re: #82 Dark_Falcon

Then why the epithet “queer”? Why not call him a jerk, asshole, or some other non-bigoted insult instead? What would you think of someone who said, “Now listen up you goddamn sp*c”, or “listen up you goddamn k*ke?”

He wasn’t thinking at the time. He was so pissed he just went off. He wasn’t a hater of gays, but I think that Vidal pushed him so hard that Buckley’s mind just latched onto the first hostile term that came to mind.

Again, remember that this was a one-off incident and Buckley admitted he had been wrong to go after Vidal like that. I’m sure you yourself have blown up at someone in a way you regretted.

It was 1968.

This may not be much of an excuse for the language, but it’s the absolute truth.

I think we forget how utterly acceptable public homophobia was not very long ago.