Quote of the Week

And I think experience tends to bear out, at least half the time, that famous people are not very pleasant people.
--William F. Buckley, as quoted by James Rosen in his essay "The Long, Hot Summer of '68," The National Review, September 7, 2015

My comment:

Heh. Irony.

Given the many unpleasant things that have been said about Mr. Buckley -- and the number of statements he had made during his life which weren't exactly politically correct -- it is hard to not see some unintended humor in this quote.

Even the essay this quote comes from hints at some unflattering aspects of Mr. Buckley's personality even though it was obviously meant to be a defense of his reputation.

And I must confess that I have reservations about Mr. Buckley myself. After all, he was not exactly a big fan of the Civil Rights Movement and his decision to side with the likes of President Ricard M. Nixon and Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daly would not have made him too welcome in my late father's house back in the days when my father was still voting for people like George McGovern.

Then again just because my father voted for McGovern did not make him a typical liberal. Nor did it make him immune to conservative values. For that matter, my own mother went from being a Kennedy Democrat to a Reagan Democrat because she felt that the values she grew up with were being increasingly mocked by the type of people who supported the Democrats. And the more I learn about politics, the harder I find it to fault her for this. (Then again, I am a bit biased in her favor.)

I could write a whole book on the various differences I have with both liberals and conservatives. After all, I'm a contrarian by nature and the fact that my late father used to conduct Socratic dialogues with me and my three siblings while we were growing up did not exactly encourage me to downplay this aspect of my personality. But I'll save that discussion for another time.