or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
May 31, 2008
Molehill WFB
By: Bernard Chazelle
My problem with William F. Buckley is that I could never get past the precious affectation, that upper-crust American affliction that regards snobbery as the most valuable European import. (Go to 02:47-02:52 for a particularly drippy sample.)
To be fair, no one can win a debate against Chomsky. But it's still astonishing how unequipped Buckley is for the fight. This is Mike Tyson pummeling a scrawny 6th-grader.
And to think Buckley was the intellectual godfather of American conservatism.
I accept that it went downhill with Hannity, Coulter, and Limbaugh. But I hadn't quite realized from what a tiny molehill the descent started.
My favorite exchange:
Buckley: "We haven't occupied them [The Dominican Republic]"
Chomsky: "We never occupied the Dominican Republic? We sent 25,000 troops in 1965."
Buckley: "Now, I think you're being evasive."
— Bernard Chazelle
dcs: good quote.
The next sentence after "what brought us to Dresden" is not bad:
What brought us to South Vietnam in the first instance, in my judgment, was clearly an uninterested, or I should say, a disinterested concern for the stability and possibilities of the region.
I find this interesting because today such a line could be used in a comedy routine with no further explanation.
Why moralize it at all? Dresden was just a case of killing a 1/4 million people WE didn't paticularly like while burning down their town one night. While Iraq is a case of ATTEMPTED armed robbery with maybe 3/4 million killed. Looking for morality in this war OR any other is, frankly, a waste of YOUR time. Governments rarely have much truck with commonsense or morality, nor does their offspring, War.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at June 1, 2008 01:19 AMTHAT'S why its called the Highway To Hell---no rhyme, no reason.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at June 1, 2008 01:26 AMRemember that Buckley wasn't the American Brahman he played on TV. His grandfather was a Texas county sheriff.
Oil money.
Posted by: Laney at June 1, 2008 09:40 AMBernard, thanks for the quote. It's truly spectacular! I think I will incorporate it into my everyday life.
My boss: "You've been at least two hours late every day this week!"
Me: "The traffic has been unusually horrible."
Boss: "You don't drive!"
Me: "Now I think you're being evasive!"
This will work excellently, I think, especially since my boss grew up in the Soviet Union. Disclosure: actually, I do drive. A lot.
Posted by: Aaron Datesman at June 1, 2008 11:10 AMI just love Buckley's saucy winks at the camera when he imagines he's scored a point.
Posted by: Chris at June 1, 2008 07:22 PMAh yes. If memory serves, this marks the first use of Chompers' hilarious catchphrase "May I be permitted to finish a sentence?"
Posted by: RobWeaver at June 1, 2008 08:36 PMI could watch this all day. Somebody compared arguing with Chomsky to walking directly into a buzz saw.
Posted by: Seth at June 2, 2008 10:48 AMThis is lovely. A joy to watch, and I want to send it around to every Chomsky-basher I've ever met.
I think Buckley gets undeserved credit for intelligence because he has a British-sounding accent. Idiocy expressed in a drawl comes off as less idiotic, apparently.
Posted by: LadyVetinari at June 2, 2008 11:18 PM
