william f. buckley, r.i.p.
proto-conservative and faux-brit commentator, william f. buckley, has passed away. here are some classic buckley-chomsky debate clips:
(i can't embed it here, but check out the opening seconds of this video when buckley, somewhat jokingly, tells chomsky that he would smash him in the goddamn face, not to be confused with when buckley threatened to pop gore vidal in the goddamn face here.)
4 comments:
Candor has certainly worsened, but Buckley manages debate in the same way as people like O'Reilly: He interrupts, place words in Chmosky's mouth, etc. etc. Adds a final point, then ding-dong, end of conversation.
hmm... i think buckley had worlds more composure than o'reilly could ever muster. true enough, he is not a perfectly fair moderator, but at least he allows a discourse to take place.
Really? I think discourse has barely taken place. Because Buckley blatantly misrepresents what Chomsky is saying. He doesn't seem to MERELY disagree, but to also misrepresent for advantage. Which pretty much prevents intelligent discourse. This is O'Reilly's M.O. too.
More composure than O'Reilly, definitely.
i think discourse has taken place. it's just that they're at opposite ends of the spectrum, which makes it difficult to find a common ground. chomsky is staggeringly better informed than buckley in most cases. how much can you progress in a discussion when facts are presented which you simply can't deny? this is the reason why buckley has to actually lay back and listen to chomsky's account of north-south migration before the invasion of vietnam. true enough that he misrepresents some of chomsky's statements, but many many interviewers who are on different sides of various issues, do that to chomsky, maybe because they don't understand the full picture as well as he does. i constantly hear chomsky say, "that's not what i'm saying at all..."
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