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 4 of 53)
46. Paul, Have you ever lost a loved one from AIDS?
Bridget at 9:54AM on Feb 29th 2008
47. You all seem a bit melancholy this morning...
Bridget at 9:58AM on Feb 29th 2008
48. Andrew...
As I've said, I've been with AOL for quite some time (I signed up long before Dinesh's blog showed up.) AOL will listen to complaints and review the highlighted material.
I'll leave that up to AOL...or hopefully, Dinesh will actually look at himself in the mirror and get real by saying, "Yeah, y'know, joking about tattooing the bottoms of children with an "entry" warning really is pretty depraved. I wouldn't want someone joking about entering my kid's bottom."
So, please...everyone who finds this latest from Dinesh to be way off the mark of what American's (especially Christian Americans) should stand for, I encourage you to file a complaint with AOL. AOL will listen to your complaint but they'll place more credibility in several complaints rather than just one or two.
Folks, honestly, joking about tattooing the bottoms of young rape victims with an "entry" warning is just off the charts wrong in ANY sensible person's mind. Don't let this go without notice. Tell AOL.
Paul at 9:59AM on Feb 29th 2008
49. Bridget...
I have lost one classmate to AIDS. He was a missionary who contracted the disease while working in Africa during the 90s.
He was a Christian missionary in Africa...
I would never even suggest that he contracted AIDS by sticking his penis in the anus of a young African girl. Dinesh shouldn't make that suggestion either.
Dinesh, remove this post now.
Paul at 10:04AM on Feb 29th 2008
50. brian: "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?"
I do get upset at people being killed for their beliefs. But I don't get MORE upset because they are Christian, to the exclusion of others. YOU DO.
And a couple of things to note about anti-Christian persecution: It is just about NEVER being done under the name of "tolerance". I guess what you're trying to say here is its all those secular progressives who are repressing you. It's usually other religious groups, with equally insane ideas about how their truth is the only truth. And while yes, there are Christians out there being persecuted for their beliefs, there are many Christians who are dealing out persecution too, so get off your high horse already.
AndrewV at 10:03AM on Feb 29th 2008
51. good night everyone!
Bridget at 10:05AM on Feb 29th 2008
52. Are you missing your friend Paul?
Bridget at 10:07AM on Feb 29th 2008
53. No, Bridget...
I am not missing my friend.
I have lost several friends over the years through disease and accident.
This is not about me. This is about a completely thoughtless reworking of a vile joke.
Dinesh, remove this post now.
Paul at 10:12AM on Feb 29th 2008
54. Paul,
While I sympathize with your disgust over this, I think the right thing to do here is to let Dinesh dig himself a deep hole of hatred. Let's not misrepresent his "joke". He's not talking about children, or rape victims. He's expressing his deep-seated hatred of homosexual men.
Hopefully there are some rationally-minded folks on here who will see his bigotry and recognize it for what it is, and then reassess their worldview. Ask yourselves, why does Dinesh think its OK for gays to suffer and die? Do you? Why?
What do they do that is so terrible? I know, its an abomination before God. I think God can take care of that himself. They'll get their just desserts in the afterlife. For now, what is it that bothers you? Is it that you don't like your children seeing two men holding hands? How does that hurt them?
AndrewV at 10:18AM on Feb 29th 2008
55. Bridget...
One of my friends overdosed on heroin. THAT was his choice. I felt sorry for him when he died. He was talented but more interested in staying high than anything else. That lifestyle finally caught up with him. Chalk it up to one of life's lessons learned.
How do you reconcile the notion that Dinesh thinks that a story about tattooing the bottoms of young AIDS sufferers (who contracted the disease through a gang rape) is something YOU'D be interested in reading? Doesn't that insult your intelligence? Or do you REALLY think that tattooing such rape and AIDS victims is a viable indignation? Do you REALLY think that reworking that old joke about the warning is worth your valuable attention?
If so, you had better look in the mirror and ask yourself what sort of a person you really are.
Dinesh, remove this post now.
Paul at 10:18AM on Feb 29th 2008
56. 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 10:36AM on Feb 29th 2008
57. Paul, I really don't believe that post was directed at children at all or at AIDS victims, I believe the whole thing was directed toward the homosexual lifestyle...
Bridget at 10:24AM on Feb 29th 2008
58. Andrew...
Everything you've said is true.
On top of hating homosexuals, by reworking that old joke of ignorance, Dinesh reveals himself as the thoughtless, depraved, pseudo-intellectual that he really is.
We live in a world of rapid information transfer. For Dinesh to rewrite that joke when he KNOWS that children now suffer from AIDS (after being gang raped) only suggests that he either doesn't care about their suffering or that he might have entertained the notion of abandoning all hope before entering their bottoms.
Any way he slices it, Dinesh looks like (at the very least) an insensitive clod by allowing this post to remain visible to AOL subscribers.
Dinesh, remove this vile post now.
Paul at 10:27AM on Feb 29th 2008
59. Bridget @ 57, I agree, but does that make it right?
AndrewV at 10:27AM on Feb 29th 2008
60. Greg...
Please stop posting such ignorance. There are now thousands of rape victim girls in Africa who have done nothing to deserve the brutality of a gang rape, the suffering of an AIDS infection, and now the indignation of Dinesh's insensitive reworking of an old joke.
Dinesh, remove this hate-filled post now.
Paul at 10:28AM on Feb 29th 2008