James Baldwin vs William F Buckley: A legendary debate from 1965

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Strong rec BoiledCabbage · 2020-06 · on “The history that James Baldwin wanted America to see”

I'd also recommend watching Baldwin's debate with William F Buckley. It's fascinating to see his clarity of thought, and how much it still ties to arguments of today. Different words, different terms, and more euphemisms now but same arguments of thought. The topic of the debate is "Has the American dream been achieved at the expense of the American negro?" [this video] Or even just watch the first 10 mins in from the youtube link point. The first 5+ mins slowing build to his point. Just watching their debate styles is fascinating.

Strong rec wombatmobile · 2021-02 · on “James Baldwin, Here and Elsewhere”

Baldwin could see things that ordinary commentators couldn't because he saw the world through other people's eyes, and felt the machinery of their thoughts. In this 1965 appearance at Cambridge University, he mesmerises the audience by telling them what it's like to grow up black in America not even knowing you're black, until one day, as a young child, you catch yourself in the mirror and realise you aren't the person your culture is built for. You actually don't exist, because there is no space in your culture's stories for you. What brings the predominantly white male audience at Cambridge Union to their feet for a standing ovation, beyond Baldwin's faultless elocution, is his mastery of

Recommends pasabagi · 2021-04 · on “New evidence that British workplaces are losing viewpoint diversity”

As a sort of counterpoint, I think it might be worth it to watch a classic of the 'free debate' genre, Buckley vs Baldwin[1], that happened in the sixties in Cambridge. It pitted a black civil rights activist against the young Buckley, later a stalwart of American conservatism. I don't know if it's my bias speaking, but I felt that in the debate, Buckley comes across as a bully, with very little argumentative meat, who doesn't really respond to Baldwin's points. For what its worth, I didn't really like Baldwin's delivery either, but at least I felt there were substantive points there that were worth addressing. In a way, this is probably the best one can hope for when you stage this kind of

Cites troyvit · 2023-06 · on “Turning Joe Rogan down was the right thing to do”

Debates can also be structured enough that if the debaters follow the rules it becomes possible to see clear winners, or at least surface important ideas for people to chew on. The James Baldwin / William Buckley debate is a good example[1]. Somehow though I don't think you'd get that kind of structure in a Joe Rogan podcast. [1] [this video]

Cites tsimionescu · 2023-10 · on “Vocal Fry Register”

The point is that vocal fry, even when it is an affectation and not just your normal speech, used to be seen as a marker of eloquence and high class. British actors, male ones, used vocal fry extensively. Sean Connery's James Bond uses it in the famous "Bond. James Bond" introduction [0], for just one example. Or listen to William F Buckley, an American high class conservative (buffoon that presented as an intellectual) using it to sound prim and proper [1]. It is an objective fact that hating vocal fry is just a fad, and that loving it has been a fad for at least as long. You are free to dislike it, but you can't pretend it should be hated on objective grounds, and it definitely doesn't con