“It stands athwart history, yelling Stop…”
Posted on February 27, 2008
Filed Under Relationships, General |
I started this morning with ideas germinating on real estate weblogs, web 2.0 and (once again) the state of real estate. The business is changing because how people approach buying and selling homes is changing, and web 2.0, still embryonic, is going to be a big part of it. We just don’t yet know how.
But when I got back to my desk an hour ago to start writing I learned William F. Buckley had died. Interesting how we react to the death of someone we’ve never met, but that floored me. My reaction shouldn’t have surprised me: I think no one outside my family has had the same visceral impact on my political leaning, thought process and, perhaps even most importantly, on my love for the English language. No one could string words together to such great effect.
===
The title quote is from the mission statement of Buckley’s National Review, a magazine I first read in the late sixties. And, agree with its premises or not, it did exactly that: Nearly alone it spawned a movement that at once kept the country from sliding inexorably toward collectivism, while simultaneously separating itself from the haters in the Klan, the John Birch Society, Dan Smoot and others. It was (and is) deeply intellectual; the first time I read NR it took me an hour to get through the letters to the editor.
But it was the only magazine to which I’ve ever subscribed, and, before the internet, I’d devour it the day it came. (Now, of course, there’s National Review Online, Buckley’s lasting legacy.) There were dissenting opinions, but all carried the inevitability of terrific writing. Just having been introduced to Florence King was worth the subscription.
Then there was Firing Line, and the overpowering graciousness with which he’d skewer his guests. He was best friends with John Kenneth Galbraith - politically his polar opposite - and always had great respect for those with whom he disagreed.
There are many wonderful tributes over at NRO, but I think it’s fair to note that what made William F Buckley William F Buckley is that he meant as much to aging real estate brokers who never met him as to some of his closest friends. He will be missed.
RIP.
Comments
4 Responses to ““It stands athwart history, yelling Stop…””
Leave a Reply
I grew up in a town where almost every adult was a member of the United Auto Workers — under Walter Reuther, at least, who had broken the union away from the Communists. My Aunt Margaret and Uncle Al were the only Republicans I knew on the planet, the conservative Catholic demographic that kept the National Review alive. I would sneak over to their house to read the magazine. Would have horrified my mother, had she known.
Later, in college, I got to serve as waxed fruit in the studio audience for tapings of Buckley’s PBS show. I got to see but not talk to some amazing people.
I don’t love everything about Buckley’s politics, but I owe a great debt to the man. I was very sad to hear of his passing.
[…] "It stands athwart history, yelling Stop…", by Jeff Kempe. […]
He had an amazingly sharp mind. When I listened to him I always knew I was listening to a mind that was alive.
Greg and Mike …
I just had one of those down moments when I went to my library and found that The Right Word wasn’t there (I loan out a lot of books). It’s a compendium of Buckley’s writing on writing; like some others I know, he could write a brilliant 800 word op-ed in fifteen minutes.
Highly recommended, not so much because it’s a how-to, but because it emphatically reinforces those who, say, know how to use ‘myriad’ in a sentence…