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This is a pretty weak article with a smarmy attitude and mostly just a hit piece on Buckley (who I certainly have no love for) and a lionization of Baldwin. It'

This is a pretty weak article with a smarmy attitude and mostly just a hit piece on Buckley (who I certainly have no love for) and a lionization of Baldwin. It's also filled with quite a few misleading, if not actually false, statements. See the paragraph mentioning Malcom X for an example. Nonetheless, it's interesting to watch old episodes of Firing Line on YouTube. Buckley doesn't generally come across as the smarter person, but the guests themselves are usually worth watching. The show is a calm, rational discussion between people with diametrically opposed worldviews. This seems almost unthinkable in the shouting match, tribalistic media we have today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFeoS41xe7w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFeoS41xe7w

lukifer 6y ago
+1, I also fell down a rabbit role of old Firing Line episodes recently. Buckley can be condescending and paternalistic; but he nonetheless engages in good faith with the other side, letting them sink or swim by their own words, which is an immense improvement compared to today's soundbite-strawman media landscape. A couple elements I found interesting: young Arianna Huffington was explicitly anti-feminist [0], and Ann Coulter's case for impeaching Clinton [1] provides an interesting contrast to her modern support for Trump. [0] https://youtu.be/NDs966SDgVY https://youtu.be/NDs966SDgVY [1] https://youtu.be/YbmAROJMswU https://youtu.be/YbmAROJMswU
- oh_sigh 6y ago
  Except when he gets talking with Gore Vidal.
  - lukifer 6y ago
    True. As overloaded/charged as the term has become, it's hard to describe Buckley's reaction to Vidal as anything other than "triggered". :)
snapetom 6y ago
> This is a pretty weak article with a smarmy attitude and mostly just a hit piece on Buckley (who I certainly have no love for) and a lionization of Baldwin. Additionally, it does a poor job of actually connecting Buckley and Baldwin. I was hoping for some sort of entwined drama between the two, but the connection narrated was barely there.
elipsey 6y ago
>> quite a few misleading, if not actually false, statements. See the paragraph mentioning Malcom X for an example. How so?

lukifer 6y ago

+1, I also fell down a rabbit role of old Firing Line episodes recently. Buckley can be condescending and paternalistic; but he nonetheless engages in good faith with the other side, letting them sink or swim by their own words, which is an immense improvement compared to today's soundbite-strawman media landscape. A couple elements I found interesting: young Arianna Huffington was explicitly anti-feminist [0], and Ann Coulter's case for impeaching Clinton [1] provides an interesting contrast to her modern support for Trump. [0] https://youtu.be/NDs966SDgVY https://youtu.be/NDs966SDgVY [1] https://youtu.be/YbmAROJMswU https://youtu.be/YbmAROJMswU

oh_sigh 6y ago
Except when he gets talking with Gore Vidal.
- lukifer 6y ago
  True. As overloaded/charged as the term has become, it's hard to describe Buckley's reaction to Vidal as anything other than "triggered". :)

snapetom 6y ago

> This is a pretty weak article with a smarmy attitude and mostly just a hit piece on Buckley (who I certainly have no love for) and a lionization of Baldwin. Additionally, it does a poor job of actually connecting Buckley and Baldwin. I was hoping for some sort of entwined drama between the two, but the connection narrated was barely there.

elipsey 6y ago

>> quite a few misleading, if not actually false, statements. See the paragraph mentioning Malcom X for an example. How so?