El_Gringo_Grande

Article

Bill Buckley, George Will, Carl Sagan, Kurt Vonnegut and Frank Herbert where my childhood heroes.

I used to watch a show that Buckley hosted and hang on his every word.

I am getting old.

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Sen. John McCain (AZ) For President '08
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I’m not racists, I have republican friends. Radio show host.
- "The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity". -Jacob Burkhardt
- "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Emerson
- "People should not be afraid of it's government, government should be afraid of it's People." - Line from V for Vendetta
- If software were as unreliable as economic theory, there wouldn't be a plane made of anything other than paper that could get off the ground. Jim Fawcette

Buckets

I rarely agreed with what Buckley said but I always respected his incredible intellect and the manner in which he said those things. Too bad our pundits today (both liberal and conservative) don't care to think the way Buckley and Sagan did.

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The artist formerly known as "pecker"

GlobalWarmin

I can tell

War.mongeR1

Whether or not you agreed with Buckley, you gotta admire his wit and intelligence. He was to me, one of the last great minds. Rest in peace Mr. Buckley. You will be missed.

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"Common sense is not so common." -Voltaire

Steeler

I admire his ability to organize and demagogue, lassoing disparate political groups into a cohesive ideological structure, however there are others one could admire for this trait independent of the merit of their cause. FDR, for example, or Hitler.

Frankly, I always felt that his appearance of intellectualism was an aristocratic affectation, belied by his reactionary, narrow-minded, bigoted politics.

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El_Gringo_Grande

As a kid I thought everything he said was gospel. It just made so much sense. Him then George F. Will then all the Reaganites made me feel good about being American and that I was the most powerful, righteous and deserving person because of it.

As I got older I realized that he, like everybody else in the world, only had a small part of the story right. I still will read his stuff if I happen to come across it or would stop to listen to him speak. I also realized that he and his kind lack one very important thing critical to being a good human. Being able to step out their ideals and truthfully critique themselves. No wonder as a kid I was so attracted to that thinking. It is wonderful to always be right when you are in your teens and early twenties. Alas some never can leave that immature type of thinking behind.

Nonetheless it was an important lesson in how to observe the world without taking into consideration the concerns of others or their needs. How to drive empathy out of the discussion. Again, not a good thing to do if you desire to be a decent human being but it is a useful skill.

Anyway I admired him.

__________________
Sen. John McCain (AZ) For President '08
---
I’m not racists, I have republican friends. Radio show host.
- "The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity". -Jacob Burkhardt
- "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Emerson
- "People should not be afraid of it's government, government should be afraid of it's People." - Line from V for Vendetta
- If software were as unreliable as economic theory, there wouldn't be a plane made of anything other than paper that could get off the ground. Jim Fawcette