Asshole or not an asshole? I am leaning towards asshole, because he debated both Vidal and Sagan, but I can be convinced otherwise. He was erudite though: “Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I will sock you in your goddamn face, and you will stay plastered.”
damn, I think I like him from that quote alone. And seriously, that quote is about all I know about him.
He was more of a instigator, wanting only to argue for the sake of arguing but not for really learning. A Conservatives conservative showman.
This is a joke, right. The guy is an American writer/Publication contributor and the only quote you show is when he was being persistently screamed at, called a "neo-fascist" by a zealot in the press on his way to his auto. Bill Clinton poked some black guy in the face a few weeks ago for stating his opinion at a rally. Grow the hell, up. Read some buckley, then post.
As I said I can be convinced otherwise. Which is his best book? Man and God? Also calling him asshole might have been too strong, but we all make mistakes.... Looks like he changed his mind on quite a few things: -He said it was a mistake not to have supported civil-rights legislation in the 1960s. - He supported the Iraq invasion but lately he regretted it. - He became a supporter of drug legalization... Let me see, a CIA spy who spied in Mexico on communist activity of the students, a McCarthy supporter and Reagan's friend, I think I stick to the asshole opinion...
I always thought of Buckley as one of the few intellectually honest Republican commentators and writers. But I was not a Buckley follower or gave him much attention.
While he was far from perfect, he was certainly a step up from the Hannitys and the Limbaughs of today
Well put, ashura. He was a thinking-man's right-wing, politically-incorrect haughty. He was always entertaining for me... in small doses. That voice.... And the pauses...
they got a little old. And when things... or people, ...get really old, it is only fitting that they die. Rest in Peace, you slouchy old spook.
He was an asshole. I am old enough to have watched his show. He was a condescending elitist who justified a lot of pretty wretched American foreign policy. Hell, I would like the guy for arguing with Sagan. But it his style of speaking was one long insinuated 'I am better than you' insult. Even if my politics had been the same as his I would have wanted someone to lose a show up his ass. I'd take Limbaugh over him. Limbaugh is at least more direct. He doesn't insinuate, he comes right out and tells you you are an idiot.
Form this guy: http://driftglass.blogspot.com/ An obituary for Mr Buckley, and a comparison of him - the founding, leading, best-selling "movement conservative" author and media pundit of his day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CIOSkrfRC4&eurl=http://driftglass.blogspot.com/ With the leading, best-selling "movement conservative" author and pundit of our day, the heir to what Buckley founded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkZmfxlSRDU&eurl=http://driftglass.blogspot.com/ Fascists are normally assholes - it's their virtue, in their own estimation. (The word is not loosely applied: Buckley started out, when he founded the National Review, praising Franco's fascist government in Spain, and we see the heirs of the "movement" praising and blaming the current US administration on similar criteria).
I liked this point. I think fascists notice that some of the motivation of non-fascists is guilt. So they assume that this is the only motivation for that position. They then see themselves as being what liberals, for example, really are if they had the guts to be honest. Not noticing that it is much more complex than that.
Thanks for the feedback. I guess most of us here agree. So we can put him down now officially on the asshole list! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Here is a video of him debating Chomsky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYlMEVTa-PI&feature=related We have to give him credit, because Hannity or Limbaugh would never do such a thing...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism ""In contemporary political discourse, fascist has become a slur, used by adherents of some ideologies to describe their opponents."" I guess "fascism" is a pretty loose term these days. I've only heard it in terms of people like Hitler who was a leftist and a statist. Who knew?
sowhatifit'sdark: "I think fascists notice that some of the motivation of non-fascists is guilt." Fascism abhors conscience. There are varying, competing amounts of both in every one of us, and in every policy we make. clusteringflux: "I guess "fascism" is a pretty loose term these days. I've only heard it in terms of people like Hitler who was a leftist and a statist" The fascism among us always tries to occlude the term "fascism". Military-authoritarianist-capitalism is a chameleon that can't stand the open sunshine, and it hates being defined. Syzyqs: "Here is a video of him debating Chomsky... We have to give him credit, because Hannity or Limbaugh would never do such a thing... I wish we had a lot more Buckleys than Hannities around here. Our discussions would be considerably more ground-breaking.
George Orwell wrote in 1944: ...the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else... almost any English person would accept ‘bully’ as a synonym for ‘Fascist’.[22]
Definition.... 1often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition 2: a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control <early instances of army fascism and brutality
Just because a term is abused does not obliterate our ability to track it back to its original technical meaning. There's a lot of debris on that trail, and even some dictionary efforts lose their way or just give up. Fascism is imperialist authoritarianism. Fascism is a right-wing ideology of political subjugation. Again, terms will alway be most assailed the more they describe an ideology that runs for cover whenever it might be exposed. This word we're pondering is not slippery because the term is slippery- it's slippery because fascism is.
