In looking for some more articles and tributes to William F. Buckley, I came across a disturbing post from a leftist blogger regarding what seemed to be their satisfaction with the death of William F. Buckley.
What is the posts headline: William F. Buckley Jr. Joins Dead Homophobes Club
The rest of the post:
Back in the beginning of the AIDS crisis, Buckley suggested all HIV+ Americans get visibly tattoo to warn and protect the public. Very soon after this Machiavellian suggestion, Buckley had a biopsy sent to a laboratory where an AIDS activist from ACT-UP was a technician. When becoming aware it was Buckley’s biopsy, the diagnosis of “Kaposi Sarcoma” was sent out. To Buckley’s horror, that he may have contracted an AIDS related cancer, he was re-biopsied and coincidentally, the same lab tech received the specimen and the same diagnosis was sent. Biopsy Terrorism. Ah. Sweet Revenge. Good riddance to bad karma.
Absolutely ridiculous and disrespectful.
This isn’t how conservatives act when a respected American leftist dies, yet its always the conservatives who are labeled as insensitive, having no compassion for humanity. I think that this just goes to show the double standard between the left and right.
While I don’t encourage anyone to become a frequent of the blog that posted this rediculous statement, I think its an important affirmation of what WFB talked about in many of his articles regarding the behavior of many on the far left.
Update: I guess there are some more WFB haters who couldn’t wait to show their excitement:
http://redsoxstateofmaine.typepad.com/my_whatever_world_in_main/2008/02/william-f-buckl.html
http://symbioid.livejournal.com/1100652.html
http://brileystyleshow.blogspot.com/2008/02/good-news-william-f-buckley-is-dead.html
[...] It looks like the left waited no time to lash out on WFB [...]
They say never to speak ill of the dead, but I think we can give a pass to those people–the “leftist” blog author included–whose position in American society he dedicated his life vainly to entrenching. Here we have women, whose movement to enter higher education and the workforce as something other than schoolteachers he called “a disastrous failure;” Southern blacks, whose efforts to be allowed access to polling booths–and to restaurants and drinking fountains–he openly opposed in the National Review; and of course gays, who he recommended forcibly testing, tattooing, and quarantining for a non-infectious virus afflicting a minority of the gay population–to say nothing of his opposition non-discrimination legislation protecting people from losing their livelihoods for being gay. (Perhaps to these one can add anyone subjected to reading Buckley’s fiction.)
You can be a conservative and respect Buckley’s contribution to opening the American political discourse to a new line of thinking. I suspect, however, that the more moderate of us–perhaps the women, blacks, and gays who sympathize with the less invasive aims of the conservative movement–are likely to reflect on Buckley’s death more coolly. Our lives would have been better had he died 40 years sooner.
“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”
“Our lives would have been better had he died 40 years sooner.”
Do you really believe the your life would be any better if William Buckley wasn’t here? If anything, I would imagine that people with your point of view would be happy people like WFB were around, simply because he encouraged the debate amongst those on the left and right.
While you might not have agreed with his thinking, writing, or anything else, I think that its extremely important that there always be a free exchange of ideas, no matter how good/bad/extreme some might find those to be.
Even if you can’t bring yourself to agree with this, making statements that suggest people’s lives would be better had he dies sooner is just wrong.
While usually, esp. for a man of Buckley’s stature and achievement, it is in the natural order of things to more celebrate his life than to morn his death there is nevertheless a sad note to Buckley’s passing, and that is the conservative movement he started proceeded him to the grave.
While usually, esp. for a man of Buckley’s stature and achievement, it is in the natural order of things to more celebrate his life than to morn his death there is nevertheless a sad note to Buckley’s passing, and that is the conservative movement he started proceeded him to the grave.
P.S. if you go to the above link, you’ll see a great tribute to WFB by Charlie Rose.
[...] DC Republican calls us a “leftist blog.” [...]