William F. Buckley
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: 49 degrees north
Posts: 1,036
William F. Buckley
What is a post entitled Wm F Buckley doing here?
Well, he did like his drink!
Seriously, his death reminded me of civility gone by these days. He is gone when this polarized country needs him the most.
Being an old guy (a 60 year old who still loves to scamper up mountains!), Buckley was there most of my life. I remember watching him on TV in the 60's. His specialty was debate and he was formidable.
His politics and mine couldn't have been farther apart. But boy, did I respect what he had to say and how he said it. The man was brilliant.
The guests on his shows were oft times brilliant as well. And they spanned the spectrum of political thought, unlike the radio talk show hosts of today.
The one thing that anyone appearing on Mr. Buckley's shows could count on, besides a formidable intellect, was civility and a respect for difference of opinion. Even though he once threatened to punch Gore Vidal in the face, the two were friendly adversaries. Watching them was like watching Thor and Zeus trading blows.
Civility is important, I think. Especially when it comes to matters as important as recovery. Life and death. What immediately attracted me to SR was the amazing civility herein. I was so hesitant, I wrote, because my experience with online communities in the past was the opposite. Especially among those communities where brilliant people live. Brilliant people exchanging insults and engaging in flame wars. Yuck!
But I found the opposite here. A bunch of fellow drunks, showing the rest of the world how to act. Who'd a thunk it?
The only cases on SR where I've encountered anything different is when someone failed to read carefully the words of others. I did that blatantly earlier this week. I was corrected. My response? "I apologize profusely for my comments." Boy, was I wrong.
People will take their own paths to recovery. Certain paths have a better track record than others. But people do what they will do and all I intend to do is support them. Take "Possibly Nuts," for example in the alcoholism forum. He has a thread on "weaning." I didn't respond to his thread. Made me cringe just thinking about it. So I stayed away.
But, he is one month sober as of today. Holy smoke. I'm sure some would think him dangerous around here. Even if I thought weaning were a possibility I would NEVER suggest it to anyone.
Wm F Buckley taught me, at a young age, a lot about civility. And that ad hominem attacks say more about the attacker than the attacked. I am so grateful for this community, where that kind of thing is rare indeed. And when it does happen, that I have the example of Mr. Buckley to guide me. I have but one great opponent in life and that is alcohol. And if I am to prevail I must simply disregard the lesser annoyances, as if they were a mosquito. Swat 'em and they are gone.
Thanks to all of you!
warrens
Well, he did like his drink!
Seriously, his death reminded me of civility gone by these days. He is gone when this polarized country needs him the most.
Being an old guy (a 60 year old who still loves to scamper up mountains!), Buckley was there most of my life. I remember watching him on TV in the 60's. His specialty was debate and he was formidable.
His politics and mine couldn't have been farther apart. But boy, did I respect what he had to say and how he said it. The man was brilliant.
The guests on his shows were oft times brilliant as well. And they spanned the spectrum of political thought, unlike the radio talk show hosts of today.
The one thing that anyone appearing on Mr. Buckley's shows could count on, besides a formidable intellect, was civility and a respect for difference of opinion. Even though he once threatened to punch Gore Vidal in the face, the two were friendly adversaries. Watching them was like watching Thor and Zeus trading blows.
Civility is important, I think. Especially when it comes to matters as important as recovery. Life and death. What immediately attracted me to SR was the amazing civility herein. I was so hesitant, I wrote, because my experience with online communities in the past was the opposite. Especially among those communities where brilliant people live. Brilliant people exchanging insults and engaging in flame wars. Yuck!
But I found the opposite here. A bunch of fellow drunks, showing the rest of the world how to act. Who'd a thunk it?
The only cases on SR where I've encountered anything different is when someone failed to read carefully the words of others. I did that blatantly earlier this week. I was corrected. My response? "I apologize profusely for my comments." Boy, was I wrong.
People will take their own paths to recovery. Certain paths have a better track record than others. But people do what they will do and all I intend to do is support them. Take "Possibly Nuts," for example in the alcoholism forum. He has a thread on "weaning." I didn't respond to his thread. Made me cringe just thinking about it. So I stayed away.
But, he is one month sober as of today. Holy smoke. I'm sure some would think him dangerous around here. Even if I thought weaning were a possibility I would NEVER suggest it to anyone.
Wm F Buckley taught me, at a young age, a lot about civility. And that ad hominem attacks say more about the attacker than the attacked. I am so grateful for this community, where that kind of thing is rare indeed. And when it does happen, that I have the example of Mr. Buckley to guide me. I have but one great opponent in life and that is alcohol. And if I am to prevail I must simply disregard the lesser annoyances, as if they were a mosquito. Swat 'em and they are gone.
Thanks to all of you!
warrens
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,510
You know warrens, I think about this often too.
I think part of the reason things go well here is because we all come here seeking help and we are usually desparate enough for that help, that we put all the small stuff aside.
Another part of the reason, I think, is that as addicts, we have all been through a lot of 'stuff' to get to this point. Our journeys have not been easy or without pain. And, I think none of us is looking to inflict anymore pain on others or ouselves.
Thanks for your input.
I think part of the reason things go well here is because we all come here seeking help and we are usually desparate enough for that help, that we put all the small stuff aside.
Another part of the reason, I think, is that as addicts, we have all been through a lot of 'stuff' to get to this point. Our journeys have not been easy or without pain. And, I think none of us is looking to inflict anymore pain on others or ouselves.
Thanks for your input.
Spiritual Being
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Louisville
Posts: 138
Even though I know almost nothing of William F. Buckley I still appreciated your post. I stopped to think if there was someone of my "generation" or someone active now that is a prominent figure and could be considered civil. The only thing that I'm coming up with is Mr. Rogers. I'm not sure you can get more civil than that. 
I've, more or less, had that exact same experience on other forums. Sadly, I recognize that on more than one occasion I have been the one doing the flaming. It seems at times, if we don't have a common goal in mind, in this case recovery, we can digress to cavemen/cavewomen. Communication breaks down. I realize that i'm only 26 and have much work to do to become the person that I wish to be. I'm finding this helpful in so many respects. Even if a certain recovery method proposed doesn't suit me, I learn from the maturity on display in the posts I read.
Regardless of our beliefs we can all agree that in one way or another, we're affected by addiction. That common need to better ourselves makes this site a valuable resource. I actually tried posting on a different forum the other day that describes itself as a place to get advice about everything from addiction to love. After reading severals posts I got the hell out of there. Those people weren't concerned about recovery, they seemed more concerned about trading drug "glory day" stories. In retrospect, those days that I felt to be glorious were in fact despicable.
I've, more or less, had that exact same experience on other forums. Sadly, I recognize that on more than one occasion I have been the one doing the flaming. It seems at times, if we don't have a common goal in mind, in this case recovery, we can digress to cavemen/cavewomen. Communication breaks down. I realize that i'm only 26 and have much work to do to become the person that I wish to be. I'm finding this helpful in so many respects. Even if a certain recovery method proposed doesn't suit me, I learn from the maturity on display in the posts I read.
Regardless of our beliefs we can all agree that in one way or another, we're affected by addiction. That common need to better ourselves makes this site a valuable resource. I actually tried posting on a different forum the other day that describes itself as a place to get advice about everything from addiction to love. After reading severals posts I got the hell out of there. Those people weren't concerned about recovery, they seemed more concerned about trading drug "glory day" stories. In retrospect, those days that I felt to be glorious were in fact despicable.
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