During the 1968 presidential election, ABC News "sweetened" (to some, "soured") its convention coverage with a series of short televised debates between the right-wing William F. Buckley and the left-wing Gore Vidal. The spots degenerated into a lot of angry name-calling and as a new documentary reportedly argues, began the trend of political wrestling matches on TV. There are probably antecedents — like David Susskind's shows or Joe Pyne's — which one could argue got there first but the Buckley-Vidal match-up did clearly pre-date a lot of what we endure today.
In this article, Geoffrey Kabaservice speaks of the documentary, Best of Enemies (which I am eager to see) and gives much of the backstory. I recall watching those arguments and thinking that much of America was probably detesting both men and hoping somehow they both would lose.
Kabaservice endorses the documentary's view that Buckley and Vidal had much in common, both being men born into privilege and exceedingly well-educated and who had failed in attempts to be elected to office, etc. Back then, they both also struck me as brilliant men who at least appeared to have never really worked one day, at least in the way that most Americans work, and who were quite out of touch with ordinary lives.
They also both did something that I did back then, though with vastly less success. I stopped doing it when a wise teacher of mine called me on it one day. He said, "Mark, you seem to know an awful lot of big words which most people don't know, and that's admirable in many ways. But you don't use them to communicate. You use them to try and not communicate; to put others on the defensive and at a disadvantage in a discussion."
I started to argue the point and he said, "We can have this argument but I'll tell you what will indicate that you've lost: When you employ a word that you think I don't know so that I won't be able to respond. It's a dirty way to try and win an argument. If you want to win a discussion fairly, don't employ words intended to derail communication."
I decided at that moment he was right and I did not accuse him of being a cacodoxical cullion or whatever would have come to mind. Thereafter, I tried to dial back the polysyllabic obfuscation in my palaver. (With some amusement, I note that Mr. Kabaservice starts his article by writing, "Context matters in the coruscating new documentary, 'Best of Enemies.'" Like 99.7% of you, I didn't know what "coruscating" meant, either. Turns out it means flashing or sparkling.
Anyway, I guardedly admired Buckley and Vidal on an individual basis and thought their one-on-one addressed no actual issues and made both look bad. If indeed the case can be made that it inspired a lot of the mud-wrestling that now passes for political discussion on TV, I'll think even less of it.