Re: [LA-F] Joseph Sobran

Hey Michael,

 

I will address your questions and I will try and do it tonight.  In the meantime, here is Ann Coulter's article regarding Joesph Sobran, and I thought it was pretty good:

 

Not Your Average Joe

by Ann Coulter 

Posted 10/06/2010 ET
Updated 10/06/2010 ET

 

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=39309

My friend Joe Sobran died last Thursday, and the world lost its greatest writer. 

To my delight, some obituaries noted that he had influenced my writing style. I only wish I had known he was so close to the end so I could have seen him again to let him influence me some more. 

The G.K. Chesterton of our time, Joe could deliver a knockout punch with a single line. Many of his aphorisms were so catchy that everyone repeats them now without realizing their provenance. 

It was Joe who came up with the apocryphal New York Times headline: "New York Destroyed by Earthquake; Women and Minorities Hit Hardest." 

Joe created the phrase "strange new respect" to describe the sudden warm admiration the media have for any conservative who becomes a liberal. 

In the '80s, Bill Buckley suggested that AIDS sufferers be required to get tattoos on their buttocks to protect other gays. As all hell broke loose over his proposal, Sobran simply suggested that it might borrow from Dante: "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." 

I've recently been telling a friend who talked me into agreeing to an interview with the Times that I wouldn't be mad at him no matter what the Times does to me because "your enemies can never hurt you, only your friends can." I remember now that it was Sobran who told me that, years ago, in reference to his treatment by Buckley. 

Ironically perhaps, I've often used a Sobran observation to explain why I have a greater affinity to Israel than to the Muslim world after 9/11: Watching a death-match fight on Animal Planet once, Joe said he found himself instinctively rooting for the mammal over the reptile. 

Joe was comically immune to group-think. Every Christian should be, but with Joe it was nearly pathological. 

A Shakespeare expert, Joe became convinced that the real author was Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford. Among his vast trove of evidence were the sonnets, some of which clearly expressed love for another man. 

When Joe was writing what became "Alias Shakespeare," he used to tell me he was going to title the book: "He's Here, He's Queer, He's Edward de Vere!" 

Reading through some of his columns after he died and being reminded of what an eloquent writer Joe was, I realized that the best tribute would be to quote him extensively. 

As Joe himself said: "I note that my enemies have written a great deal about me, yet they rarely quote me directly. Why not? If I am so disreputable myself, I must at least occasionally say disreputable things. Is it possible that what I say is more cogent than they like to admit?" 

Joe's quotes are much better when you're reading his columns and a beautifully turned phrase sneaks up on you, but here are a few good ones, even in isolation: 

-- On our democracy: "Your chances of meeting an IRS agent are far greater than your chances of meeting anyone you voted for." 

-- On Clinton: "Once again, his defenders, furiously attacking the prosecution and equating opposition with 'conspiracy,' don't dare mount the best defense: 'He's not that sort of man.' It's because Clinton is, supremely, 'that sort of man' that this whole thing has happened. He's a lying lecher, a prevaricating pervert, an utterly slimy crook, without a trace of honor or loyalty, desperately trying to save his own skin one last time." 

-- On big government: "Freedom has ceased to be a birthright; it has come to mean whatever we are still permitted to do." 

-- On Obama: "Nor has he said anything memorable -- not even a single aphorism over this long campaign. And the title of his book 'The Audacity of Hope' -- what on earth does that mean? He is always hinting at a substance that is never disclosed to us. He seems to live by raising vague aspirations he never fulfills." 

-- On Buckley's book "In Search of Anti-Semitism": "Its real message is not that we should like or respect Jews; only that we should try not to hate them. But this implies that anti-Semitism is the natural reaction to them: If it's a universal sin, after all, it must be a universal temptation. ... When he defends Jews, I sometimes feel like saying: 'Bill! Bill! It's all right! They're not that bad!'" 

-- On evolution: "If our furry and scaly friends were still evolving, none of them appeared to be gaining on us." 

-- On Canada banning Dr. Laura: "Canada has to protect itself against such pernicious, hate-filled American notions as the Law of Moses. If Dr. Laura wants to spew the Ten Commandments, let her do it in her own country." 

After I made some point to Joe once, he paid me a compliment that describes exactly why it was so fun to be around him. He said, "Your mind is always going." 

His body is gone, but I'm sure his mind is still going like gangbusters. And I'm insanely jealous that he's giving God all the good belly laughs now. 

On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 8:44 AM, MJ <michaelj@america.net> wrote:

Would be quite interested in your bolstering of this claim.
Be certain to explain what it is you imagine the free market, American and fascist to entail.

Regard$,
--MJ

If you don't like someone, the way he holds his spoon
makes you furious; if you like him, he can turn his plate
over into your lap and you won't mind. -- Irving Becker

At 01:59 PM 10/6/2010, you wrote:

Hello Michael!
 
Nope, what I was referring to, was the beliefs of Rockwells, that are anarchist, anti-free market, anti-American, and borderline fascist. 
 
I am far from a socialist or Marxist.  I am a conservative libertarian.  Something that Rockwell doesn't have a clue about. 
 
Good to see ya!
 
Keith

On Sat, Oct 2, 2010 at 8:46 AM, MJ <michaelj@america.net> wrote:

The ones that conflict with your Statist/Socialist leanings?

At 11:31 PM 10/1/2010, you wrote:

I loved Joesph Sobran, even though I disagreed with a few of his trains of thought. Sobran will be missed.

 

  I detest Lew Rockwell, even though I agree with a couple of his positions (that are not so in the totally wacko right, conspiratorialist cracpot category)

On Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 8:11 PM, Travis <baconlard@gmail.com> wrote:

I posted this earlier.

On Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 3:32 PM, Bruce Majors <majors.bruce@gmail.com > wrote:

> http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/66445.html

>

> "The great American writer Joe Sobran died today in Arlington, Virginia,

> from complications of diabetes. He was just 64. There is much more to say

> about this extraordinary man, but for now I just want to mention his

> sacrificing his lucrative career at National Review on the altar of truth.

> When Joe opposed the first US war on Iraq, ex-CIA agent Bill Buckley first

> ordered him to submit to the warfare state, and when he wouldn't, fired him,

> even calling Joe an anti-Semite. But unlike Buckley and the other neocons

> who attacked him, Joe was no hater. He simply loved the Prince of

> Peace. *Requiescat

> in pace."*

>

> Rich

--

Sean Gabb

Director, The Libertarian Alliance (Carbon Positive since 1979)

sean@libertarian.co.uk < mailto:sean@libertarian.co.uk> Tel: 07956 472 199

Skype Username: seangabb

http://www.libertarian.co.uk

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http://www.facebook.com/sean.gabb

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Wikipedia Entry: http://tinyurl.com/23jvoz

Buy these novels by Richard Blake: "Conspiracies of Rome"

<http://tinyurl.com/l8uj8r > ("Fascinating to read, very well written, an

intriguing plot" Derek Jacobi); "Terror of Constantinople"

<http://tinyurl.com/n9ugw3 > ("Nasty, fun and educational" The Daily

Telegraph); "Blood of Alexandria" <http://tinyurl.com/356mwdr >. "Sword

of Damascus" will be published in June 2011. Buy them for your own

enjoyment. Buy them as presents for your friends and loved ones.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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