Mark Steyn: Death of a salesman

The Spectator (U.K.) ^ | 02/19/05 | Mark Steyn

[7thson]

Please write to Mr. Steyn and tell him he got his own column and idea dead wrong. Or he got that one small part of his column wwrong. Whatever. Leave me alone. You win! Let me know when you get your thoughtful and flawless insights in a syndicated column that we may all enjoy your immense brillance and intellect.

[xp38]

Mark Steyn is a regular on the Hugh Hewitt radio talk show I think...I haven't listened lately but I think he appears on Wednesdays there. You can listen on this KRLA link http://www2.krla870.com/listen/

[Rummyfan]

I hope she has him on again too. I have never heard Steyn. I believe he is actually Canadian and lives in New Hampshire, so the accent ..... who knows. Other Freepers have mentioned that he is a regular on Hugh Hewitt's show.

[rcocean]

Miller himself was a former member of the CPUSA.

As late as 1949 he was defending Stalin.

After 1950 he simply switched from being a communist to being a anti-anti-communist.

[Rummyfan]

And Lear always wears that stupid hat. I can't believe Miller is in the same league with Lear financially. Although Lear hasn't produced anything commercially successful in twenty years, he made fortunes from all his earlier TV productions.

[beckett]

Oh please....Hitler? Can't anyone disagree without mentioning his name? It is sooooooooo tired an argument.

[rcocean]

Sorry for the tired argument - but I think a valid one.

Miller was a member of CPUSA and never, to my knowledge, publicly repudiated Stalin or denounced the crimes of Communism.

He spent almost his entire life defending Stalin or attacking those who wanted to stop Red Tyranny.

After 1989, when Communism had done its damage, and killed millions, he recanted. As the church lady would say: How convenient.

[formercalifornian]

I took a lot of English and drama classes. You are right. Man, I'll never forget the agony of having to go through Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. Awful stuff. I think it's time to imagine conservatives in charge. Imagine what a syllabus in a conservative-run university would be like with at least half conservative faculty teaching the courses. We should dream and plan.

[texasbluebell]

I was actually going to post that very comment, but thought it would be too obvious a deduction...

[leilani]

Don't know if you're on the Steyn ping list or not, but I thought you might enjoy this because of what you posted on the Terry Teachout thread.

[Roscoe Karns]

You can hear Mark Steyn once a week on the Hugh Hewitt Show. Usually right at the begining of the show. ( on Wednesdays, I think. ---maybe someone else could verify that)

Like you said, he's funny and sharp off the cuff.

Some smart TV producer should scoop him up.

[HHFi]

Thanks for the heads-up. I'm not on the ping list, but I always look for Steyn's name and read all his stuff, so I'd already copied this one.

On another thread, I put in a vote for my favorite, George S. Kaufman, as a far superior playwright. How I would have loved to watch him -- glasses down on his nose, head shaking disapprovingly -- as he went through a Miller script, scratching through all the pages of unnecessary, overwrought verbiage with a blue pencil and replacing them with three lines of dialogue that said the same thing, only hilariously and concisely.

[irv]

I usually agree with Steyn and marvel at his insight. This time, though, I'm afraid he gives Miller way too much credit.

[Neophyte]

"...And yet one can't forever stand on the shore; at some point, filled with indecision, scepticism, reservation and doubt, you either jump in or concede that life is forever elsewhere." He was clearly referring to his socialist political views.

If this is a clear reference to anything, then pigs can fly.

[UnklGene]

Catch Mark on Hugh Hewitt radio, Wednesdays about 3:07pm PST.

[texasbluebell]

I'll definitely be listening next week! Thanks!

[hinckley buzzard]

"In the dictatorships he admired, from the USSR to Cuba,... every checkout line in the supermarket is perforce for five items or less."

A small but shining jewel.

[lainde]

Thanks Pokey!

[Ruth A.]

Steyn made perfect sense to me. The difference is that commies are real and witches weren't. It matters not where the commies are. Therefore, the witch allegory doesn't work against McCarthyism.

[Ruth A.]

Is there anybody or anything Steyn can't write intelligently about?

The short answer: no.