I just saw the news that Wiliam F. Buckley, one of the pre-eminent philosphers, writers and thinkers in American political life just died at the age of 82.
Among his other accomplishments, he was almost solely responsible for initiating kicking anti-Semites and racists out of the mainstream conservative movement, created the National Review, wrote a number of bestsellers and conducted himself with an erudation, style and moral sensibility rare among men.And he did it,always, with an impish sense of humor I truly enjoyed, even when I occasionally disagreed with him and found him just a tad too full of himself for comfort. But then, Bill Buckley had the intellectual firepower to get away with that sort of thing, leaving most of his philosophical opponents blinking and wondering just what had hit them.
He was a true foe of totalitarian barbarism, a proponent of freedom and a voice for sanity throughout his life, and spread a not inconsiderable amount of light in the process.
So long, Mr. Buckley. You'll be missed.
1 comment:
he lectured at tulsa university once. i went to see him that day. i can't remember anything of what he said that day.
but i do remember this.
later that night, as i watched the KOTV local news station, coverage of his visit consisted of a verbal comment by mr. buckley followed by a voice over comment by the newstaff. having been at the lecture and heard what he said, i was surprised to see that the news editing came across in a manner to represent mr. buckley's response to be the opposite of what he said earlier that day.
i said to myself that was wrong of them to report his opinion in that manner. that was 1983. little did i know what was to come of legacy media.
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