Breitbart: Noooooo!
I never met Breitbart - and now tragically I never will. But of all the heroes fighting the culture wars on our behalf he was probably the one I admired above all - and the one whose feisty, rumbustious, no-prisoners style I've striven most hard to emulate.
One of the big problems with conservatives, another of my heroes David Horowitz has argued, is that we're just too darned nice. As I noted, once, in the Spectator:
Often former leftists make the best conservatives — think Paul Johnson and Peter Hitchens — for they suffer fewer illusions about how devious, dangerous and unprincipled the left can be. Schooled in Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals and the Leninist method, Horowitz knows all too well that the left will lie, besmirch, cheat, character-assassinate, bully, threaten, blackmail, ballot-box-stuff, bomb, kill, anything to get its way. Conservatives are no match because ‘they’re too decent, too civilised,’ up against ‘destroyers, racists, bigots. I refuse to call them liberals — we are the liberals. They are totalitarians.’
Not for a moment am I suggesting that Breitbart wasn't nice. What I am saying is that, like Horowitz, he understood rather better than most conservatives just how vile and unprincipled the liberal-left can be: and wasn't afraid to use their tactics against them.
You saw this, especially, in his devastating use of Twitter. If you subscribed to @andrewbreitbart, most of the Tweets you'd get were Retweets of the spectacularly horrible insults which had been Tweeted to him by his leftist opponents. I now do this myself. When, as happened the other day, some college kid Tweeted asking for someone to knife me (because, apparently, he disagreed with my views on global warming) I simply Retweeted it - and allowed public exposure to do my work for me. Pretty soon, that college kid had been so inundated with criticism from my other Twitter followers he felt compelled to apologize profusely. (Though I don't doubt fear of prosecution for incitement to murder may have been a factor in this, too).
Another of Breitbart's techniques was simply to turn up at leftist rallies - and film himself being abused. Can you imagine if, say, Keith Olbermann or Bill Maher were simply to turn up at CPAC they'd get the same level of abuse? I honestly don't think they would. It's not how we conservatives roll. I know there are some Ricochet commentators who disagree with me on this point, but I say they're wrong. Put crudely, conservatism is a philosophy of ideas, liberalism a philosophy of emotions. We don't really go in for character assassination like the other side do because we consider it cheating.
Who will replace Breitbart? No one will and that's my worry. Whether we polite conservatives realize this or not there's a war going on here and unless we take the fight to the enemy like Breitbart did it's a war we're going to lose.
- Comment (40)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (5)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments:
Jan '12
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
James,
This is a great piece. I recently bought a copy of Righteous Indignation for my 18 yr old son who is heading off for college. He said the book was a real "eye opener" for him and that he wanted to take a greater interest in politics. Breitbart was so enthusiastic and fearless in his approach and as you put it James, Conservatives are often too docile or civilized when dealing with the other side. He will be greatly missed.
May '10
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
James, your emulation is working very well. It's probably why I have a brain crush on you. And for the record, if you were to leave us prematurely, I'd be as broken up about the loss to your family as I am about the loss to Breitbart's family.
Aug '11
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
I agree we have to "take the fight to the enemy" as he did. The biggest gift he gave the conservative movement was a lesson on how to do that......he showed us how NOT to lose. Sad day...R.I.P.
Mar '11
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
Actually I think I am the only one on Ricochet who disagrees with you on this point, but I am also very saddened today by Breitbart's passing.
While I was not a fan of a few of his methods, there was no doubt that he went on the attack not out of spite or anger, but out of a strong desire to improve America for all Americans. Listening to him talk about his work, including on Ricochet and Uncommon Knowledge, it was obvious that, his attack dog persona notwithstanding, he had a genuine love for his country and all those in it, even those who voted for Obama.
And despite his scrappy reputation, I was inspired by his awe of NPR and his desire to build a conservative-leaning media infrastructure with the journalistic integrity and seriousness of purpose to confront the mainstream media directly on its own turf.
And his sincere love and devotion to his family was palpable, which in the final analysis is more important than his or any of our professional outputs.
RIP Andrew Breitbart.
Apr '11
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
I remember more than a few times Andrew saying that he was doing all he did for his children, and to be able to look at them and say that he did his best to make their world better by exposing the repression of liberty--I'm paraphrasing of course. So, it is so sad that his children have lost their father and that his mission was ended prematurely. For his children, and ours, I hope we will all keep his spirit alive and continue on his mission. God bless you Andrew; may your family find solace in this dark hour that you made a difference for so many people, rest in peace.
