Gore Vidal

[[File:GoreVidalVanVechten1.jpg|thumb|right|163px|Veni, Vidi, Vidal.]]{{pundits}}

'''Gore Vidal'''  {{lived|October 3, 1925|July 31, 2012}} was an [[United States|American]] [[author]], public intellectual, and [[atheist]]. Vidal's life can be divided into several episodes, serving as an [[evolution]]ary model of how an intellect can be all so correct at one point and absolutely, ''egregiously'' [[Inverse stopped clock|wrong at others]]. The [[Dan Savage]] of his day — a clever, opinionated, bisexual "gentleman-bitch," as he called himself — he had a superb talent for making enemies everywhere he went, and his name is mud in literary circles.

==Youth==
Vidal was open about how he hated his mother and only really felt happy as a child when he read documents to his blind grandfather, [[Senator]] Thomas Gore ([[Democratic Party|D]]-[[OK]]). By [[World War II]], he knew he was [[bisexuality|bisexual]], though he resented any adjective of his [[sexuality]] and refused to call himself [[gay]] his entire life, despite having a live-in lover for several decades. He once famously replied "I was too polite to ask" when a reporter inquired whether he lost his virginity to a man or woman. He often said the great love of his life, a man called Jimmy Trimble, was killed in the Asian Theater, and his first novel, ''The City and the Pillar'', was secretly dedicated to him.

He was raised conservative, but soon found himself out of step with the "joyfully neo-[[Fascism|fascist]]"<ref>"Cue the Green God, Ted - A View from the Diner's Club", 1991</ref> culture of the U.S. right, shifting from [[Tory]] to [[Third Way|Whig]] to outright [[Social democracy|social democrat]] in a thirty-year span.

==Fame==
''The City and the Pillar'' broke ground and basically scared the hell out of any literate person because it was the first novel which treated [[homosexuality]] like it was not a one-way ticket to [[insanity]] and [[damnation]]. He was forced to use a pseudonym for some time after that while also doing minor re-writes for [[Hollywood]] films, including adding an erotic angle to ''Ben-Hur'' in a manner which was so discreet that [[Charlton Heston]] was oblivious to the fact he was playing a gay charioteer.

With the election of [[JFK]], Vidal found himself the step-brother of the First Lady (his father, Jackie O's mother, you figure it out). This elevated him into the [[Washington, DC|Beltway]] gossip circle, which he loved viciously. But a feud with [[Robert Kennedy|Bobby]] sent Gore on a downward trajectory in Washington, so he left [[politics]] to write more, though he continued to cover [[Republican]] National Conventions with the morbid curiosity of a zoologist. He continued to publish essays and give lectures on persistent cultural [[taboo]]s — [[sex]], [[War on Drugs|prohibitions of drugs]], [[crime woo]], and [[bigotry]] — in a sharper and more forthright manner than his ofttimes supercilious interviews and books.

While tolerant of ''[[International relations#Realism|realpolitik]]'', Gore was irritated by [[rhetoric]] of the [[American exceptionalism|American exceptionalist]] sort.<ref>''The New York Review of Books'', "Last Note on Lincoln," August 15, 1991</ref>

==''Vanity Fair''==
In 1998, Vidal reaffirmed his reputation for tactlessness and [[balls]] of titanium. He did it by publicly engaging in correspondence with convicted Oklahoma City bomber [[Timothy McVeigh]]. Vidal later wrote a ''Vanity Fair'' article entitled "The Meaning of Timothy McVeigh," which, if not humanizing the mass murderer, sought to understand his reasoning for the killings and the threat of future "[[blowback]]" for U.S. policies.

The McVeigh affair was immortalized in a stage play suggesting a budding romance between the two pen pals (to Vidal's consternation).<ref>[http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life// Interview], ''The Times'', September 30, 2009</ref>  The [[irony]] seems to have been lost.

