Comments on: The best Thursday ever

By: heynihao

heynihao — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:50:27 +0000

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By: boyce

boyce — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:28:52 +0000

I have read little of Buckley’s stuff, but he wrote a superb piece in 1961 – “Why Don’t We Complain?” – that I find highly applicable to modern-day life.

He is on a train that is overheated and watches as none of the passengers, himself included, mention it to the staff: hence the article’s title.

“For generations, Americans who were too hot, or too cold, got up and did something about it. Now we call the plumber, or the electrician, or the furnace man… With the technification of life goes our direct responsibility for our material environment, and we are conditioned to adopt a position of helplessness not only as regards the broken air conditioner, but as regards the overheated train. It takes an expert to fix the former, but not the later; yet these distinctions, as we withdraw into helplessness, tend to fade away.”

Congrats on your degree!

Cheers, Boyce

By: sabrina

sabrina — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 06:33:43 +0000

May happiness be a part of you forever!
It was through the China Daily that i got to know you and i really feel appreciated it offering the oppotunity of knowing you who has a kind and sensitive heart.

By: Poagao

Poagao — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:15:52 +0000

Congratulations, I know you were looking forward to some of those things.

“China scholar” is palatable; just don’t aspire to become a “China hand” – those people drive me nuts.

By: temple university

temple university — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:27:45 +0000

[...] addition to five crownings last night, Belmont took a share of the Atlantic Sun twww.midmajority.comThe best Thursday everThe best Thursday ever Yesterday was the best Thursday ever. Consider: After what felt like years [...]

By: laska

laska — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:22:14 +0000

So when are you going to start your career as a China scholar????? grad school is waiting for you and your lovely Chinese wife, IMO. :-)

By: trevelyan

trevelyan — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 04:40:06 +0000

I have a friend who used to sail with Buckley who – to his surprise – ended up really liking the guy. J.K. Galbraith was also a friend, and called him the perfect debating partner for being eloquent, well-spoken and “invariably wrong”.

No man is an island, and I’d rather have a conservative movement staffed by fun-loving idiots with intellectual integrity than the current crop. Sadly, none of the things that are really there to admire about Buckley’s life would have ever happened without the financial comfort he reaped from promoting an almost unerringly repulsive political agenda. May he rest in peace, but may his ideas die with him.

Congrats on finally getting that diploma.

By: chriswaugh_bj

chriswaugh_bj — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 04:44:22 +0000

Still, I think it is unfortunate that most people don’t seem to have noticed that China Daily published that interview twice, and it was republished over at china.org.cn. Brendan’s really, really hit the big time now.

By: Beijing Loafer

Beijing Loafer — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 09:29:50 +0000

Hey Brendan, congrats and a big hug!!! Just read the article. Yeah, I was confused by “mynah” too!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 09:06:40 +0000

Hey Brendan, just read the article – cool stuff!

Sadly, but not at all surprisingly, I’m never mistaken as a native.

And damn if you didn’t make me look up what a “mynah” was. Not, as I thought, an old woman prone to bilingual greetings.