May '10
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
Reading some of the obituaries on the mainstream media sites... Boy, would they make Andrew laugh. My favorite comes from ABCNews where twice they accuse Breitbart of "selectively editing" his videos. Does that mean that ABC just randomly edits theirs?
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
@mendel Funnily enough, it WAS you I had mainly in mind....
Oct '11
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
They must be using a state of the art Algorithm (ABC= D*U*M*B) ...
Sad news indeed, makes you think about how life is short, and fragile. A great man, who made the cause He took greater.
James Delingpole:
Not for a moment am I suggesting that Breitbart wasn't nice. What I am saying is that, like Horowitz, he understood rather better than most conservatives just how vile and unprincipled the liberal-left can be: and wasn't afraid to use their tactics against them.· · 2 hours ago
That is actually something pretty common, and a non American example would be of Olavo de Carvalho, a Brazilian philosopher, who has a former communist give no quarter and complain due to the excessive restrain of conservatives.
Aug '10
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
The MSM delights in the Shirley Sherrod case because that is perceived as a rare Breitbart misstep. But "selective editing" notwithstanding, isn't it irrefutable that the NAACP audience demonstrated a favorable reaction to Sherrod's admitted racial bias?
Mar '11
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
This may be no more than wishful thinking, but the paucity details of Breitbart’s death and the lack of confirming sources allow me to entertain the possibility that this is a hoax. It would not be unlike Breitbart to bait the mainstream media to expose their lazy credulity by publishing a story with no corroboration and then reappearing at some dramatic moment, perhaps his “funeral.”
Apr '11
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
A question Andrew Breitbart would have appreciated:
How long before the Left Media begin rhapsodizing about the days when conservatives were cheerful, happy-warriors like Andrew Breitbart as opposed to the angry, hate-filled conservatives of today?
Oct '10
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
He was a Character with character and I am another one that would have been thrilled to hear him speak in person and meet him. This does seem like a lose all around. For family, friends, for the conservative movement. I hope that this inspires an army of conservatives to try and fill his shoes. That's what it would take.
Jul '11
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
Or, even better, go on a secret mission a la Crichton's State of Fear. Boy I wish that was the case.
-E
Apr '11
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
Mark Twain had a quote about Death having a penchant for taking those he favored and ignoring the rest of us.
Breitbart fought the good fight. It is up to each of us to keep that fight going.
Dec '10
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
Mendel
While I was not a fan of a few of his methods, · 1 hour ago
Breitbart never fought. He always fought back.
He never did anything the Left didn't do (often directly to him) and he was always happy to engage the Left when they wanted to be engaged. If he was ever on a TV show with a Leftie and they wanted to have a conversation, he seemed to shift gears instantaneously.
He knew that if his side got a fair hearing, it was the most persuasive, but he recognized that the modern Left simply will not allow other views to be heard.
Jun '11
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
Hours later it sinks in that it's true and I picture Breitbart and Hitchens having their first post- Earth "discussion" right about now. Bless them.
Mar '11
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
Your comment about the war reminds me of a Buffy episode, the Thanksgiving one, where Spike ends a rant about unwanted war with "It's kill or be killed here. Take your bloody pick." (Post not on point, but I have the exchange here. http://americanhousewifeinlondon.blogspot.com/2011/12/ethically-taxidermied-wolf-suit.html)
Now, as someone tweeted, what did Andrew drink? For those of us who did not know and cannot offer personal support to his family, we should raise a glass in his honor tonight...and then take up our swords with renewed spirit.
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
If any of you feel like seeing something really disgusting, do pop over to http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100140749/andrew-breitbart-rip/ to check out the trolling vileness which the managerie of leftist scuzzballs lurking below my blog have managed to spew up about this great man. It would have confirmed everything Breitbart always suspected about the sick liberal-left psychopathology!
Mar '11
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
billy: A question Andrew Breitbart would have appreciated:
How long before the Left Media begin rhapsodizing about the days when conservatives were cheerful, happy-warriors like Andrew Breitbart as opposed to the angry, hate-filled conservatives of today? · 7 hours ago
You just summed up a theory of mine: to the left, the only good conservative is a dead conservative. They can't speak up when the left tries to say "To show you how extreme the right is today..."
Mar '11
Re: Breitbart: Noooooo!
Well James, it's not like vile trolls on the left are in short supply here in the colonies, either. But Brits do seem to have a special talent for this kind of rancor. I've come to see the Guardian as nothing more than TruthOut.org with a sheen of respectability.