Fare thee well, William F. Buckley

Posted by Josh Rosenau on February 27, 2008
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Making Light reminds us of William F. Buckley’s greatest hits:

?The central question that emerges?is whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in areas where it does not predominate numerically? The sobering answer is Yes?the White community is so entitled because, for the time being, it is the advanced race.? ?William F. Buckley, National Review, August 24, 1957

He continued defending nonsense in erudite ways through his long and often tedious career:

What we contend is that everyone should acknowledge creation as an alternative explanation for cosmic and biological happenings now thought by so many as naturalist in providence and momentum. Why? Because my colleagues and I judge that the evidence for the naturalist theory of evolution is not merely insubstantial, it is fanciful. ?Opening statement, The Firing Line 12/4/1997 Creation-Evolution Debate, “Resolved: The Evolutionists Should Acknowledge Creation“

Next time Ben Stein or some other halfwit creationist tries to suggest that racism proceeds from evolution, you need only point to the remains of William F. Buckley as a counter-argument.

As Dylan said: “‘Goodbye’ is too good a word, so I’ll just say ‘fare thee well.’”

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Comments

  1. #1 PalMD
    February 27, 2008

    He also said, “You’re an idiot…it’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe.”

  2. #2 csrster
    February 28, 2008

    Fare thee well and f*ck off, says I. Too many people are too easily hypnotised by an old-money-dripping brahmin accent.

    But I’ll give him credit for a few good one-liners.

  3. #3 NJ
    February 28, 2008

    Keep in mind his statement about conservatism when he founded the National Review:

    “to stand ‘athwart history’ and yell ‘stop’”,

    leaving out the rest:

    “because I have mine.”

  4. #4 TTT
    February 28, 2008

    And despite the requoting power of his motto, it’s plainly wrong at any rate.

    A conservative is one who stands behind history and says “I don’t understand what just happened, but I don’t like it.”

  5. #5 Julie Stahlhut
    February 28, 2008

    William F. Buckley said:

    Because my colleagues and I judge that the evidence for the naturalist theory of evolution is not merely insubstantial, it is fanciful.

    His colleagues? I presume he meant a whole lot of fellow TV personalities with no expertise in biology?

    Yeeeesshhh.

  6. #6 The Ridger
    February 28, 2008

    Yes. I don’t care how witty or well-phrased the prose is when the meaning is so awful.

  7. #7 Johann
    February 29, 2008

    Oh dear its unbelivable.

  8. #8 Andy Tripp
    March 2, 2008

    I told my daughter about Buckley and his snobbishness and accent, but then the video of Buckley debating Chomsky was a letdown. Buckley’s good, but not as good as the cartoon version.

    From Wikipedia entry on brahmin accent:
    Renowned speakers with this accent included Franklin Delano Roosevelt, William F. Buckley, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis and the character Thurston Howell, III, on Gilligan’s Island.

    He also didn’t do the accent as well as Thurston Howell. He also didn’t have the respect for the Professor that he should have (Buckley, I mean, not Howell)

    :)

  9. #9 Joachim
    December 16, 2009

    I like Wikipedia!