[nathanbedford]

Mr. Vidal recalled that Mr. Austen asked from his deathbed, “Didn’t it go by awfully fast?”

His life one of sound and fury, or at least a life of calculated provocations signifying nothing, certainly nothing permanent, Gore Vidal from beginning to end is a token of the homosexual impulse toward nihilism. A young writer on the make, a celebrity who took on Andy Warhol dimensions as a political commentator famous for being famous and he got to be famous by being contentious and provocative.

Analogous to a young but ambitious homosexual fashion designer who must contrive a way to make his mark, he does it by pushing past the bounds of civility and comity. So a new and more bizarre look is introduced for this year's line. We see the same phenomenon in dance at the high culture level of ballet or at the base level of Lady Gaga. Each performance demands greater deviation from societal norm than the last. This is a calculated and cynical exploitation of the senses which desensitizes them and requires ever more and more sensationalism to break free of the pack careers.

The problem for us conservatives is that Gore Vidal exploited this technique in the political arena where he found a media eager to play a symbiotic game with him by which the media fed the beast with more and more sensational meat. The media was eager to play the game for another perhaps subconscious reason. The cynicism of Gore Vidal matched perfectly the inevitable nihilism of the Critical Theory, a Weltanschauung which is as been systematically implanted in the chattering classes in the course of acquiring their journalism degrees.

[JewishRighter]

Brilliant and articulate analysis, NB. It makes me ponder whether the nihilism followed his ideology or his homosexuality. Was he a nihilist because he started out hating morality as a matter of conscience or because it justified being gay? I suspect the latter. After all, where does a young person find hatred against a decent society absent some underlying antagonism? One may cite the nihilism prevalent in today’s hard left, which is not (known to be) universally gay, as proof that it is ideologically driven in most cases. But today’s left came of age after Gore and his ilk made hatred of America and decency fashionable.

Either way, when I read that Gore died, I said Thank G-d! He was a truly evil man.

[Bigg Red]

Well said — as usual.

[IronJack]

Astute observations well expressed.

[spodefly]

BTTT

[grey_whiskers]

What a *great* day to go eat at Chick-Fil-A.

(Freepmail)