Responding to my eulogy to William F. Buckley, some readers noted that Buckley had written a notorious column during the 1980s calling for AIDS victims to be tattooed on their rear ends. For one responder this was eerily reminiscent of Nazi policies.
Actually Buckley was no Nazi. On one occasion Buckley appeared on a late-night program with the writer Gore Vidal, and Vidal accused Buckley of being a "crypto-Nazi." Incensed, Buckley called Vidal a "goddamn queer." Both men ended up suing the other. Buckley won his case, because he was able to show that his opinions were never sympathetic to the Nazis, "crypto" or otherwise. Vidal lost his case, because, well, truth is an effective defense in a libel case.
So what about that AIDS column? Let's remember that not much was known about AIDS in the early 1980s. In particular, there were competing theories about how AIDS was actually transmitted. Little more was known than the fact that AIDS seemed to be concentrated in the homosexual community.
Buckley noted in his column that in previous epidemics, such as the syphilis epidemic of the early part of the twentieth century, America quarantined people who contracted the disease. Buckley argued against quarantining victims of AIDS. Somewhat light-heartedly, he suggested that a better alternative might be to have some insignia warning off potential partners. He came up with the admittedly strange idea of a small tattoo on the AIDS victim's rear end. Not surprisingly, the column caused immediate controversy.
At National Review, however, the controversy was of a different sort. The big question that arose among the editors was not whether there should be a tattoo but rather what the tattoo should say. Several entries were submitted, and the contest winner was my own English professor Jeffrey Hart, a senior editor of the magazine, who proposed the line emblazoned on the entrance gate to Dante's Inferno: "Abandon all hope ye who enter here."
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That Notorious Buckley AIDS Column
Posted Feb 29th 2008 4:09AM by Dinesh D'Souza
Filed under: Gay and Lesbian, Bizarre, AIDS
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Reader Comments ( Page 3 of 53)
31. rolls her eyes
Bridget at 9:21AM on Feb 29th 2008
32. serves everyone decaff coffee!
Bridget at 9:28AM on Feb 29th 2008
33. Bridget...
Please...deriving some sort of good time at the expense of others who suffer from AIDS is NOT an attractive trait in anyone.
Paul at 9:32AM on Feb 29th 2008
34. i wish you fellows got as upset as the christians being killed world-wide all in the name of tolerance. do you care that in iraq you are killed for being christian? do you care that world widechristians are the most persecuted? why no. but you are so quick to jump on a joke,a joke. and a bad one at that. you guys ever said something your sorry for. in the 80's it was widely thought aids was from homesexual activity. mostly amongst the male community. so remember that in all this. also i wonder why,if males are so monogomous in their relationships in the gay community, did aids spread so rampant among them? seems a fair question. unless of coarse men were having multiple encounters,alas the truth. not the hogwash we are being fed about the loving couple denied the right to marry
brian at 9:33AM on Feb 29th 2008
35. paul,
can i give you my hanky?
brian at 9:34AM on Feb 29th 2008
36. who has a good time at the exspense of those having aids. get off your soap box. that dog won't hunt
brian at 9:35AM on Feb 29th 2008
37. 24. Dirty little secret about AIDS, other than transfusions and birth, which thank God are becoming more rare, AIDS is a behavioral disease. AIDS has to be one of the most preventable diseases on the planet.
Greg at 8:53AM on Feb 29th 2008
Agreed, all STD's are, which makes it all the more incomprehensable as to why behavior that spreads them is so violently defended.
STaylor at 9:35AM on Feb 29th 2008
38. Dinesh...
If I joke about your apparent pedophilia (wanting to post a warning on the bottoms of children who suffer from AIDS indicates that you've actually thought about "entering" their butts) will you do the right thing by removing this repugnant post or will you contact your attorneys? (Please say you'll contact your attorneys!)
Paul at 9:37AM on Feb 29th 2008
39. Paul, What is REALLY going on with you today? Usually you let things roll off?
Bridget at 9:38AM on Feb 29th 2008
40. I am pretty sure that post was more bent toward the homosexual lifestyle than AIDS victims Paul...
Bridget at 9:42AM on Feb 29th 2008
41. STaylor...
Sure..AIDS is a "behavioral disease". Don't you know that every child in Africa who's been raped and infected with AIDS was WRONG for behaving like a child in Africa. Those immoral little wenches DESERVED to be infected through a gang rape! After all, they're children, aren't they? And children deserve such suffering.
Paul at 9:42AM on Feb 29th 2008
42. Good morning brian
Bridget at 9:44AM on Feb 29th 2008
43. Bridget...
Think about this. Dinesh thinks that repeating some account of ignorantly joking about an AIDS tattoo is worth your attention. What's more, he actually promotes himself as a Christian (with all the compassion that label implies.)
I just find his sense of glee and pride in the story about the tattoo to be morally bankrupt and utterly reprehensible.
Dinesh wouldn't like it if someone wanted to tattoo that warning on his child's (or grandchild's ass) so why would he want to repeat a story that would have infected children suffering the indignation of such a tattooed warning?
Why? Because at the very core of his existence, Dinesh is ignorant. He is far from Christian.
Paul at 9:45AM on Feb 29th 2008
44. Bridget...
Children (rape victim children) suffer from AIDS as well.
Even suggesting that we further brutalize such AIDS sufferers just makes me want to vomit.
Dinesh has entered into a new depth of journalistic depravity by repeating that story. His faithful Christian readers are no better if they can't recognize the vile stench coming from Dinesh's suggested glee and pride.
Paul at 9:48AM on Feb 29th 2008
45. Reporting this post to AOL just makes Dinesh feel vindicated, that his freedom of speech is being attacked by those reactionary liberals. I'm all for letting him say these ridiculous things: let's bring his hatred out into the open and call it what it is, dammit.
First, he defends Buckley calling Vidal a "goddamn queer". He says, well, it is the truth, he is a goddamn queer.
Then, he gets a good laugh, picturing how one "goddamn queer", about to sodomize another, will see the warning since it's on the rear end. Oh, how HILARIOUS. Haha, abandon all hope, you're about to get a fatal disease. Oh, so terribly funny. Do you have any cancer jokes, too, Dinesh? No, because in your mind, cancer is "an act of God", but you can be blamed for AIDS.
Oh, and brian, you're disgusting. You wouldn't wish AIDS even on an atheist. Oh, what a good heart you've got. You think a person deserves suffering more if their opinions don't match yours? You Christians are so filled with hatred for anything and anyone who doesn't fit your narrow worldview.
AndrewV at 9:51AM on Feb 29th 2008