don't have a leg to stand on. if the answer is "yes," i'd have to suggest you cut down on your number of death-celebrations and maybe start counting down the days til thanksgiving.