Challenging Orthodox Thinking

ONE WONDERS what folks like rush limbaugh and ann coulter think about the death of gore vidal. are they happy about it? do they think a devil has left our midst? one hopes not, but its possible. oh, how the conservatives hate folks like gore vidal, when they are alive, folks who expouse liberal ideas with such intelligence that it is difficult to argue against them.

vidal, instead of accepting  our widely taught cherished lies about american history, told the truth. no one else did, or does. he explained how roosevelt used pearl harbor as bait, and how truman started the cold war with needless nuclear bombs.

gore vidal never debated with either rush limbaugh or ann coulter, and they are lucky. he did take on willliam f buckley and norman mailer, and got into fights with both of them.

gore vidal was a bit too vain, maybe, a bit too fame seeking, dropped names and referred to personal sexual exploits a bit too much maybe, but, of course, when you're a writer, what're you supposed to do, hide your work?  vidal, a bisexual somewhat openly, liked to claim that heterosexuality and homosexuality don't exist,that instead, sexual orientation is a continuum, each of us a bit different and unique.

and, to a point, he was right. kinda like race, skin pigmentation; we each have our  own unique skin color. we arbitrarily create and assign racial categories, black, white, yellow, red.

but vidal always over stated his case. the truth is, continuity notwithstanding, you can divide racial characteristics and sexual orientation into categories; i have black friends who have no objection to being called "black", even though they're not, and, for a fact, i know that i was actively attracted to girls by age eight, will be, god willing, until age eighty eight, and have never had so much as a gay thought. i'm simply straight, end of subject.

but so be it.

what we need in the world is fresh, creative thinking, thinking which challenges long held assumptions and beliefs, even if such thinking is often off base.

gore vidal gave us this. long live gore vidal.

Bb

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