==Did he say that?==
Take in the words of [[VDARE]]'s favorite intellectual,<ref>Block, Charles, [http://www.vdare.com/articles/gore-vidals-death-inspires-anti-wasp-spasm "Gore Vidal`s Death Inspires Anti-WASP Spasm At Slate, The New Republic"], VDARE (8/14/12 at 8:03 am)</ref> Gore Vidal, at his most [[Quote mining|quotable]]:

{{quotebox|A characteristic of our present chaos is the dramatic migration of tribes. They are on the move from east to west, from south to north. Liberal tradition requires that borders must always be open to those in search of safety, or even the pursuit of happiness. But now, with so many millions of people on the move, even the great-hearted are becoming edgy. Norway is large enough and empty enough to take in 40 to 50 million homeless Bengalis. If the Norwegians say that, all in all, they would rather not take them in, is this to be considered racism? I think not. It is simply self-preservation, the first law of species.<ref>Browne, Anthony (April 30, 2003). "The Folly of Mass Immigration". Opendemocracy.net. Retrieved November 7, 2011.</ref>}}

The text of that speech is an excerpt from one of Vidal's favorite essays<ref>Vidal, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jan/02/millennium.uk17 "Let the Old Gods Arise"], ''[[Guardian]]'' (1/1/00 at 6:50 PM EST)</ref> on overpopulation and free trade. The rest of the speech is unavailable (assuming that it ever took place). This quote is bandied around the internet, [[Euroscepticism|euroskeptic]] forums mainly. Meanwhile, in reality, Vidal spoke positively of the European project and the decline of the nation-state.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1gFnCJois0 Gore Vidal: The State of the Union 1990], ''[[The Nation|Nation]]'' 125th anniversary in Berkley, CA.</ref>

==Fall from grace==
Getting old usually is not fun, but Vidal made it look plain miserable. In his last years, he became hampered by a bad knee, forcing him into something of a Recluse Mode. Furthermore, many would say he took a dive into the land of [[moonbat]]s when he began hooting and hollering about some [[9/11|conspiracy regarding 9/11]],<ref>[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/christopher-hitchens-attacks-gore-vidal-for-being-a-crackpot-1891753.html Christopher Hitchens Attacks Gore Vidal for being a 'Crackpot'], ''The Independent''</ref> though his contention was not that the gummint organized the attacks but rather went "out to lunch," sat back and [[9/11#Common themes in truther thinking|let it happen]]. His politics began to be more and more reminiscent of pre-war [[isolationism]] (not unlike those of his grandfather). This became evident as he started coming off as a relic of the America First crowd by spouting [[Pearl Harbor conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories about FDR and Pearl Harbor]].<ref>[http://www.salon.com/2001/06/14/fdr/ Dive-Bombing FDR], Salon</ref> Perhaps strangest of all, he accused the [[Jews]] of conspiring to give him a bad book review.<ref>http://www.danielpearl.org/docs/Hitchens_Lecture.pdf</ref> Ultimately, he will be remembered for a great set of books and a bizarre set of conspiracy theories.

Though he personally liked JFK, Gore did not shy away from criticizing what he regarded as a disastrous presidency. He also held many heated opinions regarding Bobby Kennedy (lying opportunist) and his cousin [[Al Gore]] (flaky careerist). Needless to say, meetings at the annual Gore family barbecues were few.

Sadly for a man who aspired to political office, he died confident that the American [[republic]] was beyond saving.<ref>Tim Teeman, [http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/article1855681.ece "We'll Soon Have a Dictatorship in the U.S."], ''The Times''</ref>

==In pop culture==
Gore Vidal is referenced in three episodes of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', most notably, in "Summer of 4 Ft. 2" when Lisa regards Gore (or, at least, his books) as one of her only friends. She describes him as a grown up nerd, who still had kissed more boys than she ever will.<ref>[http://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Gore_Vidal_(character) Gore Vidal on Simpsons Wiki]</ref>

Gore Vidal was also well known by regular folk for his role as the patrician character "Director Josef" in the [[Science fiction|sci-fi]] movie ''Gattaca''.<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/ ''Gattaca'' on IMDb]</ref>

==See also==
*[[William F. Buckley]]


==External links==
*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/01/gore-vidal-dies Obituary in ''The Guardian'']

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

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[[Category:Atheists]]
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Left-wing activists]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:New Left]]
[[Category:Rightists who turned left with age]]
[[Category:Social democrats]]
[[Category:United States politics]]

Categories: Atheists, Authors, Left-wing activists, LGBTQ people, New Left, Rightists who turned left with age, Social democrats, United States politics